2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 504 The Many Faces of the Snow Disaster
January 21, big cold.

Like the weather, the Shanghai Composite Index failed to hold its ground, opening flat in the morning and then falling rapidly, plunging 5.14% throughout the day to close at 4914.44 points.

"If last week was the initial stage of the stock market crash, then today's single-day drop of over 200 points can be considered the start of the crash. The declines in the later stages of a bull market are terrifying. I wonder how many people will suffer heavy losses again."

Cheng Linfeng sighed.

Changfeng Group outperformed the market today, plummeting 7.64%, with its share price falling from an all-time high of 19.80 yuan on the 11th to 16.32 yuan at today's closing.

Countless stocks experienced similar drops within just a few days.

Outside, the cold wind and torrential rain raged, and inside, the greenish computer screen made things even more unbearable.

"This price is still too high. If the price of the '1' in front of it could drop further, then we could absorb the shares on the secondary market while negotiating with Xiang City."

"Today's sharp drop is probably related to the weather, but even without the stock market crash, Changfeng's stock price wouldn't have been able to hold up after the annual report and the first quarter report were released."

Despite his long stay in Xiangcheng, Huang Ming still gained a lot.

Currently, the Cheetah brand under Changfeng is not selling well after its expansion. It is still relying on the old-fashioned Black King Kong off-road vehicle to keep the company afloat. Just like electric vehicles are about to be subject to new national standards, the same applies to cars.

If all goes as expected, the new National III standard will be approved and electric vehicles will be launched ahead of schedule. This issue has been debated for several years. Once the National III standard is implemented, the biggest selling point of the Black King Kong will be gone.

At that point, it will only be a matter of time before Changfeng goes bankrupt.

Cheng Linfeng knew these things even better than the boss. He believed that it was only a matter of time before Changfeng's stock price fell to single digits.

Currently, Changfeng Group has not given up on its plan to save the company. As the most well-known domestic automobile brand in Hunan Province, neither the actual managers of Changfeng nor the Hunan Provincial Government will give up unless absolutely necessary.

Li Jianxin was aware of Flash's intentions in conducting the on-site investigation and was quite cooperative during the investigation, but he ignored Huang Ming when the topic turned to other matters.

When the company was restructured and abandoned to a local location, all the employees almost went hungry. Later, they gradually returned to the main business from a tire factory. Li Jianxin witnessed the growth of Changfeng from the beginning, and you can imagine how much he cares about Changfeng.

These people who have worked for long-established state-owned enterprises are quite sentimental, and they find it hard to accept the idea of ​​selling a long-established military vehicle company to a private enterprise.

“Let’s take it slow. Our first step is to persuade Li Jianxin. I’ll have to go to Xiangcheng if necessary,” Tan Jincheng sighed.

His father was just a low-level employee in the petrochemical industry, but he had deep feelings for the petrochemical industry and his hometown. Tan Jincheng's return to Wangjiang to invest was partly due to Tao Qinian's strong sincerity, and partly in line with Flash Technology's strategic plan.

However, part of the reason is indeed due to Tan Lihua's sentiments; in their minds, being able to help businesses and their hometown is a very proud thing.

Tan Jincheng could understand this sentiment: once you join a company, it can take care of you for life, support your family, and even provide you with a pension in your old age, allowing you to live a stable life.

Anyone would feel a sense of belonging here. This is precisely why private enterprises are not recognized these days. They are completely incomparable to state-owned enterprises in terms of security, and the arbitrary dismissal of employees is a common occurrence.

Take social security as an example. These days, there's no such thing as "five insurances and one fund". FlashChe's purchase of insurance for its employees has become a model and made the news. The Beicang Labor Bureau has commended FlashChe and Orange Technology more than once.

The intention was to get businesses in the district to learn from this, but it was all for naught. Apart from a few ambitious bosses who followed suit, other businesses scoffed at it.

"The snow is falling heavier and heavier. Speaking of which, boss, you really called me back at the right time."

Huang Ming came back last time, but he went on a short business trip in the middle of the trip. In mid-January, Boss Tan called him back. Sending senior executives out to take risks is newsworthy, but it's a bit unethical.

His business trip was still to Guangzhou, and by then, the Guangzhou Railway Station was already experiencing traffic congestion.

The continuous snowfall since the 18th has completely impressed these executives. They don't know where they heard the news, but President Tan dared to prepare supplies and emergency plans despite pressure from all sides.

While other companies are scrambling to cope with the disaster, FlashCheer is able to maintain normal production and operations as usual, and the entire company remains calm and composed.

"Haha, it's possible that everyone will be spending the New Year in Beicang this year. Come visit my house then, and let's have a big party for all the senior executives."

While the snowfall in coastal areas and Guangdong Province has resulted in relatively little widespread snow accumulation, the situation is quite different in the central and western regions and the north, posing a significant challenge to transportation. Currently, Beijing Airport is experiencing widespread delays.

