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Newspaper boy problem

There exists a concept in Operations Research, called "Newspaper boy problem". Every day the newspaper boy must make a decision on how many newspaper to take into inventory. If he takes too many then he's left with inventory that goes to waste immediately (nobody wants yesterdays newspaper). If he takes too few then he leaves customers unsatisfied. Why is this problem different from regular inventory problems? The inventory in this case is highly time sensitive.

One application apparently is airlines. When a plane leaves the gate the inventory is frozen. If there are empty seats then thats like having too many newspapers. If there are passengers at the gate who couldn't get on then thats too few newspapers. Thats all I know. Maybe Mr. CFO can shed more light?