The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 291: 'Jiang Dong Lai' Becomes Popular

During the National Day in 1980, Shenzhen's "Jiangdonglai" became popular.

The opening was the peak, which catered to the right time, place and people.

Shenzhen was originally a run-down city, a county town that was converted into an urban area as a pilot project. Before the reform and opening up, many people here went to Hong Kong, and many villages were deserted.

So before Shenzhen opened up, the total population was only 300,000. Excluding the elderly, children and rural population, there were actually not many laborers in the city.

A county town would be lucky to have a few supply and marketing cooperatives, and there were also state-owned stores, but there were absolutely no department stores, let alone complex shopping malls.

In the early days of Shenzhen's opening up, it attracted many overseas businessmen, and some local people also began to boldly run their own businesses.

Because two years ago, Shenzhen received tens of thousands of overseas Chinese who returned to China. Although most of them were overseas Chinese who were not doing well in Vietnam, the living conditions in Vietnam are not as good as those in China.

Although they are not doing well, their thinking is more open than that of Chinese people. Some of these people saw the open policies in China and were unwilling to just be farmers on the farm after returning to China.

For example, Yu Xueping's family is a group of overseas Chinese who returned from Vietnam. Last month, she and her brother opened a restaurant called "Yu Ji" Breakfast Shop.

Breakfast and restaurant owners can apply to purchase affordable grains. When the relevant departments purchase them, they do not need food stamps, which is considered policy support. However, the so-called affordable price is higher than the market price, after all, no food stamps are required.

The emergence of 'Jiangdonglai' was first sought after by a group of Hong Kong businessmen who came here. In their eyes, this was a shopping mall opened by their fellow Hong Kong people, and they could buy many goods here without tickets.

Although there are purchase restrictions on many things in the living area, Hong Kong businessmen also understand. After all, they have money, but in China, they can't buy things even if they have money. Purchase restrictions don't matter, they can just arrange workers to queue up.

Therefore, Jiangdonglai didn't need to advertise at all. On the opening day, the boss from Hong Kong brought his workers to buy goods here. They all went to the living area to buy some things that required tickets in China.

As for those electronic products, such as televisions, refrigerators, radios, tape recorders, watches, etc., the bosses in Hong Kong are not interested in looking at them, because these things are too cheap in Hong Kong and there is no need to buy them.

However, this place became a place where people in China rushed to buy things, and even attracted some newspaper reporters in Guangzhou to come and report. It didn't take many days for the things that could be bought at Jiangdonglai to spread to many cities in China.

In Shanghai, people were going abroad at the peak of their travels. In addition to tape recorders, anything related to English was being purchased. As Jiang Cheng had initially expected, the people who resold the tape recorders soon appeared.

Jiang Cheng had long seen the business opportunities of the overseas trend in Shanghai, such as tape recorders, tapes, foreign exchange, and even English teaching. He did not need to maximize the profits, as that would be too energy-consuming.

Some money should indeed be earned by some people, but just by bringing some electronic products from Hong Kong to sell, the price can more than quintuple, which is like picking up money. Jiang Chengdu feels a little embarrassed to earn this money.

Just like an ordinary black and white TV, it only costs more than 400 Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong. If it is based on the current domestic price, it is only 80 yuan. And this is the retail price in Hong Kong. Jiang Cheng's goods are equivalent to the price of friendly competitors. Because of the large quantity, it can even be lower than the wholesale price.

Because Hong Kong has many manufacturing industries and needs large quantities of goods for a long time, if the price is high, Chengdu can directly find a manufacturer to process it, so it is normal to get a price lower than wholesale.

In China, some state-owned stores required industrial coupons or TV tickets, and it would cost more than 400 yuan to buy a TV. Now you can buy it without coupons.

Jiang Cheng could earn more than eight times the profit from selling a TV. He could earn more than five times the profit from selling a refrigerator. He could earn more than ten times the profit from selling watches. The profit from selling a tape recorder was the same as that from selling a TV. When buying a tape recorder, he also got a box of English tapes for free.

The tape recorders were sold out immediately, but as for many other products, they were sold in limited quantities and would not be sold until a certain number were sold each day.

Jiang Cheng really had no intention of completely imitating the later "Pang Donglai". The business philosophy was similar, but he was not as generous to his employees.

But it has just started operating, because it has occupied the right time, place and people, there is no competitor. It is also sought after by Hong Kong businessmen, there are a large number of consumer groups coming to Shenzhen, and there are products that everyone needs.

Except for the first day, the things on the shelves were barely able to be restocked on the second day, and later on, the situation reached the point of being snatched away.

The store closed at 10am, but there was no other way. Most of the shelves were empty. When it opened at noon and stayed open until 3pm, they were empty again. Fortunately, there is not much nightlife in China at present. The store opened from 5pm to 7pm in the evening. If the shelves were not empty, the store would start to close.

