Chapter 286 Li Weidong, an Account Counting Master (2 in 1 chapters)
Cook strolled through the various exhibition areas, and the large tractors and various novel agricultural machinery attracted Cook's attention.
Japan's agricultural machinery classification is really fine, compared with that, our American agricultural machinery is a bit rough! Cook looked at a solo exhibition area with interest.
American Cook is one of the many viewers of the Hokkaido Agricultural Machinery Exhibition, but unlike ordinary audiences, Cook is a serious buyer.
The trading company Cook works for is mainly engaged in the trade of small agricultural machinery, and household lawn mowers are within Cook's business scope.
Cook has visited several booths of home lawn mowers before, including Nakamura, Honda, Mitsubishi, Sanyo, Bosch, etc., but Cook has not yet decided which lawn mower manufacturer he will place an order with.
At present, Nakamura and Honda's lawn mowers are the most satisfactory to Cook. Nakamura and Honda's lawn mowers have low engine noise, high stability, and long blade life.
Bosch lawn mowers are also under Cook's consideration. The quality of German products can still be trusted. The only problem is that the price of Bosch lawn mowers is a bit expensive.
Price is an important factor for Cook to consider. If it is not cheap, Cook will not have to fly all the way to Japan to watch the Hokkaido Agricultural Machinery Exhibition. He can directly buy American lawn mowers.
The cost of manufacturing in the United States is still very high, at least a lot more expensive than that made in Japan. Even a Plaza Accord made the yen exchange rate rise, greatly offsetting the advantages of Japanese manufacturing. However, it is still cheaper to make in Japan than in the United States.
Cook wandered, and unknowingly came to Li Weidong's exhibition area. A promotional poster hung in the most conspicuous position in the exhibition area, with a line of English on it: we are the last!
Cook was stunned for a moment, then laughed.
Hehe, this poster is wrong, we are the best, it is written as we are the last, but the exhibitors didn't find it! I'd better go up and remind him!
So Cook stepped forward, and when he got close, he realized that the exhibit here turned out to be a household lawn mower.
Li Weidong saw Cook, and he immediately greeted him.
Sir, is there anything I can do for you? Li Weidong said in an American English tone.
Cook was stunned for a moment, thinking that being able to hear normal American English in Japan is really not an easy thing.
The English pronunciation of Japanese and Koreans is quite strange. For many native English speakers, it is also quite difficult to understand Japanese and Korean English.
Korean does not have the pronunciation of f. Koreans will pronounce the pronunciation of f as p, so it is similar to English like Fake squid.
Koreans will say afraid of the squid, which means that Koreans can't even scold people in English.
There is no r sound in Japanese pronunciation, so Japanese people pronounce r as l. More critically, the Japanese are used to transliterating English, not transliteration.
For example, the English sentence good morning, when the Chinese learn pronunciation, they learn it according to the English phonetic symbols, while the Japanese learn this English sentence, and they will literally translate the pronunciation. When this sentence reaches the Japanese population, it will become good touch. rather.
It is precisely because of this habit of transliteration that the Japanese pronunciation of English is very strange. The English spoken by the Japanese is difficult for people from other countries to understand except the Japanese themselves.
For Cook, an American, listening to a Japanese speak English is like a chicken and a duck. .
It's like when we meet a foreigner who can speak Chinese very well, we can't help but say a few more words to him.
Cook pointed to the propaganda poster and said, This propaganda poster of yours is wrong, we are the best is written as we are the last!
Li Weidong looked back and replied with a smile: This propaganda poster is not wrong, it is indeed we are the last, not we are the best!
Cook originally wanted to ask, do you know what we are the last means, but after thinking about it, people who can speak fluent American English, of course, know the meaning of this sentence.
Cook showed a puzzled expression: Why do you hang such a promotional poster!
Because we are indeed the last one! Li Weidong smiled proudly, and then said: The organizer held an agricultural machinery evaluation before, and our household lawn mower won the last place in the agricultural machinery evaluation. score!
Uh... Cook showed an embarrassed and inexplicable expression.
The last place? Isn't it the worst! Shouldn't you be ashamed of yourself with such a result! Why are you so proud? Isn't the last place something to be proud of!
This must be a very embarrassing thing! Also make a special banner to hang up! Not ashamed enough? we are the last! Are you afraid that others won't know that you are the last? Cook couldn't help but complain.
Li Weidong asked, Sir, aren't you very strange, why do I put up such a propaganda poster?
Cook nodded: I don't think winning the last place in the agricultural machinery evaluation is something worthy of publicity.
Because my lawn mower has the best price/performance ratio. Li Weidong said confidently.
What's your price/performance ratio? Cook asked.
Li Weidong pointed to a lawn mower next to Cook and said, This is our flagship product. The price of this lawn mower is $400!
$400, so cheap! Cook was slightly surprised.
Other brands of lawn mowers are generally quoted above $800. For example, the lawnmower from Nakamura scored 98 points, and the price reached $1,000.
As for American lawn mower brands, if the price is also $1,000, the overall performance is not as good as Nakamura's lawn mower.
For a time, Cook was really surprised by this price, and the discount in half was a price butcher!
