1855 United States Tycoon

Chapter 642, the plague (five)

Under such ulterior propaganda, gas masks suddenly changed from military materials to civilian necessities. A large number of orders flew to various manufacturers capable of manufacturing gas masks. Many companies that did not produce gas masks have also begun to switch production. Gas mask, after all, this thing is not a high-tech thing, especially produced for this purpose, it is nothing more than a banana headgear with glasses and a breathing port filled with activated carbon filters. As long as there are raw materials, most factories can produce this.

Gasol is now working as a worker in a factory that produces gas masks, a factory belonging to the Morgan Consortium. Like MacDonald, the Morgan Consortium also owns many industries in South America, including mines and various plantations. Gasol’s factory was originally a manufacturer of raincoat overshoes and other things, but now it has also switched to gas masks.

A small black cylinder followed the assembly line to Gasol. Gasol picked it up and scooped the big cylinder in a large bucket full of black carbon particles placed on the side of the workbench. Carbon pellets, and then put it back on the assembly line. This cylinder with carbon particles moved along the assembly line to the next process. It won’t take long for a gas mask to be made out of the factory.

Today the business of gas masks is quite good. In the past few years, thanks to the war in Europe, the United States economy has been very prosperous, and the unemployment rate in the country has dropped to an almost negligible level. Under such circumstances, the life of the workers in United States has also improved. Take Gasol as an example. In addition to supporting his family, he actually has some deposits in the bank. , This is almost unthinkable in the past. Moreover, the quality of the food on the table at Gasol’s family has also been greatly improved. Although it has not reached the point where there is one chicken every day, at least MacDonald’s Spam luncheon meat and Spam ham sausage. Something is already something you can eat every day. Although there are too many orders, the current work intensity is also ascending, but Gasol is very happy that there are jobs to do and more salaries can be obtained.

In addition, for the benefit of the labor union, Gasol’s factory recently started to provide a kind of welfare, that is, excellent workers can buy gas masks produced by the factory at a symbolic price. To be honest, the unions that now emphasize cooperating with the factory and the boss to make everyone win-win are much stronger than the previous unions that will only cause trouble with everyone. Those guys will only shout strikes or something. As a result, they are always being rejected every time. The factory guards had a good meal, and then everyone involved in them was kicked out of the factory without hesitation…

Nowadays, because of the terrible plague, in order to ensure that there will be no large-scale infections at work, the factory has made such a rule: all workers must take their body temperature when they are at work, and any workers with signs of fever Do not enter the factory. It is said that in order to ensure safety, someone once suggested that workers wear gas masks to work. But in the end, this suggestion was rejected because gas masks would cause serious interference and reduce work efficiency. At a time when gas masks are urgently needed throughout the United States, reducing production efficiency is absolutely intolerable.

Because the supply is in short supply, the price of gas masks is now a bit too high. At least for now, the average worker family still cannot afford it, but it is said that as the output increases, the price will gradually drop. It is just that the sanitary conditions in the place where the workers live are inherently poor, and many people may not be able to wait for the price to drop. When workers can buy it, they will get sick first.

“My performance this month should be pretty good. I don’t know if I can change it back to a gas mask. Also, after work, I have to go there and buy a few bottles of rum. The radio said that strong alcohol can kill viruses…” As Gasol continued to work, he changed his mind.

…

An important meeting is going on in a small meeting room at the headquarters of the MacDonald Infantry Weapons Company. This was a very weird meeting, attended by representatives of McDonald’s Infantry Weapons Company and North American Defense Equipment Corporation (a company affiliated with the Morgan Consortium). With the hot sale of gas masks, as the two largest manufacturers of gas masks in the United States, they all felt it necessary to conduct friendly consultations on some issues.

The United States does not produce rubber in China. The rubber used to manufacture various rubber products basically comes from Central and South America, as well as the Philippines in Asia. In United States, because of the restrictions of the antitrust law, to control a business, both MacDonald and Morgan still need to make a lot of vests, but in Central and South America, it doesn’t need to be so troublesome at all. Over the years, relying on powerful gold dollars, political donations, bribery, false accusations, murders and other white, gray, and black methods, MacDonald and Morgan controlled more than 80% of South America’s rubber output. . Under such circumstances, they can completely control the production of gas masks in United States by controlling the upstream of raw materials. Under such circumstances, it has become a top priority for the two parties to conduct full consultations in order to reach a reasonable price alliance so as to ensure that both parties can obtain sufficient benefits.