In order to sell less goods, many goods had to rely on Jiang Cheng to "purchase" and the mall was closed on weekends. In Xiangjiang's mall, there was no day that it was closed.

Jiang Cheng even hoped that someone would protest, such as the state-owned stores and supply and marketing cooperatives, against him for stealing customers. He could also close on Tuesdays because he didn't need tickets, not to mention scalpers. People from nearby cities with better conditions might also take a bus to buy electronic products here.

The actual business hours are only eight hours a day. Some people will say that this working time is not short. But Jiang Cheng recruited employees according to the pattern of shopping malls in Hong Kong, and they work in two shifts.

Now, Jiangdonglai employees in Shenzhen only need to work six hours, and many employees have overlapping hours. In addition to the fixed holiday every Sunday, they are allowed to stay at home with their children and the elderly on weekends. There are also two days of holidays that can be adjusted during normal times.

Jiang Cheng also began to acquire large amounts of land to build warehouses in preparation for the "Jiangdonglai" shopping malls and supermarkets in the other three special economic zones six months later.

Jiang Cheng can restock supermarkets in Shenzhen, but even if he has the space, he can't go to five or six places a month. If other cities are open in the future, Jiang Cheng will have to restock in other cities as well.

"Yingying, give me one."

"Give you a what?"

"That's it."

Jiang Cheng pointed to the one next to the one Lao Wu was drinking and said, "During the breastfeeding period, the one is really white and big."

"Can you please behave yourself? If our daughter sees you, she will laugh at you to death." Zhou Lingying said while feeding her.

"Aren't they taken out to play by Juanzi? Give me two bites." Jiang Cheng sat next to Zhou Lingying and hugged her, teasing Lao Wu who was eating.

"Do you really want it?" Zhou Lingying asked.

“Hehe~~.”

Jiang Cheng grabbed a handful and walked away with a smile. It was not tasty, very fishy, ​​and tasteless. He was just teasing Zhou Lingying out of boredom.

Jiang Cheng is now thirty years old, and Zhou Lingying is only twenty-six years old, even though she is the mother of six children. She is a beautiful young woman, becoming more and more feminine.

Zhou Lingying knew that Jiang Cheng was not a serious person. She had fed him milk before, but he got tired of it after one time. But she knew that her man had a bad habit of getting milk out during sex.

Jiang Juan was playing skipping rope with her sisters in the alley. In those days, girls played shuttlecock and sandbag throwing, but it was more popular with boys than girls.

"Juanzi, are you playing with your sister? Is the master home?"

"Brother Feng, my uncle is at home. He didn't go out during the National Day holiday."

"Okay, I have something to do with the master, you play with your sisters."

When Jiang Juan was playing with her sisters, Feng Hua, Jiang Cheng's former apprentice, appeared. Feng Hua looked at his master's daughters, who all looked like porcelain dolls. He really wanted to pinch them, as he had never seen such fair and beautiful dolls.

But Feng Hua came to see Master Jiang Cheng today because he had something to ask and wanted some advice from the master. When he heard that the master was at home, he carried some pastries and walked towards the yard.

Feng Hua and Jiang Cheng have had some contact every year over the years, but not frequently. The main reason is that Jiang Cheng really took him in, although not for a long time. A little bit of shortbread, knowing that Jiang Cheng doesn't need it, just brings it as a token of his appreciation.

Feng Hua drove to another place to buy the shortbread, which is not easy for ordinary people to buy.

Feng Hua entered the yard and walked to the door of his master's house. He saw that the door was ajar. Just as he was about to call the master, he saw the master open the door and come out.

"Feng Hua, why are you here? Your master's wife is breastfeeding, so she won't come into the house." Jiang Cheng saw Feng Hua coming and closed the door again.

"Master, I'd like your help with something." Feng Hua said with a smile.

"Then let's go to the side room and say, this is the shortbread from Gao An." Jiang Cheng looked at the shortbread Feng Hua brought, looked at the style and smelled it, and guessed. "Yes, the master is really amazing." Feng Hua said flatteringly.

Jiang Cheng also smiled proudly. He didn't have any other skills these years, but he would buy local specialties every time he went to a city. He also worked in the Supply and Marketing Cooperative for so many years that he could tell where the food in many places came from at a glance.

This skill is something that can be acquired through practice, just like a stupid electrician who can tell whether there is electricity by touching the wires.

"You are a kid who never comes to visit for no reason. Come and have some melon seeds."

After the two entered the room, Jiang Cheng directly took a candy box and placed it on the table to entertain Feng Hua.

