Hong Kong Tycoon: Starting from Delivering Dongfeng Express

Chapter 78: Strict Investigation of Dongfeng Express

three days later.

In the small conference room of the Jinghai Post and Telecommunications Bureau, leaders above the middle level came in one by one and took their seats. Some people were whispering to each other before the meeting began.

"Hey, Lao Huang, I just got back today. What's the meeting about?"

"You didn't know? Recently, a Dongfeng Express company appeared in Jinghai. It's really amazing!"

"Dongfeng Express? A courier?"

"Yes, we can deliver the express from Hong Kong Island to Jinghai in one day!"

"One day?! Doesn't our EMS take ten days? How can they do it in one day?"

"More than that. I heard that our former temporary workers at the post office went over there to work as couriers. Do you know how much they can earn?"

"How many?"

“Earn 1 yuan a day!”

"You're kidding me! Is this true? 1 yuan a day, that's 100 yuan a month! Isn't that way more than our combined salary?"

"What am I trying to deceive you about? I make 2 yuan for each package I deliver. If I deliver 1 packages a day, that's 50 yuan!"

"My goodness! Our director only makes a few hundred yuan, and this temporary worker just goes there and makes three thousand a month. What the hell is this?"

The two were about to say something, but when they saw two middle-aged men walk into the conference room and sit in the main seats, they stopped talking.

Deputy Director Gong spoke first: "Our Director Zhao is going abroad for study and investigation. Today's meeting will be chaired by Director Hao and me."

The director and secretary of the Jinghai Post and Telecommunications Bureau are both held by one person, and there are two deputy directors: Deputy Director Gong, who is in charge of postal business, and Deputy Director Hao, who is in charge of telecommunications business.

Since the postal service's revenue capacity is much higher than that of telecommunications at this time, Deputy Director Gong will have a relatively greater say.

"Xiao Liu, please tell everyone about the situation first!"

"Recently, a new company called Dongfeng Express was established in Jinghai. Relying on manual transportation to cross customs, they can deliver packages from Hong Kong Island to Jinghai in just one day..."

After the briefing, Deputy Director Gong looked at the group and said, "Tell us what you think!"

Someone immediately spoke up:

"Isn't this stealing our EMS jobs?"

"Director Gong, mail delivery has always been handled by our post office. How can we let outsiders do it?"

"Director Gong, they pulled it in directly from the checkpoint. Isn't this clearly exploiting a loophole? Is this legal?"

"Director Gong, this company is doing this. We must investigate thoroughly!"

Suddenly, everyone in the conference room started talking and arguing.

"Quiet!"

Another Director Hao raised his hand and said, "I want to emphasize one thing here: this company is invested by Hong Kong businessmen!"

When they heard that it was an investment from Hong Kong businessmen, the meeting room fell silent for a moment.

Reform and opening up had only just begun, and the legal landscape in many areas was still underdeveloped. In these unregulated areas, the power of interpretation lay entirely in the hands of various government departments. Private businesses generally hesitated to compete with publicly funded sectors, fearing potential setbacks midway through.

But when it comes to Hong Kong businessmen and foreign capital, it’s a different story…

Director Hao said, "As everyone knows, our Jinghai Special Economic Zone is a window and a demonstration for our country to attract foreign investment and technology, so we must be cautious when dealing with foreign capital!"

In fact, the development of the Special Administrative Region is inseparable from foreign investment in many aspects, not only investment in factory construction, but also in the construction of many public services.

For example, the taxi company where Xu Jiang worked before was a joint venture between the Hong Kong boss and the government. The Hong Kong side could provide advanced taxi company operating experience and plans.

For example, the Jinghai Telephone Company, which Director Hao is in charge of, was established in 1983 and is jointly operated by Jinghai Telecom and the British Eastern Telegraph Company. It not only relies on the company's operating experience, but also on many technical aspects to obtain support from the other party's expert group.

In the first two years, telephone traffic exploded, and switches and lines began to malfunction, resulting in widespread phone outages. Unable to resolve the problem on our own, we had to call in these foreign expert teams. Domestic technicians, in turn, tried every possible way to "steal" from this process.

At present, the country is very backward. If it wants to obtain funds and advanced technology for development, it must provide these foreign capitals. This is the objective fact faced by the Beijing-Hai Special Economic Zone.

"So even if we investigate, we must do our best to comply with the law and regulations, and not give people anything to criticize or cause any negative impact."

