Chapter 217 Team Leader
Many companies of this era are large and comprehensive, especially some large and super-large state-owned enterprises, which take care of everything from the inside out, from production to transportation to sales, and even from the education of employees' children to the lives of employees. In short, they take care of everything you can think of.
This practice was understandable in the era of planned economy, but under the market economy such a structure has become a burden for enterprises.
With the opening up of the market economy, all this will soon change. Let’s talk about transportation without mentioning other things. Originally, most companies were responsible for their own transportation. Each state-owned enterprise had its own car team or fleet to undertake the company’s logistics work.
Apart from its own transportation , railway transportation is originally a monopoly in nature, which has led to a shortage of logistics demand and supply during the development of the market economy.
On the one hand, many companies' own fleets are under-utilized and their own internal business is insufficient, which has caused the companies to suffer losses in the fleet sector year after year, and they can only use profits from other areas to continuously subsidize their own fleets.
On the other hand, the market economy trend outside enterprises means that the transportation needs of individual or small collective enterprises cannot be met in the market.
This has resulted in under-utilization of many large corporate fleets, but the market demand for logistics and transportation has gradually increased, and some individuals and small businesses are unable to find transportation vehicles outside.
This is a seemingly contradictory situation, but it did exist at the time. As this situation occurred, it gradually formed a situation where the heads of large corporate fleets or individual drivers took advantage of the unit's dispatch of vehicles to provide piggyback transportation for individuals or companies outside their own unit.
Of course, this kind of piggyback transportation is actually doing private work, or to put it bluntly, it is poaching from the company, because the gasoline and mileage depreciation of the car are all paid by the company, but the freight of the piggybacked goods falls into the pocket of the individual or the team, resulting in a loss for the team on the internal accounts of the enterprise, but the individuals in the team make a lot of extra money.
As a driver of the small truck team, Zhang Jianguo is naturally very clear about this. Although he does not drive a large truck, he also came from a large truck team, not to mention that several of his fellow apprentices are still driving large trucks.
In the early 1980s, as this situation continued to emerge, the model of private sports cars naturally emerged in society. Some smart drivers who could drive pooled together to get a car, and then took turns transporting goods for individuals and small businesses, which made a lot of profit.
Song Yuanchao remembered that most of the drivers who started this business early made money, and some even made a lot of money. The private fleets grew bigger and bigger, and some became big bosses. So when Zhang Jianguo proposed that he planned to do this business directly, Song Yuanchao supported it.
But there are different ways to do transportation. The simplest one is what Zhang Jianguo mentioned, where a few brothers pool their money together and take out a loan to buy a car. It doesn't need to be a new car because new cars are too expensive and they can't afford them. They ask through their own channels about corporate fleets they know and buy a used car, repair it well and make it able to run and haul goods.
The way to attract business is also very simple. On the one hand, they contact small businesses with needs through the previous relationships of their own fleet. On the other hand, they drive the car directly to the long-distance bus station or railway station and park it, and then put a transportation sign in front of the car window, and naturally someone will come to ask about transportation.
This model is sure to make money in the early stages. After all, judging from the current situation, the market demand for logistics is huge, but there are few vehicles capable of transporting goods. This is a seller's market.
But Song Yuanchao thought much deeper. In his opinion, since Zhang Jianguo had this idea and was going to put it into practice, why not give it a push? Moreover, with the continuous development of the economy, logistics is an important link. The supply chain as a whole cannot be separated from the promotion of logistics. If there is a reliable and long-term logistics cooperation that can meet the needs, it will also be a good thing for Tengfei Factory.
Because of this, Song Yuanchao thought about it carefully after returning and spent another night writing a more complete transportation plan. The next day, he found Zhang Jianguo and had a good chat with him for a long time, and showed him the plan, and asked Zhang Jianguo for his opinion after listening and reading it.
"Yuanchao, we can't afford so much money if this is the case, and I'm really unsure about doing it on such a large scale at once..." Zhang Jianguo was very tempted by Song Yuanchao's plan. Although he had been a driver for so many years and was proficient in both large and small trucks, and was very knowledgeable about transportation, he never expected that simple transportation would be so sophisticated in Song Yuanchao's hands.
But even so, Zhang Jianguo had deep concerns. If he followed Song Yuanchao's plan, it would no longer be the small-scale operation he had planned before. It would be clearly of the same nature as the fleet in his unit. With such a large investment and such a large-scale fleet, could a few drivers do it well?
"Don't worry about the money. Take another look at this." Song Yuanchao seemed to have guessed Zhang Jianguo's thoughts long ago. He smiled and took out another thing and handed it to him.