"Master, it's difficult to drive a car at the bus station recently. There are big conflicts between the passenger department and the freight department. My father used to work in the freight department, and I also came from the freight department. It's a bit difficult to be stuck in the middle now." Feng Hua was not polite and said it directly while cracking melon seeds.

Jiang Cheng didn't expect Feng Hua to come to him to talk about this matter. Although the driver industry is popular, it is also a one-size-fits-all job. There are only so many cars at the bus station, and there are so many people who want to learn how to drive.

Because Feng Hua was taking over his father's job, he had been an apprentice for four years. If someone else took over, it would be difficult for him to have his own car and become a formal driver if the bus station did not add new cars or someone retired.

But Feng Hua was the replacement, and he would be given priority to become a regular driver. Although the bus station was divided into passenger and freight departments, it was still a whole. At that time, the freight department did not have many cars, and the passenger station was just increasing the frequency of flights to various places.

The passenger transport department added a lot of buses, mainly due to the policy reasons above, and the bus passenger transport should also gradually open up direct routes within the province. At that time, the freight department just didn't have many vehicles, so the passenger transport department added a lot of vehicles, which required seven or eight drivers.

It was not enough to arrange all the driver apprentices in the passenger department, so naturally the priority was to transfer people from the freight department. It was better to keep the money within the family than to recruit drivers from outside.

It was at that time that Feng Hua was transferred from an apprentice in the freight department to the passenger department as a passenger bus driver, running short-distance routes in Jiujiang.

In the past two years, highway truck transportation has received support from the Ministry of Transport, which is committed to vigorously developing automobile transportation. The main purpose of passenger buses is to serve the people, just like the current hospitals, which belong to the service industry. After deducting the expenses from the ticket money, there is not much profit.

The freight department is different now. It is very popular, and many units' goods are waiting for trucks to transport them. The profit gap is large, but the higher-ups do not look at the profitability of the department, but only at the entire bus station.

Therefore, there are conflicts between the two departments in one bus station in almost all cities in the country.

Now the people in the freight department want to transfer Feng Hua back, but the passenger department said that Feng Hua was an apprentice back then and only became a formal driver because he came to the passenger department, so he shouldn't be a traitor.

Feng Hua's father used to work in the freight department. The freight department did make more money by driving long distances, so he hoped that Feng Hua would be transferred back.

But Feng Hua felt that the passenger department did him a favor. When he was an apprentice in the freight department, he had a chance to become a regular employee. But he was replaced by someone else because that person had connections in the company.

After being transferred to the passenger transport department, his colleagues and stationmasters treated him very well. Although Feng Hua is young, he is a formal driver and everyone calls him "Master".

Jiang Cheng didn't expect that the freight department and the passenger department would quarrel so fiercely now. Although he knew that the two departments would be separated sooner or later in history, and the freight department was very popular in this era, it would be swept away by individual businesses sooner or later.

After the country opened up, cars could be bought, even second-hand ones. Some drivers looked down on the salary of a few dozen yuan, and many drivers traveled all over the country, taking wild and daring routes.

Jiang Cheng has been driving for many years and has done many things to show off and to make things difficult for others. When he is in a bad mood, when loading or unloading goods in some places, if people are a little slow, Jiang Cheng will also start to curse.

Anyway, drivers have seen more than ordinary people, are more willing to work alone, and have the capital.

If Feng Hua is transferred to the freight department, he can enjoy a good life for a while. But at the passenger station, he can actually work for decades until retirement.

"What do you think?" Jiang Cheng asked. In fact, whatever decision he made, Jiang Cheng felt good. But if he chose to return to the freight station, Jiang Cheng would have to give some advice.

"Master, I heard that you have connections in Shenzhen. You can drive for a foreign company and get a salary of 600 yuan," Feng Hua asked.

"You want to go to Shenzhen to drive for a foreign company. If you really go, your salary will definitely not be a problem. It may even increase to thousands in a year or two." Jiang Cheng didn't expect Feng Hua to actually want to drive in Shenzhen. If that were the case, he could let him be in charge of a route.

In Shenzhen, Jiang Cheng called Ali over again. Ali's ability was limited, because he was the first to follow Jiang Cheng, and now he was responsible for some miscellaneous things in Hong Kong. He was given more than 10,000 Hong Kong dollars in salary every month, and he received red envelopes on holidays and a lot of money during the Chinese New Year.

It can be said that Ali's ability is not worth the money he is given. But as long as he is willing to follow Jiang Cheng, Jiang Cheng doesn't mind even if he supports him for nothing.

In fact, Jiang Cheng also thought about whether he was too selfish. If he took Ali to do some business and helped him, he might not earn more than 200,000 or 300,000 yuan a year in Hong Kong, but now the salary plus benefits and bonuses are just that much.

