"...Oh..." After hearing this, Sun Jiming couldn't help but make fun of the ship boss, but after thinking about it, he felt something was wrong and spoke again.
"You didn't lie to me with the story, did you? Judging from your situation, the boss of the ship probably didn't treat you too harshly?" Sun Jiming looked at the two of them and asked.
"...I'm not lying, I'm not lying..." The negotiating man quickly waved his hand and explained: "After suffering that loss, the ship boss also restrained himself a lot, and the current business of the fleet is not the same as before.
In the past, the fleet only ran the transportation business, but now, the fleet only accepts orders from those whose cargo owners have great energy and can properly manage all the joints along the way.
This kind of order can be shipped to a small ship like ours, and the freight is generally not high, but the advantage is that all parties along the way have taken care of it, which can save countless troubles.
The ship owner will control the order quantity, leaving half a ship and one ship free, and bring a little of his own goods. This quantity is tacitly approved by the cargo owner, and our goods will not be sold locally to steal business from customers and local businessmen.
.
Usually along the road, around the destination or further away, in remote and remote mountainous areas, we carry the goods and act as peddlers and merchants to sell them.
The wages for us simply doing work as boatmen on the ship were not as high as the rural tourists he hired before. We just took our things and sold them in the mountains, and the profit was not low.
In that kind of place, all kinds of needles and threads are not cheap, and we usually exchange them for mountain goods. When we exchange them, they are cheap, and we can make more money by taking them out to places with higher prices. This is what we mainly do.
Profitable."
Sun Jiming nodded and asked curiously: "Then this job should be quite dangerous, right? In that kind of place, not to mention the poor mountains and rivers, unruly people, thugs, gangs, jackals, tigers and leopards, I'm afraid it wouldn't be that easy to break into, right?"
The negotiating man nodded and said: "It is estimated that half a boatload of people got in front and back, but mainly at the beginning. After figuring out the secret behind it, there won't be many such things.
For example, for local vendors, we will bring them some good wine, good cloth, and some foreign gadgets, etc., and let them use them to deal with all kinds of difficult customers. Such things are basically impossible to find in those places, and they will
I bought it at the original price and provided us with some local news.
Having this kind of information can help us avoid a lot of troubles. As for jackals, tigers and leopards, we now know how to avoid and deal with them. Generally, they are not too unlucky and will not fall into the tiger's mouth themselves."
"...It's not easy..." Sun Jiming sighed with emotion, and then asked curiously: "It's so dangerous, how do you divide the profits between you and the boss of the ship?"
Hearing this, the negotiating man immediately puffed up his beard and glared. He kept making all kinds of complaints and complaints. It was obvious that the boss of the ship really didn't like him.
According to the negotiating man, in the beginning, the shipowners gave them goods at higher prices for goods from nearby areas where the fleet docked, and they took the goods to sell and were responsible for their own profits and losses.
At first it was 10% to 20% higher. Later, when they saw that they were not making less money, they began to find various excuses to increase the price. At the highest, it was more than 50% to 60% higher.
They stopped working and began to secretly get goods from the surrounding areas and make up accounts when they came back. Naturally, the boss noticed it. He was not happy at first and even decided to give them some extra wages during the trip up the mountain, and then all the profits would be his.
Later, I saw that they were still very angry and had the idea of gathering together to do something with him, so they gave up and didn't mention it again. Later, they still had all kinds of quarrels, hindered each other, messed up the business several times and lost a lot of money, and then basically reached the agreement.
Consistent.
They pay for the goods themselves, sell them themselves, and are responsible for their own profits and losses, while the shipowners provide transportation and entrainment services and then charge high freight rates.
"...Anyway, we people are equivalent to a boatload of small traders! Even the small traders are not as good as that. The boss of the boat is still trying various ways to squeeze benefits bit by bit from our teeth. We have calculated that in the end, at least five
Sixty percent of the profits will fall into the pocket of the ship boss..."
The negotiating man complained and listed a lot of examples, such as the daily wages of a boatman are kept to the lowest; when the boat is not moving and the work is not started, wages are not counted; when they go up the mountain, the boat's lost time is also calculated.
; They also had to pay a large share for all kinds of management along the way, saying that he was either transporting it to a big customer or taking an empty ship for the return trip, and it was their goods that needed to be managed...
And so on, there are countless ways to get money from them, openly or covertly, and it took the negotiating man a long time to finish talking about some of the vile and ridiculous things.
"You're so cruel, don't you want to leave?" Boss Qiu also became interested and asked curiously.
"...Sigh..." The negotiating man sighed and said with a wry smile: "The ship boss has learned a lot now. Just like controlling the volume of cargo received by the fleet, he also strictly controls the benefits from us within a certain limit.
It's the kind of person who feels it's not worthwhile to leave, but I can barely accept the bite, and it won't force us to join forces to rebel against him. Anyway, if we make more, he will make more, and if we make less, he will relax.
Please don't push us too hard. If you don't like it, you won't feel happy, but..."
The negotiating man looked helpless, and the man leading the way also added casually, saying that the boss of the ship often sows dissension among the crew members, causing everyone to have many conflicts and easily unable to unite.
Moreover, the ship owner has a very dark heart. After usually receiving and delivering goods, after loading and unloading, he likes to go far away from the city, saying that there is a lot of money in the city and he needs to save money. But when they save more money, he
He secretly poked and charged for more money.
