Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 210 Life's Many Flavors: Gains and Losses (Cheering Myself On)

The young woman asked, "Where is it located? How much do you pay?"

Chen Hui said, "It's in Sanhao Street, you know? The salary hasn't been finalized yet, but it won't be less than 500 yuan. They make clothes for us, provide proper dormitories, and we get four days off a month. There are bonuses for good performance."

Xiao Wei asked, "What's your name?"

The young woman said, "My name is Wei Yun, you can just call me Er Ya. How big is your restaurant? How many people can you hire?"

Chen Hui said, "It's about 1,500 square meters, two floors, and there will be at least a dozen or twenty waiters. It's not certain, it depends on the situation."

Wei Yun blinked her big, bright black eyes and said, "Can I call a few more classmates?"

Chen Hui nodded and said, "Okay, but there are requirements. They have to be about the same height as you, or even taller. If they're shorter, then no thanks. And they have to be good-looking, right? Also, they have to be thin. No fat people, because our clothes don't look good on fat people."

A stocky man, around forty years old, wearing a filthy chef's uniform, came out carrying a large soup bowl. He placed the bowl on the table, rubbed his hands together, and said, "Try it, this is delicious. The soup is hot and fragrant." He pointed to the wooden spoon in the bowl. The bowl was dark and you couldn't tell how many items were in it, but you could see potatoes and smelled garlic.

Xiao Wei scooped himself a small bowl with a wooden spoon, tasted it, and said, "Hey, it's not bad, really good, this soup is so rich and comforting." The eggplant, green peppers, and persimmons had all dissolved into the soup, mixed with the aroma of meat, it was indeed delicious.

Xia Maosheng and Chen Hui also put down their chopsticks, scooped up a bowl, and ate, both nodding to indicate that it was delicious.

Mr. Wei glanced at his daughter and asked, "What are you talking about? You're always so talkative. You never seem to have a moment's peace."

Wei Yun pointed at Chen Hui and said, "We were talking about work. After the New Year, I'll go work for this guy. It'll be 500 a month with a bonus, how about it?"

Wei's father looked at the three people warily, his smile vanishing, and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Chen Hui said, "We also run a restaurant, and we don't want your daughter to work as a waitress."

Mr. Wei frowned and asked, "The waiter gets 500? And a bonus too? How big is your restaurant?"

Chen Hui said, "It's right at the intersection of Sanhao Street. It's under renovation now and won't open until April or May next year. You can go with your Wei Yun to take a look then and you'll see. Whether you go to work or not is another matter."

Wei's father said, "That's really far!"

Wei Yun said, "There are dormitories. I only come back to stay for four days a month. Where do you work? You need to stay somewhere. It's just that our place is so remote."

Mr. Wei glanced at his daughter, hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go with her to take a look later."

Xiao Wei said, "Hui Zi, show your work ID to your uncle and leave your pager number."

Chen Hui put down his chopsticks, took out his work ID from his pocket, and handed it to Wei's father, saying, "I work for the power bureau. If your Wei Yun really works for me, just come to me with any electricity-related issues, and I'll take care of them for you."

Wei's father flipped open his work ID and said, "You're from the Heping side, so you can oversee things here?"

Wei Yun said, "Could you talk to my family and ask if they can charge us according to residential electricity rates? This restaurant's prices are too high. Look at my place, how many people come to eat here every day? We can't even make any money."

Chen Hui asked, "What's this place called?"

Wei Yun said, "Yaojia Town? You've come all this way and you don't even know where this is?"

Chen Hui said, "We came to that plastic factory up ahead on business. We really didn't know where this was. It's our first time here. But I'll probably have to come here often in the future to pick up goods."

After exchanging pager and phone numbers, the three of them got into the car and headed towards the plastics factory. Wei's father stood behind his daughter, who was jumping and waving, watching the car drive away, his brow furrowed. He seemed to be lost in thought, his mind quite complicated.

When I arrived at the plastics factory, I found the sales department, explained my purpose, showed them the sample from Donglaishun, stated my requirements, and asked them to keep the Donglaishun trademark, as it was needed for mold making.

A five-year long-term order contract was signed, and the price was reduced by 1.5 cents. This was the manufacturer's limit, but for plastic packaging factories of this era, especially auxiliary packaging factories, a five-year order contract was like a pie falling from the sky. It was something that had to be seized unconditionally and with all efforts, and could not be lost.

The molds cost 8,000 yuan per set, plus a deposit. Xiaowei signed the contract and left 50,000 yuan, which settled the matter. The rest would be paid upon delivery.

Throughout the 90s, the molds and industrial paper used in Northeast China were basically all from Shandong Province, which was the cheapest in all of Asia, for no other reason than that. Japanese products were the most expensive, but they had the highest precision and durability, which was due to their technological advantage, and there was no other way to change that.

Pricing thermoformed products is somewhat complex. First, the thickness of the material must be precisely determined. Then, the area of ​​the material used in each individual product must be calculated. The weight is then calculated using the area-to-thickness-to-density ratio, and multiplied by the unit price per ton. This is the net cost of the raw materials. Next, additional costs such as labor and utilities are calculated based on the production schedule and added to the net cost of the raw materials. Finally, the wastage ratio must be added to calculate the actual cost of raw materials used, which is the product cost. Then, the profit is calculated based on the market price fluctuation range to arrive at the ex-factory price.

(The pricing method for paper products is the same, but more complicated. For example, for a shoe box, the core, the edges, and the leather all need to be calculated separately, plus the cost of lamination.)

The net cost price of all products is lower than the market profit margin. For example, if a piece of clothing sells for 300, its ex-factory price should be around 53. If an air conditioner costs 5800, its ex-factory price would fluctuate around 1500. This is the net profit margin. At the final sales stage, additional costs must be added, such as shipping, handling labor costs, storage costs, and the average cost of the terminal store. This is why online shopping is cheaper than physical stores.

No matter what we produce, we must consider pricing carefully. The pricing methods are completely different whether we sell to ourselves, the whole city, the whole province, or the whole country. We must think it through carefully, otherwise expansion is tantamount to death.

The prices of paper and plastic products are actually negotiated down to the last penny. Often, they can haggle for half a month over a mere cent or two – that's a fact. We often imagine the super-rich as confident and shrewd, effortlessly discussing millions without batting an eye. But that's not the reality. It's common to see two businessmen with tens of millions of assets getting red-faced and arguing over a mere two cents.

Old Ning used to supply urine test kits to hospitals. Those small kits cost five cents each, but by the time the bill was settled, they could amount to tens of thousands of yuan, which might be the entire profit from that batch of goods.

When supplying goods to America's father, Chu, it was a matter of making dozens of trips back and forth over a dozen times for a thin paper ring that was only five centimeters wide.

Later, due to some personal reasons, I handed over the client to a "friend" and left Fengtian. Now the "friend" drives an Infiniti and does charity work everywhere. The only thing left between us is the kindness of a meal.

This is also a calculation error; the relationship between cost and additional expenses wasn't understood. This applies to both doing things and living life. Calculating gains and losses in doing things doesn't mean prioritizing profit above all else, but rather understanding one's own gains and losses. Understanding is not about being calculating.

(End of this chapter)