"These are the first batch of goods you are going to sell!" In a warehouse in a factory area on the outskirts of Chicago, Josie pointed to the wooden boxes that were full of warehouses around him and said to Lyndon Schneider and Dix, and then
Pointing to a box next to him, "Dix, open it."
Dix stepped forward and opened the box.
Seeing what was inside, Dix's eyes lit up, and Lyndon Schneider's eyes also widened.
"Tobacco of such high quality!" Lyndon Schneider exclaimed, "Is it all tobacco in this warehouse?"
"That's right, they are all rough-processed dry tobacco. Your task is to find a way to sell them. As for whether you sell the tobacco leaves directly or make them into cigarettes and sell them, I don't care. The profit after selling them is up to you alone.
10%, others will share 10%, and the rest will be handed over to me. The other things handed over to me can also be some other things I need, such as arms, steel, cloth, food, etc., if you can find more than
If it's a good deal, you can let me know in advance. How about it? Are there any questions?" Josie looked at Lyndon Schneider and asked.
In later generations, when people talk about the illegal profiteering industry, most people's immediate reaction is that Huang Tian is above, the two evils of gambling fans, or arms.
Especially for fans, the profits can be hundreds of times higher at every turn.
But what many people don’t know is that in the United States, fandom has never been the most profitable illegal industry.
In the 21st century, don’t look at this harmful thing. The average annual sales in the United States exceed 100 billion, and the industry is huge. However, according to some calculations, due to various reasons such as high processing difficulty, fragmented market, high risks, and high transportation costs,
, its net profit margin is actually not high, less than 20%, but because of the layer-by-layer diffusion during the period, there are many intermediate links, and it has been diluted several times, this gives people the feeling that this thing seems to be very profitable.
,
In fact, in comparison, this thing is actually not as profitable as health care products.
For example, bird's nest in sugar water, 0.001% of the bird's nest ingredients, and the rest is actually sugar water. A small bottle costs up to 3 yuan and sells for 30...directly 1000% of the profit.
As for arms, the real money is always made by the legal transactions of the big arms dealers. Illegal transactions can only be regarded as piecemeal. Even the so-called king of arms earns more than one billion US dollars at the most in a year.
So what are the most profitable illegal industries in the United States?
From 1919 to the 1950s, the highest profit margin was wine, because of Prohibition.
After 1950, it was cigarettes, illicit cigarettes.
Yes, legal cigarettes are inherently a huge profit industry, while illegal illicit cigarettes are even more huge profits among huge profits.
Take New York in 2021 as an example. Due to the highest cigarette tax in the country, the average retail price of a pack of legal cigarettes is US$13, the wholesale price is US$12.5, and the profit of a pack is only 50 cents.
What about illicit cigarettes? The cost for smugglers to obtain the goods is less than US$1 per pack, and it will not exceed US$3 including intermediate transportation links. It is sold to downline sellers for US$5-6, with a profit margin of at least 200%.
The downline sellers can still earn 5-6 US dollars by selling at a price lower than the market price of 12 US dollars, and the profit margin is still over 100%.
Cigarettes in other areas are not that expensive, but the average retail price is more than $7...
(In many places in the United States, you can buy domestic cigarettes that are cheaper than domestic cigarettes. This is because of preferential tariffs and the price of domestic cigarettes is not cheap to begin with.)
It is precisely this kind of huge profit that has led to the share of illicit/counterfeit cigarettes in the U.S. market exceeding 60%.
The key is how high is the risk of powdering and how high is the risk of smoking?
Except for horse grass, which has been gradually legalized in later generations, the sentencing for selling and attracting fans is still relatively severe. The most important thing is that most of the legal treatment of citizens will be cancelled, and the sentencing in the early years was even heavier.
But what about selling cigarettes? Unless you are caught by the IRS, usually you can get it by paying a fine.
The risk levels are completely different.
Therefore, starting from the 1950s, the mafia, which has a strict organizational structure, high operational efficiency, high degree of informatization and advanced supply chain management, has actually begun to shift its industrial focus to selling cigarettes.
Let the rubes from Mexico and Colombia play with this stuff.
In addition, since the 1990s, 90% of illicit cigarettes in the US market are Made in prc.
The only problem is that the upstream business of illicit cigarettes will have very high requirements for managers.
This is why Josie values Lyndon Schneider so highly. This guy is called a criminal expert, not only because he has a high IQ and has done smuggling. The key is that this guy is a real "Ph.D." and a national of Monich University.
PhD student at the School of Economics...
Who knows why such a person would end up stealing things?
But considering what happened to Germany during World War I... it seems that this is not too strange.
"How many goods are there in total here?" Lyndon Schneider asked solemnly, looking at the full warehouse.
"40 tons!" Josie said with a smile.
40 tons????Lynden Schneider couldn't help but take a breath when he heard this, and his hands were shaking a little.
The price of cigarettes in this era was also different due to the different purchasing power of money.
A carton of cigarettes is basically only about $10.
This price may not seem high, but if calculated based on the purchasing power of currency, it is actually more expensive than in later generations. After all, according to the gold price comparison, the U.S. dollar in 2021 has depreciated nearly 40 times.