Like Shanghai, the cost here is very expensive, which is what the shipowners hate the most and don't like to run away from. They only pass by on the river and look at it from a distance, and the shipowners can think about it for a long time.
But this time, when they went to Suzhou to load goods, they were delayed for more than ten days due to delays, so they made an appointment to go to Shanghai to learn more and spend money at the same time, so as not to miss out and end up becoming the boss's again.
As for whether the money was spent? How much? That’s haha!
"Don't listen to his nonsense! It's a bit like this, but it's not that serious. Most people really want to come here to have fun. The boss of this ship doesn't want us to come here, but he feels like a kitten scratching his head. Plus some
My peers boasted that if I didn’t have this opportunity, I would have looked for other opportunities!”
The negotiating man also took a sip of the sour juice and found that it was indeed appetizing. He hurriedly greeted him and started eating. The topic also shifted from these things to the negotiating men's experiences in various places, especially the dishes they tasted in various places.
Sun Jiming is what one yearns for.
"...唔唔唔..." They were chatting happily! The group of people in the dining hall had already eaten and went upstairs in groups.
"What are they? Aren't they waiting below?" Sun Jiming asked the negotiating man with some confusion.
"Let them go up first and exchange them according to the colors and styles. I'll ask you to exchange them a little later..." The negotiating man quickly explained.
He said this, but there was a bit of helplessness on his face, and he obviously had some inside information. Since the man who was negotiating didn't want to talk more about this kind of internal discord, Sun Jiming didn't ask any more questions.
A few people had almost finished eating, and after clearing away the remaining bits in the bowls, they helped clear the table together, and after exchanging clothes, people started to come down one after another.
Sun Jiming first asked the negotiation man and the guide man to change their coats and match them with their trousers. He also asked the two to exchange their belts.
It was not that he was favoring the two of them, but he was using them to show off to everyone. He finally understood what the leading man was saying about being solitary, and he guessed that this group of people had already dispersed into a ball of loose sand.
He asked the two of them to adjust the cuffs, collar, button closure, etc., and then let everyone take a look, and sure enough! The questioning eyes, and the doubtful people hiding behind them, immediately disappeared, and instead they gathered around.
Sun Jiming asked everyone to form a half circle, and then started to adjust. Most of the people were doing well after the exchange, but he still fine-tuned it.
After this adjustment, it looked much more pleasing to the eye, but I still felt that something was a little inconsistent. After looking around for a few times, my eyes finally stopped at my feet.
"Brother Sun, what's wrong? Is there any problem?" The negotiator, who had become very close to Sun Jiming, saw his brows furrowed and he was slightly dazed, so he immediately asked.
"It's okay! The shoes feel a little inappropriate. Do you want to change them?" Sun Jiming waved his hand and asked.
"...This..." The negotiating man scratched his head and said: "We only wore this pair here. Many people's feet are different sizes, and our other shoes are basically like this..."
Sun Jiming quickly interrupted and said: "What I mean is to buy a new pair of shoes, don't worry! The price is quite affordable, and if you buy it, you will usually wear it on the ship, there should be no problem at all, and it may even be more suitable than cloth shoes.
The place is not far away. Take Fuxi Road and go all the way to Fahua. There is an alley there. Recently, there have been a large number of vendors selling ready-made clothes and shoes. They are of high quality and low price. I happened to have a few brothers who didn't match their clothes well.
, I just happened to go there to have a nice look."
After listening to the negotiation, the man who was negotiating looked at the crowd and found that no one stood up to object. Some people even suggested that they just go there tonight to have fun and buy shoes and other things.
Seeing this scene, the negotiating man asked Sun Jiming and made a decision. Although some people objected, most of them had no objections.
Everyone was allowed to prepare individually. About ten minutes later, everyone left the hotel and walked along the short fork street on the left, slowly squeezing out with the crowd.
Sancha Road here, although the three are just forked streets, but the two are slightly shorter, they form a street similar to snacks and stalls, so as soon as the temperature drops, the place immediately becomes lively and crowded.
After squeezing out of the side street and looking at the brightly lit and bustling main road, everyone was a little dazed. Along the way, listening to Sun Jiming's instructions and introductions to various places, they were even more dazzled.
When we arrived at the long alley full of stalls, everyone basically followed Sun Jiming's recommendation and picked a pair of high-top work boots made of thick cloth with rubber soles. Some people were even dazzled and couldn't help but buy one or two new clothes.
By the time we got back, it was already high in the moonlight. Maybe it wasn't because there were too many interests mixed in, or maybe it was because they were just like each other. The two parties were getting along pretty well, and they could even get along with the arrogant Sun Jiming.
The two parties separated at the fork in the street, but before Sun Jiming could go too far, Boss Qian led someone to his side.
"I've looked it up for you, I don't see anything suspicious..." Sun Jiming spoke in a stiff tone, telling everything he saw and heard today.
"Is that okay? Don't come to me again for this kind of thing in the future. How do you choose? How do you take sides? That's your business. I don't want to get involved. Besides, I can't be my own master."
After saying that, Sun Jiming walked away with an ugly face and ignored the other party at all. Unfortunately, the other party didn't care at all, curled his lips, and left leisurely with the others.