Chapter 62: The Factory's First Profit
Chapter 62 The factory's first profit
"Thank you very much." Yang Wendong said again.
He felt that he owed Elena a lot, but she didn't accept any benefits, which made him feel a little uncomfortable.
Elena smiled and said, "You're welcome. If this little cost can solve the rat problem in our building, we will make a profit."
"It's up to each of us." Yang Wendong said with a smile, "If we do well in the future, you can also introduce us to other government departments."
"Okay, no problem." Elena nodded and said, "By the way, I contacted the British trader I mentioned last time yesterday. He is in Thailand and will come to Hong Kong in a few days. When the time comes, you can prepare your things and information, and I can arrange a meeting for you."
"Okay, then tell the trader that I'd like to invite him for tea." Yang Wendong was delighted.
Looking at the Hong Kong market alone, although he now has a factory, he still values being able to undertake rat extermination business for Hong Kong government departments, large companies and large warehouses. This is because the market for things like sticky mouse boards and fly boards is too small.
But if these two things can be exported, it would be equivalent to suddenly gaining a market hundreds or thousands of times larger, with unlimited potential; and the rat extermination business can only be undertaken in Hong Kong, and it is unlikely to go to neighboring Taiwan.
Elena nodded and said, "Okay, he also likes Chinese food very much. You need to pay more attention to him."
"No problem." Yang Wendong thought about it and agreed.
When doing business, no matter who the other party is, as long as you have a common interest, it will be easy to establish a relationship with them.
The next day after he left, Yang Wendong received a reply that he could cooperate.
It may also be because the price of 10 yuan a week is considered very cheap, perhaps even less than the salary of many clerks. This price, plus the fact that Yang Wendong's rat extermination company has experience in rat extermination in Kowloon Wharf, is really nothing for a government department.
That afternoon, Yang Wendong went to the Municipal Committee with two colleagues, and he personally set traps in many corners.
Elena brought the cooperation contract, and then watched Yang Wendong work for a while, and asked curiously: "Mr. Yang, don't you produce mouse traps? Why are you using mouse traps instead?"
Yang Wendong said with a smile: "The sticky mouse board is more suitable for places with few people or at home, because everyone knows that there are sticky mouse boards there. In public areas, mouse traps are more suitable, otherwise the sticky mouse board will easily stick to people's shoes."
Elena nodded and said, "I see."
Yang Wendong added: "In places where people don't go, I will use sticky mouse boards, and around the outside walls, I also use mouse cages."
Elena said: "Sure enough, a small thing can also have a lot of knowledge."
"Catching mice is no small matter." Yang Wendong said with a smile.
"Yes, if there were no rats, human civilization might be different." Elena also said: "Especially the dark ages in the Western world, it was too horrible."
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Yes."
The Dark Ages of the Western world, also known as the Black Death in European history, killed tens of millions of people over a period of 300 years.
However, Yang Wendong did not understand. The plague had appeared many times in the history of Chinese civilization, but it usually ended after a few years. The ancients also concluded that there would only be three major epidemics.
But how did those idiots in Europe manage to keep the plague spreading for 300 years?
After returning to her company, Su Yiyi came over with a list and asked, "Brother Dong, I just calculated that the various materials spent at Elena's Municipal Committee cost about 120 yuan." Yang Wendong asked, "It's mainly the cost of the rat cage, right?"
Su Yiyi nodded and said, "Yes, Haoyu looked around a lot before he found one that sold for 3 yuan each. He bought 50 of them, and because of the large quantity, there was a discount so he spent 130 yuan. He used 40 of them today."
“Rat cages in Hong Kong are indeed expensive. However, if rat cages weren’t so expensive, we wouldn’t be where we are today,” Yang Wendong said with a smile.
He was able to start his business with mousetraps because iron, mouse cages and mousetraps were expensive in Hong Kong. Otherwise, he wouldn't even have the chance to set up a stall.
Su Yiyi said: "Liming just came to me and said that Brother Dong, your business will sooner or later expand to many buildings and institutions, and the demand for mouse cages will definitely be high in the future. What he meant was that we can make it ourselves."
"Do it ourselves?" Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "That's fine. The cost of the things we buy may not even be half of what the factory produces. If we do it ourselves, we can save a lot. Can you do it?"
Su Yiyi said: "Liming said yes, he said he would make a few in the next two days."
"Well, that's good. It's good to save some costs." Yang Wendong didn't care too much and said, "Maybe I can sell rat cages in the future. The channels are the same anyway."
Although mouse sticky stickers have become the number one mouse catching tool in later generations, it does not mean that every advantage of it is better. For example, mouse sticky stickers are not suitable for crowded places, windy places, places prone to rain, and places with a lot of dust.
Now that his business is in the direction of rat extermination, before he can think of any better way, he doesn't mind using existing channels and factories to produce some other useful rat-catching tools, either for his own use or to sell through channels.
Su Yiyi nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll ask Liming to buy some raw materials for the wire."
"Yeah." Yang Wendong stopped asking about such trivial matters and asked, "How are the accounts going recently?"
Su Yiyi said, "I just finished it, you can help me too."
"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded. Although he was not in charge of the business, he still kept strict control over the finances.
The two came to the table. Yang Wendong looked through the accounts for a while, nodded and said, "Not bad. Although there are still some minor problems, the big figures are basically clear."
If in the future, there were a few cents more in the account, the finance department would probably go crazy, but now, it is not a big deal. Yang Wendong only looks at the data of large amounts and does not care about other small amounts at all.
They originally produced the sticky mouse traps by hand, and the cost of each one was about 3 yuan.
Nowadays, through mass production, the cost of plastic sheets, glue and even stickers has been reduced through bulk purchase. Now, it only costs 2.5 cents per piece.
Taking into account labor, rent and other expenses, you can still make 50 cents from a mouse trap, and the gross profit margin is over %.
With the current daily shipment of more than a thousand pieces, the net profit will soon reach 3000 at the end of the month.
If you can keep your monthly salary stable, you can basically buy a nice house in a year.
Su Yiyi said: "During this period, the orders of An Yongqiang and Zhao Chengguang seem to have reached a bottleneck."
"Hong Kong is so small, and this number is already pretty good. In theory, it may get lower and lower in the future," Yang Wendong said. "We must find a way to expand overseas markets."
(End of this chapter)