After Director Hao finished speaking, he looked at Director Gong.

Director Gong held this meeting for this very reason, and he had to take into account the identity of Hong Kong businessmen. He looked at Old Li, who was well-versed in postal services, and asked, "Is there any precedent for foreign investment in postal services in our country?"

Old Li immediately said, "Director Gong, I'm sure there's no foreign investment in the domestic mail delivery business. However, last year, FedEx from the US opened an office in Shanghai and is operating two flights a week for international express delivery."

Director Gong frowned. This means that there is already a precedent of foreign capital doing international express delivery business. Strictly speaking, Dongfeng Express is also engaged in international express delivery.

"Director Gong, Director Hao, we can't just let this go! Our EMS has only been around for a few years. If things continue like this, who will use our EMS in the future?"

Director Gong nodded, he really couldn’t just let it go like this!
At this time, Lao Li, who had just answered, said, "Director Gong, Director Hao just said that it must be compliant and legal. Let's investigate from this aspect. Our EMS has to go through so many procedures, but this Dongfeng Express just passed through the border like this. Is this compliant? Is it legal?"

Director Hao smiled and said, "That's right, that's a good direction! Old Gong, I think you should contact the customs and ask them to check if there's any problem!"

Director Gong nodded in agreement.

……

Ye Dongsheng has been very busy these days, very busy!

First, he was in charge of the business of receiving parcels from the mainland and sending them to Hong Kong Island. He also personally trained the new employees and had to keep an eye on all the processes.

After spending a few days getting the hang of it, he recruited a team of salespeople. However, these people were inexperienced, so he had to lead them on a three-day tour to give them proofs before they knew how to market themselves. After all, in 85, salespeople in mainland China had no idea what they were talking about.

Fortunately, the hard work these days has paid off.

First, the business of sending from mainland China to Hong Kong Island has increased to 186 pieces per day in a week. Although it is not a fraction of the 1273 pieces sent from Hong Kong Island to mainland China, it has already made Ye Dongsheng satisfied!

Originally, he estimated that he would be lucky if he could send even one-tenth of the volume of shipments from Hong Kong Island to mainland China, but now he has far surpassed that figure, and it's still growing rapidly! According to yesterday's order volume, his total volume has reached 1459 orders, including 1038 in one day and 421 in three days, for a daily revenue of nearly 25!
Of course, there is also a not-so-good statistic, that is, the proportion of three-day delivery is constantly increasing, from less than 15% when it first opened to nearly 30% now, almost doubling in less than a month!
Moreover, according to Ye Dongsheng's estimation, the proportion of three-day delivery may be even higher in the future. After all, for many small and medium-sized enterprises, as long as they make good time arrangements, three-day delivery is completely acceptable to them.

After experiencing the speed of one-day delivery, many people will regain their rationality and choose the more affordable three-day delivery. This is inevitable.

Then comes the ground promotion. According to his summary of the ground promotion in the past few days, there are mainly three types of people who have not used Dongfeng Express.

The first type is those who are genuinely unaware. Whether through advertising or word-of-mouth, some people are often less well-informed and unaware of Dongfeng Express's usefulness. This group represents the best potential customers, and Dongfeng Express must strive to attract them.

The second type is that they know it, but they are unwilling to use it. The biggest problem is trust!
This group of people tends to be conservative and unwilling to trust outsiders. Furthermore, if important company documents or samples are lost or leaked, it could have serious consequences. Therefore, they prefer to trust their own subordinates and don't want to let anyone else handle the information.

For this group of people, Dongfeng Express can only gradually build up its reputation and make them slowly believe in the professionalism of Dongfeng Express through time and actions.

The third type is unwillingness!

Some Hong Kong businessmen who have invested in Jinghai aren't actually wealthy; they're just small businesses with a 100,000 or 200,000 yuan investment. They're always calculating every penny, no matter what they do.

This kind of boss really can't bear to use Dongfeng Express, which costs hundreds of dollars! He would rather wait in line with the order himself to save the money!

Ye Dongsheng really has no way to deal with this group of people. They are not his target customers, so he just gives up!
As for the newly recruited couriers, although most of them were experienced workers from the post office, Ye Dongsheng still asked them to follow the previous process. He divided several areas for each of them and asked them to visit all the factories in the area and take note of them.