40 tons of tobacco, if you are more conscientious, if you use 1 gram of cut tobacco for one cigarette, that would be 40 million sticks, one million packs, or 100,000 cartons of cigarettes, that would be two million.
But what kind of conscience do people who make illicit cigarettes need? Roll it loosely, or add a little hay, and the output will be doubled, that is, four million.
Even if the profits from downstream sales are deducted, you can still earn at least two million.
Even if they can only keep 20%, that's still 400,000.
Isn't this better than stealing gems?
After all, if they can earn 30% of one million jewelry, it is considered too much.
And the risk of selling cigarettes is still low.
"You can do it! Of course you can!" Lyndon Schneider's eyes turned red.
Selling illegal cigarettes is not just about high profits but low risks.
Many times, cigarettes can be exchanged for items that are less than a second’s worth of money.
Especially in those chaotic areas, such as Europe now...
If this tobacco could be brought to present-day Europe, Lyndon Schneider could even get a mountain of gold in exchange!
"But Mr. Kahn, if I want to sell so much tobacco smoothly, I need some start-up capital, and I also need more weapons and manpower!" Lyndon Schneider said after calming down a little.
"Dix has prepared the manpower and weapons. As for the money, here is fifty thousand. In addition, I will introduce you to a person. Come out, Lieutenant Dietrich!" Josie clapped his hands.
Immediately, a man in plain clothes came out of the warehouse.
It was none other than Sheriff Dietrich who had appeared several times before.
"Mr. Kahn! Long time no see, Mr. Schneider!" Chief Dietrich first greeted Josie respectfully, then turned around and greeted Schneider with a slightly proud look.
"It turns out to be Sheriff Dietrich!" Lyndon Schneider greeted the other party with a strange look on his face, and he instantly understood the reason why Josie introduced the Sheriff.
The two-tiered profits of tobacco are the carrot, and the existence of this police chief is the stick.
However, with the help of such a police chief, tobacco sales will indeed be a lot easier.
"Speaking of which, Schneider, you owe a lot of credit to the Sheriff for being able to come out so early. In addition, the profits from tobacco will also be shared by the Sheriff and his colleagues. You will have to cooperate more in the future."
Qiao Xi said with a smile. "We are all smart people and should understand the meaning of this business. Moreover, this is only the first batch of goods. As long as we work hard, I guarantee that everyone will be rich and wealthy. But if someone wants to start a business,
If he has other ideas, I advise him to think about the consequences beforehand!"
Several people quickly said yes.
"Okay, I'll leave the rest to you. I have something else to do, so I'll leave first!" After explaining the matter, Qiao Xi didn't stay long and left.
As for whether these batches of tobacco would be hacked by Lyndon Schneider, Josie was not worried at all.
He has prepared double guarantees.
The men under Dix were all cowboys he recruited from his hometown of Kentucky, and they were all people with families. Even Dix himself was tied to Louis' widow.
If Lyndon Schneider wants to blackmail this batch of tobacco, it depends on whether these people agree.
And another layer of protection is Dietrich.
This guy is a real bad cop. When Josie was trying to find a way to exonerate Lyndon Schneider and Dix, he accidentally got a lot of information from this cop. And as a cop, he is also a dragster.
.
So under coercion and inducement, this criminal policeman easily turned to Qiao Xi.
Especially the profit from dozens of tons of tobacco, which under normal circumstances would be enough for Dietrich, a criminal policeman, to collect illegal money for more than ten years.
As for being bitten back? Josie doesn't care at all.
As I said before, selling illicit cigarettes is not a serious crime at all, and as long as Qiaosi is willing to spend money, not to mention that the probability of losing the lawsuit is very low. Even if she loses, as long as Margot is around, she can still get out with some money.
But these people...haha.
The only thing worth worrying about is that these people are barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes, and they fight against themselves.
But this possibility is too low. Who would go crazy and do a one-time deal when they know that as long as they work honestly for Qiao Xi, they can make money continuously?
Unless they can bypass Qiao Xi and get the supply directly.
But where is Josie’s source of supply?
Westeros!
Take it!
That's right, in addition to the more legitimate trades before, tobacco is a new hugely profitable business that Josie and Daenerys discovered during their exchanges.
It's just that in Westeros, tobacco is not smoked, but chewed like betel nut. This is actually how tobacco was first used when it was discovered by humans. Because the taste is sour, it is called sour grass leaves——
The finished tobacco leaves are not sour and are rather alkaline, because they are mainly flue-cured tobacco. Fresh tobacco leaves actually contain a large amount of organic acids such as citric acid and malic acid. These acids will be precipitated during the baking of the tobacco leaves, forming
White powder.
Because tobacco itself has great medicinal value and is highly addictive, it is very popular among nobles, so it is grown in large quantities in Westeros.
Daenerys has more territory. After all, it is Slaver's Bay. The labor cost is free, so the cost is very low.
But obviously, this thing is useless to Daenerys, a queen who is bent on striving for hegemony.
So I promoted it to Qiao Xi at a very low price, giving him another big surprise.