North America 1849, from Gold Rush to Warlord

Chapter 19 We Rub It Ourselves
"Even a novice tailor can make thirty or forty dollars a month! No, we can't pay them that much!"

Jason had already automatically assumed the role of a capitalist. "In my shipyard, even the most skilled and experienced shipbuilding foreman only makes fifty dollars a month! Li, your offer is way too high!"

The others nodded in agreement. They were all shareholders of Huamei Company and naturally assumed the role of capitalists.

If you pay your employees more, the boss will earn less!

This is an irrefutable and eternal truth!
A Zu blinked and said, "Have you forgotten so quickly the heavy debt you are burdened with?"

"What does the salary we pay the tailor have to do with our debt?" asked Vicchi.

"It's a huge deal! If we don't offer high salaries, how can we recruit enough people quickly?"

"If there's no high salary, how can we encourage tailors to work overtime and produce enough jeans as quickly as possible?"

"If we don't have high salaries, how can we encourage people to sell the pants quickly? So that we can earn enough to pay off our debts in a little over a month?"

A-Zu's barrage of questions left everyone speechless, but they were still unwilling to give up.

A-Zu could only count on his fingers as he explained, "The raw materials for our jeans are incredibly cheap! Even if the hundreds of thousands of pounds of canvas account for half of the $30,000 cost, the raw materials for each pair of pants only cost a few cents."

"Even with the blue dye, buttons, needles, thread, and accessories, the cost is no more than ten cents."

"After adding in the costs of production, sales, and so on, the final cost of a pair of jeans will not exceed 35 cents!"

"We sell a pair of pants for $1.20, and the profit is at least 85 cents! With such a high profit, are you still thinking of skimping on the labor costs?"

Seeing that they finally looked relieved, A Zu laughed secretly and realized that the head is determined by the butt. Capitalists will only consider things from the capitalists' perspective.

Ah Zu continued, "Let's do the math again. Let's take the average. A tailor produces fifteen pairs of trousers a day. If we work twenty-five days a month, and we have one hundred and twenty sewing machines, and we make eighty-five cents per pair of trousers, then after a month, will the money we earn be enough to pay off our debts?"

When everyone heard this, they quickly counted on their fingers.

I calculated it over and over again, but I still couldn't figure it out!
"That should be...enough, right?"

"After one month, how much debt do we have to pay off in total? That's right, twenty-five thousand...!"

"Oh my god, I have to pay back a full twenty-five thousand dollars! I bet... I can't earn enough!"

Just as Zu was about to give an answer, a voice suddenly rang out from the corner: "In a month, we'll make about $38,250! Enough to pay off our due debts!"

"Huh!" A-Zu looked up and met Daisy's gaze.

"Lee, am I right?"

"Yes! That's right! Very accurate!" A Zu was surprised that among the white girls, there were some who were good at math?

Isn’t it said that big breasts mean no brains?

For example, Vivian is not very smart. She still doesn’t believe it and is counting on her fingers!
Hearing that only his daughter had given the correct answer, Vic said with some pride, "Daisy is in charge of the accounts of my shipping company and tailor shop! She's never made a mistake!" "Miss Daisy is not only beautiful, but also has this ability?"

A-Zu couldn't help but exclaim in praise.

Vivian, who was beside him, inexplicably felt a sense of threat and uneasiness!

A-Zu quickly changed the subject: "Ahem! Mr. Vic, Anna and Miss Daisy, you will be fully responsible for recruiting personnel according to the standards I set."

"We not only need tailors, but also people who are skilled in sales, dyeing, and logistics. I'll give you seven days to recruit enough people before all the sewing machines are in place."

"The people we recruited in advance will learn in this tailor shop and conduct trial production as they learn. Your family has a very heavy responsibility. Not only are you responsible for recruiting people, but you are also responsible for training and teaching them how to make jeans. You are also responsible for quality inspection in the early stages to ensure that every pair of jeans is qualified!"

"We must not let quality issues damage the Levi's brand and affect the reputation of our Huamei company!"

"The tailor shop is still too small. Once the staff and machines are in place, we'll move production to the shipyard. The space there is large enough to accommodate an extra 1,000 or 2,000 people."

"Also, relying solely on one tailor shop for sales is far from enough! If there are merchants willing to do wholesale distribution, you can also contact them. We will wholesale them to them at $1.00. Anyone and any store can sell to us. The only requirement is that they sell at a uniform price of $1.20."

"And the slogan of our Levi's jeans is - Never rip!"

Wow, they even copied Levi’s slogan exactly!

Daisy found a small notebook from somewhere and wrote down every word that A-Zu said.

Seeing how serious she was, A-Zu felt relieved.

"Miss Daisy, you are also responsible for keeping the accounts and income and expenditure...is that okay?"

"Of course!" Daisy looked serious, feeling the heavy responsibility on her shoulders.

Daisy... Well, this girl seems quite smart. She manages accounts and money, so her business ability should be no problem.

Turning around, A-Zu asked Jason again, "Mr. Jason, how many people are there at the shipyard now? If we use the current manpower and do not affect the ship repair business, how many prefabricated houses can we build each month?"

"Oh... there are still about fifty or sixty people in the shipyard, plus the dozen or so Chinese workers inside... you should ask the foreman for details... They are all my old brothers, and each one is a veteran in shipbuilding and ship repair. Even if I could pay them a huge salary every month, I wouldn't want to let any of them leave. It's a complete waste to have them build prefabricated houses now!"

"Right now, there's only one ship in the shipyard, the Trident, and it's almost finished repairing in the next few days. If all the manpower were to be put into building prefabricated houses, I estimate we could produce a hundred in a month, which shouldn't be a problem!"

"Fifty or sixty people can only build a hundred prefabricated houses in a month? In other words, dozens of skilled workers can only build three or four houses a day? The prefabricated houses I designed are obviously very simple to manufacture!"

"Compared to shipbuilding, it's really simple!" Jason scratched his bald head. "But it mainly involves sawing the large timber into planks, relying entirely on human power to pull the saw. It's tiring, laborious, and slow!"

"Steam-powered saw!"

A Zu said without hesitation: "Is there such a thing as a steam-powered saw on the market now? If not, then let's make one ourselves!"

(End of this chapter)