After taking the document, Zhang Jianguo looked at it carefully in his hand. After looking at it for a few times, he showed a look of surprise. He subconsciously looked up at Song Yuanchao and saw that Song Yuanchao was still smiling at him. Then Zhang Jianguo continued to read on. He spent half an hour reading these two simple pieces of paper.
"Aiding Korea, this... is this appropriate?" Zhang Jianguo finally finished reading it and he couldn't help but ask.
"Let's not talk about whether it's suitable or not. Uncle, let me ask you one thing. If this is the condition, do you want to do it?" Song Yuanchao handed him a cigarette and asked.
Lighting up the cigarette, Zhang Jianguo took a deep puff and exhaled a cloud of thick smoke, covering his face. After a while, the smoke gradually dissipated, and Zhang Jianguo took another puff, his expression a little tangled.
"To be honest, those who don't want to do it are bastards!" Zhang Jianguo said bluntly, but at the same time hesitant: "But this way we will get too much profit, will Tengfei Factory agree? This is clearly paying to help us!"
Song Yuanchao was delighted when he heard this. He smiled and told Zhang Jianguo not to worry about the Tengfei Factory. This Tengfei Factory was the new factory of the school-run factory where he worked before, and it had been transformed into a large collective. The factory director was not an outsider either. Zhang Jianguo knew him, and his name was Li Daqi.
"Uncle, this is what I think. It's good to keep money within the family. Tengfei Factory is doing very well right now, but they don't have a stable cooperative fleet and logistical support. Since you want to do the transportation, it's better to give it to you directly than to others. Anyway, it's the same transportation and the same cost. I feel relieved if you arrange it for Daqi."
"Besides, if you just take out a loan and pool your money to buy one or two old cars, there is no guarantee of safety. Even if you can barely fix the old cars, you are an experienced driver and you know better than anyone what these old cars are like. Some of them are older than Xiao Haozi. What if such a car breaks down on the road? Not to mention the delay in transporting goods, an accident would be a big deal, don’t you think?"
"Since we are going to do it, let's just do it well. Confucius said that if you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools. Just like a soldier going to the battlefield, if he doesn't have a weapon that suits him, how can he fight?"
"Did Confucius ever say something like this?" Zhang Jianguo was stunned. Although he was not well educated, he understood the meaning of this sentence. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense.
"Of course I did. I said more than just this. I also said many other things. Confucius has been called a saint for thousands of years, and there is a reason for that." Song Yuanchao explained with a smile, and then returned to the main topic and continued: "So, the vehicles are your weapons on the battlefield, and this must be guaranteed. In addition, it is always a bit unreasonable for you to go out and take on jobs and transport goods, so I suggest that this team be directly affiliated with Tengfei Factory. As a subordinate team of Tengfei Factory, it can be considered legitimate to go out."
"After the fleet is established, you will be the team leader, and you will have the final say on all matters concerning the fleet. Tengfei Factory will send a financial officer and an office director to assist you in your work, and they will not interfere with other normal business. The fleet will ensure the transportation needs of Tengfei Factory, and the factory will not interfere in external business. The most important point is that the fleet and the factory will sign a contract, and each year they will hand over a certain percentage of their profits, and the rest will belong to the fleet."
"Let me be the team leader?" Zhang Jianguo pointed at himself in surprise.
"Of course, if you don't take the role, who will? Daqi won't trust anyone else. Besides, you've been in the team for so many years, you know everything. You're just a team leader, what's so difficult about that?"
Zhang Jianguo was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly and said, "That's true, but I've never been a leader before. What if I don't do a good job..."
"This person is not destined to be a leader from the beginning. I remember you once told me when you were drunk that the leaders of your team were useless, saying that they were not good at managing people and affairs, and only knew how to show off and flatter others. If you were a leader, you would easily do better than any of them? Uncle, I have heard this many times. What's the matter? When such a good opportunity is placed in front of you, you dare not do it? Are you shrinking back?"
As he spoke, Song Yuanchao glanced at Zhang Jianguo with a half-smile on his face.
Zhang Jianguo's face flushed red, and he felt a surge of blood rushing from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. He was Song Yuanchao's uncle! He was an elder! What was the most embarrassing thing for an elder? Wasn't it being looked down upon by the younger generation? How could Zhang Jianguo, who cared so much about his reputation, endure this?
Taking a long puff of his cigarette and stubbed it out in the ashtray, Zhang Jianguo patted his chest and said proudly, "Isn't it just a team leader? What's the big deal! Can your uncle not do it well? It would be a joke if he couldn't do it well! I will definitely be the team leader!"