Such an income is actually considered quite good in Hong Kong, after all, ordinary workers only make 3,000, and senior executives only make around 10,000. And Ali is satisfied with such an income, but Jiang Cheng started from scratch, and his income is measured in 100 million, so he only gave a few hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars to the earliest people who followed him.

As for letting Ali come to Shenzhen, Jiang Cheng felt that it was not worth it to pay him such a high salary in Shenzhen, because with his actual ability he might not even be able to earn a thousand yuan in China, let alone a salary of tens of thousands.

But Shenzhen is building a large number of warehouses, and needs to form a large-scale transport team. Now Ali is responsible for recruiting freight drivers. The monthly salary of the drivers is 300 yuan, which is five times higher than the 56 yuan he earned in the local units.

Being a driver at Jiangdonglai has good benefits. Many in-demand goods can be supplied to internal employees first. Meals are free at the company, and there are bonuses and so on.

Moreover, as a truck driver at Jiangdonglai, a capable person can also help others carry some goods and make some extra money.

Jiang Cheng planned to have Ali recruit some drivers, train a team leader, and then let him go back to Hong Kong. Jiang Cheng was obviously very rich, and he might be willing to donate 100 million yuan. But since his ability was obviously not in line with the salary, Jiang Cheng felt that it would be a loss to let Ali help in China.

Just like the management sent by Jiangdonglai Company in Hong Kong, Jiang Cheng also asked them to help train the staff in the early stage. After that, he let them return to Hong Kong. Even if they were management staff in China, Jiang Cheng was unwilling to pay them high salaries.

This is mainly because Jiang Cheng does not completely consider himself a Hong Konger. If he were a Hong Kong businessman, he would deliberately invite a few "his own people" to come to the country to manage the business.

Just like the business in Taiwan, the general manager of Jiang Cheng's direct-operated store there is from Hong Kong. Even if he has to pay a lot more for the business trip, Jiang Cheng thinks it's worth it.

In other words, the salary level in Taiwan is not low. If it is the same as in China, Jiang Cheng will also ask Hong Kong people to manage it. In Taiwan, Hong Kong people are considered to be his own people.

But in China, paying high salaries to hire Hong Kong people to manage here makes Jiang Cheng feel uncomfortable, just like in the short drama in the 1980s, some factories paid high prices to hire unskilled overseas students to manage the factory.

It’s not that the people sent from Hong Kong by Jiang Donglai are not talented, but the managers of Jiang Donglai in Hong Kong are not top-notch.

Jiangdonglai is a traditional industry, and Jiangcheng is not looking to go public or pursue overseas business. The salary of the management is not very high, and can only be considered average in the industry.

If the salary is too low, it is difficult to recruit good management elites, and even if they are recruited, they cannot be retained. Since there are no strong management talents, it is better to train some cheap management personnel in China.

Moreover, the salary is too high. As Cao Wang said in later generations, one has to consider whether colleagues around him can afford it.

Jiang Cheng did not intend to compare with those low-income companies, but now they are all starting from the same starting line. Even if Hong Kong businessmen come here, they will not take the initiative to raise wages for their employees.

It was only after it became difficult to recruit workers that they began to compete for recruitment by raising wages.

At present, Jiang Cheng's factory and supermarket in Shenzhen do not pay high wages to employees, but the benefits are very good. It is only a matter of time before wages increase. He will not use low wages to squeeze employees, but he will not deliberately raise wages either.

Feng Hua heard that he could really get a salary of 600 yuan in Shenzhen, and it could increase to thousands of yuan. He had already been married and had children. Compared with other people, his family conditions were indeed good, but compared with his master's family, he had no TV, refrigerator, or color TV.

Moreover, Jiang Cheng actually has a private tricycle, not to mention furniture, food and drinks.

The key point is that Jiang Cheng drives with his boss in Shenzhen, so if he goes there, he can be taken care of by Jiang Cheng. And another point is that his job is also considered as property, which can be transferred to others, but those who can't drive can only start as apprentices again, or transfer to other positions to become regular employees directly.

Feng Hua wanted to transfer his job to his wife, so he became a ticket seller at the station. Then he followed his master Jiang Cheng to Shenzhen to make a living. He didn't believe that his master Jiang Cheng would sell him out.

So Feng Hua told Jiang Cheng his plan. If the salary in Shenzhen was really that high, working in a foreign company would not be considered a job transfer. He would go back to the company tomorrow to apply for a job transfer to his wife, and then ask Jiang Cheng to take him to Shenzhen for development.

Jiang Cheng naturally agreed immediately. No matter how capable Feng Hua was, he was considered one of their own in Shenzhen. Even if his ability was slightly worse than others, Jiang Cheng would at least make him a captain and be in charge of a transportation route.

(End of this chapter)