Chapter 197: Benefiting Society Along the Way
Zhang Yuan and Ma Yang exchanged glances.
The corner of Ma Yang's mouth twitched. "Brother Qian, leaving everything else aside, just the name itself sounds… a bit off. Are you saying our logistics will always be against the wind, meaning slow?"
Pei Qian shook his head. "Old Ma, that's just your lack of culture speaking. Don't you know? Flying against the wind actually makes you soar higher. Understand? This name means we're preparing to take off!"
Zhang Yuan blinked repeatedly, staying silent.
He simply couldn't keep up with President Pei's leaps of thought!
Just a moment ago, Zhang Yuan had been trying to guess President Pei's next target.
Would it be expanding the remaining café branches?
Or focusing on Moyu Delivery?
But no—the answer was neither. President Pei had once again widened the scope even further…
The two of them stared at him with eager eyes.
Pei Qian cleared his throat. "I know this plan might sound a little too ambitious, and with our current funds, it may feel beyond reach."
"However, I'm not trying to rush into building a nationwide logistics giant. I'm not even planning to do same-city express deliveries."
"We're focusing solely on Jingzhou—solving the 'last-mile problem'!"
In this world, online shopping platforms already existed, though they hadn't yet reached the fever-pitch popularity they would in later years.
As for logistics and express deliveries, those were already nationwide, with decent development.
But most courier services were still in a 'wild west' phase: late deliveries, lost packages, or couriers tossing parcels into self-pickup points for customers to fetch themselves—it was all too common.
In other words, doorstep delivery was the exception, not the rule.
To put it simply, the issue boiled down to the infamous "last mile."
Even ten years later, this problem still hadn't been solved well. Apart from conscientious couriers like SF Express and JD Logistics who always delivered to the door, the rest just dumped packages at collection points.
Solutions like Hive Boxes or Cainiao Stations were all attempts to address this issue—but the user experience was pretty awful.
At the root of it all, it was a matter of cost.
Taking each package from the local warehouse to the customer's door was costly and thankless work. That's why most companies chose to shift that cost onto the customer.
But Pei Qian's thinking was simple:
Everyone else avoids this dirty, tiring job because it doesn't make money?
Well, I don't mind!
Since he wanted to lose money anyway, taking on this "dirty work" would both guarantee losses and provide a convenient service to people. Why not kill two birds with one stone?
"I've already decided. In the first stage, we'll open one hundred Against the Wind Logistics Stations across Jingzhou, covering the vast majority of neighborhoods."
"At that point, we'll negotiate directly with courier companies, so their couriers drop off packages at our stations. Then, our delivery staff will handle final delivery to the customer's doorstep."
In short, it would be a home-delivery version of Cainiao Stations.
But here's the problem: Cainiao Stations made money.
The initial investment for a Cainiao Station was only around twenty to thirty thousand yuan. All it required was renting a ground-floor unit in a neighborhood (renting cost only one or two thousand yuan a month in Jingzhou at the time), and then spending a little over ten thousand on shelves, a front desk, a computer, tables, cabinets, and some basic renovation. After that, business could begin.
Once the price with courier companies was set—charging about 0.2 to 0.4 yuan per package—if they collected two or three hundred packages a day, that would mean roughly 3,000 yuan profit a month from package collection alone.
A Cainiao Station was typically run by two people, with other income streams including product sales, advertising, package sending services, and so on.
All in all, Cainiao Stations were profitable, which is why so many people eagerly signed up to open one.
But Pei Qian's Against the Wind Logistics were a completely different story—because they required active home delivery!
On one hand, this dramatically increased courier costs. Handling 300 packages a day would require at least one or two full-time couriers working non-stop, and their wages would all come out of Pei Qian's pocket.
On the other hand, since customers no longer needed to pick up packages themselves, the stations would lose foot traffic, causing sales, advertising, and other side income to plummet.
To maintain such a station, at least three staff were required: one manager and two couriers. In high-traffic neighborhoods, even three couriers might be necessary. With wages at around 3,000 per person (base + commission), just salaries would cost over 9,000 a month.
Add 2,000 rent and 9,000 in wages, and you're looking at over 11,000 in expenses. Even with revenues of three to four thousand, that left a net loss of seven to eight thousand yuan per month.
Scaling up, 100 stations would need about 3 million in initial investment. Monthly net losses could reach 700,000 to 800,000 yuan.
And that was just the beginning. As he expanded further and hired more staff, losses would continue to grow steadily.
The best part? These losses were predictable and controllable!
For example, if the system settlement was approaching and he realized he still needed to "burn" an extra million in funds, he could simply open another 20+ Against the Wind Logistics Stations at lightning speed. As long as the doors were open a week before settlement, the money would count as spent, and the losses would flow on schedule.
Unlike Moyu Internet Cafés, Against the Wind Logistics Stations could be opened and shut down quickly—making them the perfect tool for "emergency money burning."
Pei Qian had already decided: he would make sure to set up stations near Tengda, Feihuang Studio, Moyu Internet Café, and his own home.
That way, whether it was him buying online, or his parents, none of them would ever need to go to a pickup point again. Everything would be delivered straight to the door.
Since this was all "for the good of society," naturally, he would start with himself and his family.
Losing money while also doing good deeds—what could be more perfect?
After hearing Pei Qian's explanation, Zhang Yuan was completely convinced.
Sure enough, President Pei's vision was always so impossible to predict!
It looked like this was yet another long-term, far-reaching strategy.
Although President Pei hadn't spelled it out, Zhang Yuan could more or less guess the intent:
By solving the "last mile" problem, they could gradually build public reliance on Against the Wind Logistics.
In the short term, yes, there would be continuous losses. But in the long run?
Once people grew used to doorstep delivery, when they sent packages themselves, they would naturally prefer Against the Wind Logistics.
From there, the company could expand into same-city express, and eventually nationwide delivery…
The only problem was—the timeline was so long that most people couldn't even begin to imagine it.
Perhaps for the next several years, Against the Wind Logistics would only keep bleeding money. But if it succeeded… it might profoundly change people's lives in every possible way.
Zhang Yuan couldn't help but feel a deep sense of respect for President Pei.
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