Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 86 Never mind, let's make money first.

As expected, Lao Song and Lao Wu came over the following evening after hearing about Yan Hui's plan.

The four brothers were all dressed in shirts and jeans, showing off their best clothes. Yan Hui hadn't worn shirts before, and the clothes he was wearing today were brand new.

“I studied the routes today. The busiest train departing between tonight and tomorrow morning is the one to Hangzhou. It leaves at 4 a.m. tomorrow, and the next one won’t be for two days. When I came over after get off work, there were still three carriages available, and I booked them all.” Yan Hui looked at his friends. “Next, we need to find three shippers.”

"200 per seat?" Lao Guo said. "If they're in high demand, should we charge extra for the last one?"

“No,” Yan Hui shook his head. “We’ll keep the price the same, and never raise it. That way we’ll have repeat customers, and we won’t offend these bosses. If this place can keep making money, I’ll buy a pager in a while and leave my contact information with all the bosses. If they want someone to reserve the line, we’ll help them anytime. We can even charge 100 yuan per person to reserve it.”

Yan Hui was also afraid that he would be stopped after a while, so for the time being, he was just trying it out.

“That makes sense. Charging too much money for this would easily cause the bosses to object.” Old Wu nodded in agreement.

"Which three train cars are you using? We'll each take turns watching one," Lao Guo asked.

"This one, this one, and that one," Yan Hui pointed. "Then the three of you wait here. I'll go check out the other route maps."

As the four were talking, they saw someone coming looking for a wagon. When they found that all the wagons were full, they quickly came over to ask.

"You need two wagons?" Yan Hui frowned upon hearing this. "Brother, we can only give you one at most."

"Huh? You have more than two wagons?" The shopkeeper immediately caught on to the implication. "Young man, if you can give me one, it means your shipment isn't in a particularly urgent situation, right? Let's go all the way and give me one more! I know you have storage costs too. So, how much do you think is reasonable? Name your price and give me two. My brother over there is really in a hurry!"

"Wait a minute, I'll ask."

As Yan Hui spoke, he called his buddies aside and chatted with them for a while. Then he turned back to the shop owner and said, "Brother, since you put it that way, two is fine. We're here all the time, so we won't say much. It'll be 400 yuan."

"400 per wagon?" The boss felt a pang of pain, but gritted his teeth and prepared to agree.

“No need. I know you might be willing to pay 400, but we don’t make money from this. 400 is for two railcars. Our warehousing is our own, so there are no costs.” Yan Hui displayed the magnanimity of a boss.

"200 each? You're really a good worker, young man!" The shopkeeper gave him a thumbs up. "If you need any help next time, just let me know!"

"It's not easy for anyone, we're all in the same boat," Yan Hui said politely, pointing to the two freight cars in front of the shop owner.

"Come on, brother," the boss said, taking out 400 yuan from his wallet and reserving a seat.

Yan Hui calmly accepted the money, then led his buddies away from the vicinity.

"Old Song, there's another freight car here. You keep an eye on it while we look for another route." Yan Hui looked at everyone. "We'll split the money together in the end."

"No problem." Old Song nodded immediately, his face full of excitement. In just this short while, Old Guo, Old Song, and Old Wu each got 80 yuan! This was much easier than waiting for customers at the entrance of the timber market!

Next, Yan Hui looked at the train timetable, carefully compared it, and found the next target vehicle.

There were still two carriages left on this train, making it a popular route. Without hesitation, Yan Hui went over and used the gate to reserve those two carriages.

Then came the long wait.

Two hours passed, and not a single boss came looking for a wagon. No one was in a hurry, so they just waited patiently.

Around 9 a.m., they met the first boss who was looking for a freight car, and then the second one came.

By 10:30 p.m., a total of four train cars had been transferred out.

Since no one came to negotiate for the last occupied wagon, Yan Hui and the others went up and dismantled all four wooden poles.

Yan Hui earned 800 yuan in one night. He gave 160 yuan to everyone and kept 320 yuan for himself.

That's 10 times his daily wage!
Back inside, Brother Zhao was already asleep; Brother Liu wasn't staying there tonight. Yan Hui quickly washed up inside, lay down on the bed, and began to think about what had happened that day.

He carefully analyzed his experiences over the past few hours, trying to find a better solution.

After careful consideration, the plan itself didn't offer much room for improvement. However, this "business" was indeed unsustainable, and many problems would arise later. Yan Hui and his group were taking advantage of a tacit "rule" here: at this freight station, whoever puts up the barrier first gets the right to use the wagon, and this rule works very well here.

Earlier today, Yan Hui had asked Brother Liu about the origin of this rule.

It is said that this rule did not exist in the early days. When someone brought a truckload of goods, they found that there were no empty wagons, so they had to take the goods back. Later, someone invented this method, but some people did not approve of it, and there were disputes over who would use the wagons instead of the other way around, which led to several fights.

About two years ago, the freight station established a simple rule: whoever inserts the bar first gets to use the railcar.

In other words, once you put up the pole, you can confidently arrange for a convoy to deliver timber here.

Timber is a bulk commodity, and besides the value of the timber itself, the biggest cost is transportation. Therefore, no one can afford the expense of moving goods around. If you are a business owner and receive an order but find all the available poles at the station full, you can wait for the next train. When the next train arrives, you can be the first to fill the poles without any problem. This saves you from unnecessary handling costs.

Because of the previous fights over freight cars, the freight station was very supportive of this solution after things calmed down. Harmony was paramount, and this had essentially become an ironclad rule. What was planted wasn't a barrier, but rather the established rules.

Therefore, the act of "planting" poles is inherently advantageous to business owners. Those who understand this rule are mostly "big shots," so no one considers specifically planting poles to reserve them for resale. If a business owner did this, they would be severely criticized by their competitors, but Yan Hui didn't care; he wasn't a business owner.

Regardless, Yan Hui decided that he needed to make money first! He didn't have any money right now; he needed to accumulate capital and make money!
(All the stories here are true; feel free to discuss!)

(End of this chapter)