Zhang Haiping was very happy after learning of Tan Jincheng's purpose, as there was a new order.
At the same time, he was also a bit troubled.
According to the lunar calendar, today was already the 29th day of the eleventh month, and tomorrow would enter the twelfth month.
The garment industry is filled with a large number of migrant workers.
Small factories like Zhang Haiping's, apart from his own family, are all staffed by people from out of town.
Every year in mid-December (lunar calendar), these employees would gradually start returning to their hometowns.
Zhang Haiping, who had dealt with these employees for many years, knew that it was almost impossible to stop them from returning home.
At most, he could only get them to leave a few days later.
But no matter what, by the twentieth day of the twelfth month, which is around the 31st of this month, it would be a blessing if five or six employees were still working in the factory.
This is a problem currently faced by all small factories in the entire textile industry.
The situation is even more severe for factories in Huzhou, where some factories are almost completely empty by early December (lunar calendar).
Migrant workers work for money, with no social security or year-end bonuses.
Bosses with a bit of conscience might provide some travel expenses, but only after you promise to start work after the New Year.
Therefore, there is no stability.
If you don't agree, I'll just leave.
I'll switch to another factory next year; anyway, everyone's wages are similar, so it's the same wherever I go.
This order isn't large, but a few temporary workers must be hired.
Temporary workers aren't hard to find.
Some factories have limited orders and, due to the special nature of the New Year period, will close early.
Some who don't want to go home so early will work as temporary workers for a few days.
However, the wages for temporary workers at this time are different from usual; they must be at least about 30% higher.
"Oh, Mr. Tan, you've given me a challenge. It's almost New Year, what kind of orders are you still taking?"
Zhang Haiping shook his head and smiled bitterly.
Tan Jincheng looked at Zhang Haiping and smiled,
"Isn't there still a month until the New Year? Besides, foreigners don't celebrate the New Year. If I don't take it, I won't have it tomorrow, and neither will you."
Having been in the garment business for a few months, how could Tan Jincheng not know this? But what did that have to do with him?
This order was deliberately taken by Tan Jincheng.
The actual production time was much more generous than what he told Zhang Haiping.
Tan Jincheng wanted to use this order to test Zhang Haiping's attitude.
If you still follow the previous rules, then we'll continue to cooperate next year, expand the scale, and even open a new factory.
Jinpeng Trade's investment wouldn't be out of the question.
But if you're unwilling to bear the small additional expense of temporary workers and aren't willing to take this order, then we'll find someone else as early as tomorrow and cooperate with a medium-sized OEM factory.
"Alas, foreigners don't celebrate the New Year, but we do! Workers need to go home. At this time, worker turnover is quite serious, and hiring temporary workers requires increasing wages."
"Mr. Zhang, you need to think differently. Think about it, if you still have so many orders during the New Year, your employees will see how busy this boss is, and they'll definitely choose your factory first next year, right?"
"That's true, but the end of the year is also when I'm short on cash. I still need to pay the fabric suppliers. Mr. Tan, do you think we can increase the price for this order?"
"Haha, Mr. Zhang, are you joking? A price increase is definitely not possible."
After a pause, Tan Jincheng continued,
"However, I understand the difficulties you mentioned. How about this: for this order, I can give you a 50% advance payment. What do you think?"
Zhang Haiping was extremely conflicted.
It wasn't that he didn't understand that the status of their cooperation had changed.
Tan Jincheng was undoubtedly the qualified client, and mentioning a price increase was just a test.
But business is always negotiated.
How would he know without trying?
"How about adding two mao per garment? Consider it Mr. Tan treating these machine operators to a New Year's Eve dinner."
"That's not possible. There's no such rule. Whatever price was agreed upon is the price."
Why should I pay for your employees' New Year's Eve dinner?
Small factory owners are just stingy with their employees, unwilling to give anything.
Seeing that Tan Jincheng left no room for negotiation, Zhang Haiping had no choice but to give up.
Fortunately, the advance payment was raised to 50%, which was still good.
"Could the advance payment be raised by another 10%? That way, I'd have more funds available and could hire a few more temporary workers,"
Zhang Haiping tentatively asked.
Tan Jincheng looked at Zhang Haiping speechlessly.
Zhang Haiping also gave an awkward smile; this request was indeed a bit outrageous.
However, businesspeople have thick skin.
Since it was said, he naturally wouldn't retract it.
"Alright, alright, 60% it is. We've been cooperating for several months, there's no point haggling over this. Just finish on time."
Tan Jincheng smiled bitterly, thinking he should agree to this old guy, otherwise, future negotiations would be impossible.
As for paying an additional 10% advance, it wasn't breaking any rules.
There were no strict rules when doing business with small factory owners; no advance payment at all was acceptable, and full payment also occurred.
But a price increase was definitely out of the question.
The profit margin for this order was good.
Even if the full amount was paid to Zhang Haiping and James no longer wanted it, Jinpeng Trade wouldn't lose much.
What's more, there was still the Taobao shop for gradual retail.
Since Alipay launched, the Taobao shop's business had been getting better day by day.
In addition to the shop's own upgrades, it also benefited from Lao Ma Tou's strong promotion of the entire website.
Recently, Taobao's publicity had been one wave after another, covering an increasing number of people.
Skipped orders (products) don't mean they can't be sold.
If the next customer is interested, they can still be sold.
When the order volume is not large, the overall risk is actually very small.
"Haha, Mr. Tan is straightforward. It's comfortable doing business with a young man like you, so decisive,"
Zhang Haiping said with a happy laugh.
To be honest, he was just tentatively bringing it up, and he didn't expect Tan Jincheng to actually agree.
This was naturally a good thing.
An additional 10% advance payment would significantly reduce his financial pressure for the New Year.
"Mr. Zhang, you need to change your mindset. You don't want to be a small boss your whole life, do you?"
"What do you mean, Mr. Tan?"
"Now that orders are increasing, you can try to expand your production capacity a bit. For the orders you outsourced in the past two months, you also had to share a portion of the profit, right?"
"Another point is that you are really exploiting your workers too much now. Workers have no sense of belonging at all, and you have to replace a batch of new employees every year, leading to inconsistent quality, which is also greatly affected."
What Tan Jincheng said were actually common problems in small factories across the country.
Most of these small bosses didn't have much insight; they started a factory with sheer drive and happened to catch the trend of the times.
Those who lost money were naturally eliminated.
Most of those who survived were complacent.
Ten or even twenty years later, the scale of their factories remained the same, and their treatment of workers still followed the old routines from many years ago, without any change.
The reason they could make money was mostly due to the dividends the era granted them.
(End of chapter)
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