At nine o'clock the next morning, Fang Bai went out with his bag.
His bag contained five thousand yuan, which he intended to use to buy a bp machine.
In this era, not having a decent communication tool was truly inconvenient.
Having been accustomed to using ultra-thin touch screen phones, Fang Bai certainly disliked the brick-like 'big brother' phones.
If he were to spend twenty or thirty thousand yuan on a 'big brother' phone, from his perspective in the future, he would definitely consider that person a huge fool.
Twenty or thirty thousand yuan! That could buy half a house!
To spend money that could buy half a house on a low-class brick, hehe, that's just stupid.
Moreover, the 'big brother' phone was too bulky. It wasn't as convenient as a small and exquisite communication tool like a bp machine, which could be discreetly placed in a pants pocket, keeping a low profile.
Alright, Fang Bai couldn't afford a 'big brother' phone, so he was just sour-graping.
However, on the other hand.
Wearing a bp machine on the belt really looked silly, and Fang Bai would never do such a thing.
Fang Bai rode his brand-new bicycle with a confident smile, blending into the bustling street.
To buy a bp machine, there were no dedicated bp machine stores in those days.
Stores or malls specializing in electronic products, such as appliance stores or digital stores, or even fixed-line phone business halls, would usually have some bp machines available for consumers to choose from.
Fang Bai found a bp machine for sale in a digital store, but when he inquired, there was only one style.
It was an alphanumeric pager, capable of producing sounds or vibrations while displaying both letters and numbers.
With this kind of bp machine, one had to call back to find out the situation.
No Chinese character display?
That is, a device that could simultaneously display Chinese characters, letters, and numbers.
This kind was more convenient as one didn't have to search all over for a phone to know the content of the call.
"Miss, don't you have one that displays Chinese characters?"
"Sir, no, we don't. Many people have asked; you're not the first. Currently, the most advanced is this digital display. If it were an earlier analog signal bp machine, users could only receive a call signal and would need to call the paging station to inquire about the callback number."
"..."
Fang Bai instantly felt disappointed. Without a Chinese character display, it would be much more troublesome to use.
It meant using numbers to represent certain meanings, for example, 520 meant 'I love you,' 101 represented the surname 'Li,' and many required looking up the code to know the meaning.
It seemed that the Chinese character display had not yet been developed.
It wasn't available now, but it was probably coming soon. The peak lifespan of bp machines was very short; mobile phones would appear in a few years.
So, should he buy it or not?
For business, he still had to buy it.
Fang Bai chatted with the sales staff and finally paid for a Motorola bp machine.
The Motorola bp machine cost 1380 yuan, the network activation fee was 600 yuan, the number selection fee was 300 yuan, and the monthly rental fee was 30 yuan, usually paid for a year.
Excluding the monthly rental fee, the whole set cost 2280 yuan, which made Fang Bai feel a bit pained.
The machine fees were almost the same everywhere, but the activation fees and monthly rental fees varied greatly, and sometimes there was no number selection fee. Fang Bai didn't quibble about this; as a businessman, he had to let people make a profit.
Wasn't he also making a profit off others? A TV costing less than a hundred yuan to produce was sold for over a thousand yuan. He was making a much bigger profit than others, almost a no-cost business.
Therefore, Fang Bai merely grumbled a bit about the inconvenience of use.
His pager number was "127-1009527," a combination of an automatic and manual station. When dialing 127 and the following 7 digits from a landline, the bp machine would directly display the landline number.
After buying the bp machine, Fang Bai left the digital store and clipped the bp machine to his belt.
At first, he thought wearing it on his belt looked silly, but now he felt it was quite convenient.
And, very fashionable.
However, he wasn't used to tucking his shirt into his pants, which made him look a bit unfashionable.
If he tucked in his shirt, he could reveal his bp machine, naturally exuding the air of a successful person, even more ostentatious than wearing a Rolex or a gold chain, because the public might not recognize a Rolex, but a bp machine was instantly recognizable.
"Wow, that person has a bp machine, their family must be in business."
Most people thought this way.
After walking a few steps, Fang Bai felt it was better to tuck his shirt into his pants after all.
He wasn't doing it to show off the bp machine, but rather felt that tucking in his shirt made it easier to integrate into this era.
Everyone else tucked in their shirts and clipped bp machines to their belts. He couldn't very well be different and out of place with his surroundings.
To do business, one must display one's strength.
Indeed, ever since he tucked in his shirt, passersby looked at him more often.
Fang Bai, with a confident smile, rode his bicycle to Jiayu Processing Factory.
Qin Donghai was busy working. Seeing Fang Bai arrive, he wiped the oil from his hands with a rag and greeted Fang Bai with a laugh:
"Brother, I haven't seen you for days, and I couldn't find you."
"I had some things to handle these past few days. I just bought a bp machine. Write down my number, 1271009527. Just CALL me if you need anything."
"That's great, and it's a Motorola brand. Mine is too." Qin Donghai looked at the bp machine on Fang Bai's belt; the brand and model were the same as his own.
The two exchanged numbers and discussed the production situation at the workshop.
Jiayu Processing Factory would finish Hengli Company's order tomorrow and then start Boli Company's order.
His father-in-law said it was hard to recruit people now. Every factory was snatching skilled workers. Even if he offered slightly higher wages, people were unwilling to work night shifts.
He had only managed to recruit one driller and was still urgently recruiting lathe operators.
"Listen to me, offer more money to recruit workers. Outsiders need to have food and accommodation provided. For the master craftsmen, you need to increase their wages again.
I estimate that wages will increase significantly again after the Spring Festival next year. It's already the end of the year. A few months ago, a raise wasn't a big deal, but what if workers leave and you can't find people to work? Wouldn't that delay making money? I'll pull in more orders, and we won't be able to finish them."
Fang Bai advised. Currently, larger factories were developing wildly, with endless orders and a scramble for skilled workers.
Most local skilled workers in Wen City worked independently and rarely for others, so recruitment generally focused on migrant workers.
His father-in-law had the stinginess of a local Wen City boss. While he paid sufficient wages, which were higher than factories in other provinces.
However, other benefits were very ordinary. Forget about weekends off; overtime was frequent.
It could also be said that in the entire Jiangnan Province, private enterprises rarely gave workers weekends off; two days off a month was considered good.
High wages were only given because they couldn't find people, forced to increase wages, not because they voluntarily wanted to raise workers' pay.
Improving production efficiency would suppress unit prices; they wouldn't give you exceptionally high wages, nor would they press them exceptionally low.
There was also a good side: they rarely owed workers' wages, the canteen food was relatively good, and they were willing to invest heavily in the factory.
But these were all the most basic things that an enterprise should provide.
Fang Bai also considered whether, if he started his own enterprise, he would be a pure capitalist or a great entrepreneur who strived to improve employee benefits.
He definitely leaned towards the latter, but achieving it was still very difficult. The enterprise had to be very profitable; otherwise, it would just be empty talk.
After listening to Fang Bai, Qin Donghai thought about it and felt it made sense. He said, "Alright, I'll talk to them."
He was worried that if he raised wages to recruit new people, and the original master craftsmen didn't get a raise, they would be unhappy when they found out and compared, and might even jump ship.
Fang Bai was right. If he could make money, why insist on comparing wages with other factories?
If an extra hundred wasn't enough, then give an extra two hundred. Someone would always be tempted to come and work.
One worker could create thousands in profit for him each month, so giving them a bit more wasn't much.
The more he spent, the more he earned himself.