“First of all, on the basis of the last negotiation, our upper management reached an agreement to negotiate. At this meeting, our task is to concretize this intention into an agreement as soon as possible.” Yuri, Sales Manager of McDonald’s Infantry Arms Company Said in a very vague voice.

“We are here for this.” There, Davis, the representative of the North American Defense Equipment Company, also replied in the same vague voice. The reason why the voices of the two people are so unclear is not without a reason. The biggest reason is that their faces are now wearing gas masks.

“Based on the average savings of the working class today, and the amount they can use. We think that if the price of gas masks exceeds $60, they may risk using masks instead of buying expensive gas masks. . Therefore, we believe that in order to maximize the market, we should reduce the price to this range as soon as possible, so that although our profit rate will decline, but our total profit will be maximized. At the same time, in order to ensure that both of us There is no problem with the cooperation between families. I suggest that the price difference of our worker version of gas masks should not exceed 1.5 US dollars. In addition, we should also work together to increase the price of rubber so that other companies are producing gas masks for workers. At the time, the cost price is not lower than your selling price. What do you think of Mr. Davis on this?” Yuri continued to say in a vague voice, and he had to speak very slowly in order to make it easier for the other party to understand.

“We hope that the price of your worker’s gas mask can’t be lower than US$62. In addition, we hope to allow the price difference between our gas mask and your price to be limited to 2.5 US dollars. In other respects, we don’t have any. Objection.” Davis also put out the own condition.

Compared with McDonald’s Infantry Arms Company, North American Defense Equipment Company is much less famous, and the corresponding brand premium is much lower. If the prices of the same type of products of the two companies are exactly the same, the market competitiveness of North American Defense Equipment Company’s stuff will be significantly lower than that of McDonald’s Infantry Weapons Company. Therefore, in order to ensure the corresponding market share and the resulting profits, the North American defense equipment company must make the price of his gas mask a little bit lower.

If McDonald’s Infantry Arms Company is unwilling to reach a compromise on this, the competition between the two companies will obviously lead to a price war. In this price war with lower prices, although McDonald’s Infantry Weapons Company will have an advantage, this approach will surely cause his profits to fall seriously. At that time, I am afraid that even if it succeeds in removing other companies from The market is squeezed out, and the profit he can get is less than one-tenth of the profit he can get after reaching a price alliance like now. Of course, if this is a long-term business that can be done for decades, then relying on price wars, first completely defeating competitors, and then relying on dominating the market to gradually obtain excess profits, it is not unthinkable. But everyone knows that the business of civilian gas masks is entirely brought about by the plague. Once the plague is over, the business will not exist. Therefore, at this time, a compromise between the two giants is more beneficial to both parties.

“This is not so good, we think…” Allowing the other party to have more room for price reduction means allowing the other party to have more shares. This is obviously detrimental to the interests of the McDonald Infantry Arms Company. Both parties in the price alliance There is also competition.

…

“Dad, we sell medicines for colds and gas masks for colds at the same time. Don’t you worry that the sales of gas masks will reduce the number of patients, which will reduce the profit of selling drugs? Ultimately, the total profit will decrease. Is it?” In the Duck Castle, Greystone’s son George McDonald asked in a puzzled way.

From this question, we can also see that the success of McDonald’s tutoring. The third generation of McDonald’s has clearly demonstrated that lawyers want other people’s families to go to court, and the owner of the coffin shop wants other people’s families to continue. The good quality of the constant dead man.

“Oh, here is an experimental report. Although it is not related to this virus, it can be used as a reference. You can take a look… directly from pages 3 to 5, which are the effects of veil masks and gas masks. Compare.” Grey Stone replied with a smile.

“Okay, Dad.” George took the file and looked at it, then he nodded and said, “That’s how it is.”

In fact, in terms of effectiveness, cotton gauze masks are already quite effective. Gas masks are certainly more effective, but in fact, compared to cotton gauze masks, the degree of improvement in their filtration efficiency is quite limited, only more than one percent. Just one point. The popularization of cotton masks is very simple. Reduce the number of patients by 1%, or reduce the sales of medicines by 1%, in exchange for a market that sells gas masks to the people of the United States. This is definitely more profitable. A lot of money.