Hohhot Airport was even closed due to heavy snow.

Meanwhile, at Orange Products, customer service staff were patiently replying to customers: "Dear customer, the weather has been unusual lately, so we suggest you don't make a purchase for the time being. We cannot guarantee that the delivery will be timely." "But my coupon is about to expire! If I don't buy it, won't the coupon be wasted?"

Xiao Chen is from Nanjing but works in Guangzhou. The blizzard did not stop him from going home, but train tickets were hard to come by, so Xiao Chen reluctantly bought a plane ticket to Nanjing. He booked the ticket well in advance and was just waiting for the holiday to start so he could go home.

His company gave him a 300 yuan shopping voucher for Orange Products during the Chinese New Year. He bought most of the mainstream clothes at Orange Products. After looking at other items, there wasn't anything good, but he didn't want to waste it. Since he had developed a habit of drinking tea in Guangzhou, he thought of buying a kettle and sending it back to his hometown.

OrangePin is a vertical e-commerce platform that mainly sells clothing at discounted prices, but it also sells some niche products. Just like Amazon China, which focuses on books, they also sell some daily necessities, which is not surprising.

He was surprised that the customer service at Orange Products Club advised him against placing an order.

"Dear customer, we can extend the validity period of your shopping voucher for a while longer; of course, if you don't want that, we can also place the order for you, but you should be prepared for the delivery time."

Xiao Chen was quite pleased with the customer service's quick response, unlike some shops on Taobao where you might send them a message in the morning and they might not reply until the afternoon.

After thinking it over, Xiao Chen decided to place the order anyway. The snow had been heavy these past few days, but it would eventually stop. Nanjing wasn't a particularly northern place, and the snowfall hadn't been this severe in previous years. Surely the goods wouldn't be unable to be shipped indefinitely.

"Okay, I've placed your order now. Don't worry, if delivery is possible, we will deliver it to you as quickly as possible. But please understand if we are unable to deliver on time."

"No problem, I understand," Xiao Chen replied readily.

It's just an electric kettle, so a few days' delay is no big deal. But what Xiao Chen didn't expect was that the delivery, which usually takes three to five days, took him a full 24 days this time!
The severity of the snow disaster far exceeded his expectations, and many online shoppers had similar experiences to Xiao Chen.

Of course, some people listened to the advice and chose to extend the coupon period.

Countless businesses have faced financial disputes with customers due to orders not being delivered as scheduled because of heavy snow. Some businesses have even chosen to close their stores and ignore their customers.

News has its limitations. Not everyone enjoys surfing the internet, and many people are unaware of the severity of the snow disaster. Furthermore, since it is linked to their own interests, it is difficult for them to remain objective and impartial.

Since the heavy snow on the 18th, the reputation of online shopping and express delivery has been extremely poor online, with countless buyers complaining on various forums that they have not received their purchased goods.

The peak was on January 28th, the 1st day of the twelfth lunar month.

In Ningbo, a city that rarely sees snow, snowfall has become a regular occurrence since the Spring Festival travel rush officially began. Just like in Tan Jincheng's previous life, the snow accumulation is not severe.

Gu Qingqing's phone rang in the early hours of the morning, waking the two of them from their sleep.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Gu Qingqing asked groggily as she answered the phone. It was Gu Yanning calling.

Heavy snow has been falling across the country for ten days straight with no sign of stopping, significantly increasing the workload for the CEO of Orange Technology.

Boss Tan has been busy lately, but he's mainly focused on calming down his employees, which is better than what she's doing. With the heavy snow, not many people are buying electric vehicles, and supplies have been stocked up in various places, so it doesn't have a big impact on FlashTech.

As for the GXG brand apparel from Jinpeng Industrial, it is still mainly sold offline, so the impact is not significant.

“All the warehouses in Beijing and Shanghai collapsed.” Gu Yanzong spoke very quickly.

Last night it was her turn to be on duty, and she closely monitored the logistics and transportation situation of her company in various locations and warehouses in order to prevent any accidents.

Including the employees from Kaixin.com, they have been helping Orange Products Club voluntarily these past few days, reporting any news or problems that arise in the company immediately, no matter when.

"Who? Jingdong? Or the Shanghai warehouse?"

Gu Qingqing sat up abruptly, instantly waking up. How could it have collapsed? It must have been caused by the weight of the snow. And this was only in Shanghai; if this happened, what about other places?
"What collapsed?"

Awakened by the noise, Tan Jincheng opened his eyes and asked, what came into view was Gu Qingqing's rather large breasts. Although he hadn't eaten meat for several days, if he had gone up to her, Boss Tan would definitely have reached out to her.

But he had no such thoughts at the moment. He hadn't heard clearly just now, only two keywords.

Gu Qingqing turned to look at him: "Oh, it wasn't ours, it was a warehouse in Beijing or Shanghai that collapsed."

(End of this chapter)