By next week, we will readjust the areas and allow these people to officially take up their posts.

According to Ye Dongsheng's plan, every courier in the future must be familiar with at least two business areas, and each business area must have at least two or more couriers who are familiar with the area. This way, they can take over others' shifts when they are on leave, and avoid any accidents.

Just as Ye Dongsheng was recording in his notebook, Xu Jiang suddenly ran in: "Brother Sheng, these people haven't come out yet!"

Ye Dongsheng looked at his watch. It was 12:40. Normally, the group that left the Hong Kong Island store at 11:12 should have been out of the Joint Inspection Building around :. Even if there were delays, they wouldn't be too late.

Ye Dongsheng frowned and asked, "No one came out?"

“None at all!”

Now that these deliverymen have become skilled, they no longer need to gather together and come out together. Instead, after passing customs, they can drag the luggage directly to the truck.

Now Ye Dongsheng could no longer sit still. If one or two of them didn't come out, it might be because they encountered someone under strict investigation, but if none of them came out, then there must be a problem!
……

There was a bustling crowd of people at the entrance of the Joint Inspection Building.

Seeing that it was already past 1 o'clock and no one had come out, Ye Dongsheng could no longer wait and went straight inside to find a staff member and asked anxiously:

"Hello, comrade. I'm from Hong Kong Island. I've been waiting for my friends here for over an hour. Why haven't they come out yet?"

"Hmm? Did your friend bring in any prohibited items? Or has luxury goods or electronics that need to be taxed?"

"No! Comrade, I can guarantee that my friend didn't bring any of these!"

"Please be patient and wait. If he meets the requirements, he will definitely be able to pass customs smoothly!" The staff patiently comforted him.

"Comrade, my friend's group consists of eight people! Even if one or two of them brought the wrong items, it's impossible for all of them to fail customs! Could you please help ask them?"

"8!" The staff was also surprised.

Ye Dongsheng quickly showed him his Home Return Permit to prove his identity.

"Then let me ask for you. What are the names of your friends?"

Ye Dongsheng quickly handed over a piece of paper with several people's names written on it: "Thank you! Thank you so much! You've worked so hard, comrade!"

Seeing the staff member go in, Ye Dongsheng finally breathed a sigh of relief. The unknown is the most tiring. No matter what happens, knowing the result is always better than knowing it now!
After a while, when the staff member came back, Ye Dongsheng hurriedly greeted him: "Comrade, may I ask..."

The staff member glanced at Ye Dongsheng and asked, "Are you from Dongfeng Express?"

"Yes, yes, yes! Excuse me..."

“They’re still being checked!”

"Huh? Comrade, they've been checking for over an hour, right? Why haven't they..."

The staff member interrupted Ye Dongsheng directly and waved his hand impatiently: "Okay, just wait patiently and don't disturb our normal work!"

Seeing that no one was willing to pay attention to him, Ye Dongsheng had no choice but to leave with a frown.

"Brother Sheng, what do you say?"

"They said they were still checking."

"Why isn't it finished yet?"

Ye Dongsheng shook his head: "Something must have happened that we don't know about."

"What should we do?"

Ye Dongsheng calmed down at this time: "As long as we don't have any contraband, we won't let you go. Wait!"

It was not until 2:8 in the afternoon that eight people came out dragging suitcases, and Ye Dongsheng, Xu Jiang and others hurried to meet them.

Before Ye Dongsheng could speak, Xiaofu immediately said, "Brother Sheng, we've all been detained!"

"Huh? What's going on? Why are they detaining you?"

"Everything was normal at first, but after seeing the package in my suitcase, the travel inspection officer took me directly to a small room, and then the eight of us were gathered there one after another!"

Ye Dongsheng frowned and asked, "What's their reason? Did you ask?"

"They asked us about our suspicious behavior and said our belongings needed to be carefully inspected! Then two inspectors came and opened up everything in our suitcases and carefully inspected them one by one!
I protested in the middle, and then they came with a section chief named Wei Tingjian, who said that their inspection was a legitimate procedure and asked us to cooperate!

From 12 o'clock, they checked for two and a half hours. After they checked everything, they let us out! "

Upon hearing this, Xu Jiang immediately spoke up: "Brother Sheng, this wasn't the case before. Is someone deliberately trying to trick us?"

Ye Dongsheng frowned and waved his hand: "Let's go back first!"

(End of this chapter)