Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 574 - 243: Let More People Know_1

Chapter 574: Chapter 243: Let More People Know_1

"You’re pretty early this week, young man!" The old man who takes in the leather at the tannery always beamed when he saw Yan Fei. "Bring out your hides and show me!"

"What’s wrong, Director Huang? Is your factory in trouble? Always focusing on getting quality hides and doing crooked things, not properly producing affordable goods for the public — is that sustainable?" Yan Fei jested as he put down his bag and began to open it.

Ironically, these were the same words the the old leather collector had said himself, not something that Yan Fei made up.

It seems no matter what you do these days, you’ll always save some of the good stuff for personal use—whether for youself, for relatives, friends or as presents. You should always have some unique goods unavailable on the market that makes you look awesome.

The distillery could have some aged unblended spirits stored in the cellar, bottled in a simple bottle for internal consumption or for gifts; the tobacco industry has to have a line of cigarettes that might not be so well packaged, but those who smoke them feel extremely assertive, naming them as "not-for-sale". Don’t judge a book by its cover, a comment like this gives off an extraordinary air of luxury and elegance.

Even the small shops, when selling their wares, would introduce their especially good items to regular customers. Not only does the seller speak highly of these items, but also the buyer, even if they pay a little more, feels particularly dignified.

Let alone these large factories and corporations!

This is called making full use of unique resources, deploying your own advantages. The interpersonal dealings are indispensable.

Of course Yan Fei’s cattle farm was no exception—unfortunately, he wanted to keep some good beef for his farm, but everyone disagreed, saying we’re all simple folk, if you can sell this stuff at a good price, then sell it! It all tastes the same to us, eating it! Wouldn’t it be better to gnaw on some big bones and have a blast?

But apart from beef, there was his liquour which was rarely sold outside, weren’t the Dragon-Bone and Turtle-Shell liquors drunk by people in his farm a good example? With these items, don’t the people working on the dirty and tiring jobs in the field feel better? Because we have good things others don’t!

So, this tannery was no exception either, no matter how big or small the factory was, it’s always run by people. With people, things like this are inescapable. These principles were realized either by Yan Fei himself, or by the old leather collector "Old Huang", also known as Director Huang.

The tannery usually sold products made from common leather, the items made by this provincial city tannery were not from any well-known brand and regardless of the quality of the leather used, it can’t be sold at a much higher price. Since that’s the case, if you made shoes, belts, wallets and so forth from premium leather and sold them at the usual price, you would end up losing money! To say nothing of the fact that premium leather is not always available.

So, the tannery also had "not-for-sale" products, either specially made for certain organizations and enterprises, or kept for relationship building within the factory or given as employee benefits.

The price of the cowhide that Yan Fei delivered was already set at over 300 per piece, which was the highest grade paid by the factory. In order to secure his patronage, Old Huang often chatted with Yan Fei and let him in on the details.

Of course, the unmarketable products of this era are truly unmarketable, unlike many years later, when everyone can get their hands on a couple of bottles of liquor, gleefully claiming it was obtained through connections inside the distillery; or grabbing a couple of packets of cigarettes, boasting it was a special supply—anyway, everyone likes to brag and most who hear this do not understand, they simply don’t know that each factory is half-stocked with these items, labeled "not-for-sale", just waiting for these folks to pull out wads of cash and play the fool!

As for this special supply liquor, unmarketable liquor, it’s just a drink with a flavor of distiller’s yeast. The bottom of the bottle often contains sediment resembling cotton wool. With it, people boast arrogantly that it’s the unblended spirit, the unmarketable product.

Those who bring this wine must definitely give a science lesson to others, saying that the unblended spirit is like this, and tastes just like this.

In truth, the few-dollars a catty homemade liquor made in the countryside, once the vat is open, it smells and tastes about the same—whereas if there were a difference, it’s certainly that the bottled one has been blended. Unblended, would it smell so fragrant? If you don’t believe it, leave the so-called unblended spirit for a few years, then go to the countryside to get a couple of catties of liquor and leave it for a few years. When the time comes and you open the bottle, even a fool could understand the difference.

As for the best cigarettes, the tobacco leaves cultivated and baked by experienced old farmers cost less for a catty than the cost of gas you’d spend on a round trip, enough to last you half to a full year. Although the taste differs slightly, that’s only because it lacks the harmful additives!

In the end, it all comes down to scarcity as value, and people are again obsessed with keeping appearances, which is why these gimmicks are becoming more and more popular in the market!

Old Huang used to be a backbone in the factory. Now that he was old and could not do much work, he was given the title of ’Director’, thus making sure that his life long efforts towards the factory were not in vain. But this Director essentially only manages the delivery and collection of leather, unable to intervene in any other matters.

The older generation could not accept the modern practices of the younger ones in the factory, keeping the good stuff for themselves under the pretext of maintaining relationships. Therefore, after getting acquainted with Yan Fei, the old man didn’t withhold his cynical remarks—in his view this should be used to make quality goods and improve the factory’s reputation. But these were just the thoughts of the old man; he was just a worker, and how would he know that upgrading the image of an old brand is even more difficult than establishing a new brand!