I want to calm down, cheap is not good! Japanese products were like this more than ten years ago, although the price was very cheap, but the quality was very poor; there are also current Korean products, the price is also very cheap, but they are all inferior goods, If you buy it back, it will be broken in a few days! This cheap lawn mower must be like this!
Cook forced himself to calm down, and then said: The price of $400 is really cheap, but your lawnmower should only have the quality of $400, right? Otherwise, it is impossible to be in the lawnmower. The agricultural machinery evaluation got the last place.
You must know that a product is useless if it is only cheap, and the quality of the product is also very important. For consumers, they will like cheap products, but they will also value the quality of the product. If the price is cheap, but there is no quality at all, consumers will not pay.
Li Weidong smiled slightly: Sir, do you know why my lawn mower is the last in the agricultural machinery evaluation?
Because the quality is not as good as other brands of agricultural machinery. Cook replied simply.
Then, do you know which agricultural machinery is inferior to other brands of agricultural machinery? Li Weidong asked again.
Well, I have to try it to find out, Cook said.
No need, I'll tell you directly! Li Weidong pointed to the lawn mower in front of him, and said quite proudly: The main problem is the blade of the lawn mower. Our blades have a service life of about 7 hectares!
Cook was stunned again, mainly because of his 7-hectare lifespan and Li Weidong's smug expression.
The service life of 7 hectares, what is there to be proud of? Other brands of lawn mowers have a service life of more than 15 hectares, okay! Nakamura's lawnmower has a blade service life of 20 hectares, which is almost 20 hectares. You've tripled! Cook complained again in his heart.
At this time, Cook even wondered if he had met an Indian, did one thing, and started to be proud as soon as he completed a third of it, as if he had achieved great success; The tail is up in the sky, and it can blow for a hundred and eighty years! When the probe lost contact with the moon, you can say that our lunar exploration plan has been successful 99% of the time.
So Cook said: 7 hectares is not an excellent data! As far as I know, the service life of the blades of other brands of lawn mowers is at least 15 hectares!
Li Weidong still had a smile on his face. He turned and asked, Sir, listen to your accent, it should be an American!
Yes, I'm American! Cook nodded.
Then how big is your courtyard? Li Weidong asked again.
About 2,000 feet! Cook added: I live in Los Angeles!
When Cook said 2,000 feet, he was referring to square feet. The United States and the United Kingdom use not SI units, but imperial units. Such as miles, inches, etc.
The housing prices in Los Angeles are still relatively high in the United States. Cook is obviously showing off that he has a villa in Los Angeles with a 2,000-square-foot yard.
Li Weidong deliberately showed an expression of envy, and said at the same time: I don't think the vast majority of Americans will have yards as many as 2,000 feet!
Hearing Li Weidong complimenting himself, Cook also smiled with satisfaction.
But Li Weidong went on to say: Sir, let me settle the account for you! A 2,000-foot yard is equivalent to 185 square meters. Although there are errors, it's about the same!
1,000 square feet is equivalent to 92.9 square meters. That is to say, the so-called thousand-foot mansion in Hong Kong dramas is less than 100 square meters. Most of the middle class in mainland China should have larger houses than this.
Just listen to Li Weidong continue: If your 185 square meter yard is full of lawns, and you need to mow twice a month, then the area you mow per month is 370 square meters, a year. 12 months, that is 4440 square meters!
1 hectare is equal to 10,000 square meters. If you use my lawn mower, how long will it take you to use up the service life of 7 hectares? The answer is 189 months, which is 15 years and 9 months! Sir, do you think the average person buys a lawn mower and will use it for 15 years and 9 months?
Cook was stunned for a moment. Although he was a trader of household lawn mowers, he had never thought about this issue.
Li Weidong saw that Cook had been surrounded by himself, so he took out the calculator and said while pressing: We calculate according to this standard, if the service life of the lawn mower blade is 15 hectares, then 405 blades can be used. month, that is 33 years and 9 months!
At present, the lawn mower blade with the longest life at the exhibition has reached 20 hectares. According to the same standard, the service life is 540 months, which is a full 45 years!
If you buy such a lawn mower, you can leave this lawn mower to your grandson as an inheritance, but I think your grandson should be reluctant to pay inheritance tax for an antique lawn mower!
Li Weidong's speech rate is not fast, but Cook's thinking can't keep up. At this time, he is full of the number of 45 years.
Li Weidong continued: Sir, your home has a large yard of 2,000 feet, but I think most American families don't have that many yards? And in winter, the grass in the yard won't grow, so mow The frequency of use of the lawn mower is not as large as I have illustrated.
In my opinion, the lifespan of a lawn mower is simply a false proposition. For ordinary families, a lawn mower is used for five or six years, and it will be replaced in no more than ten years at most! No one will use a home lawn mower for 20 or 30 years. And my lawn mower, the blade life is 7 hectares, enough to meet the needs of every American family!
You can imagine, spend a thousand dollars to buy a lawn mower and replace it after five years, or buy a lawn mower for half the price, which is more cost-effective? That's why I said that my lawn mower is the most cost-effective!
According to data released by the National Association of Home Builders, the average size of a U.S. home is 2,700 square feet, which is the floor area of a home but does not include a garage.
In other words, it is impossible for most American families to have a large courtyard of 2,000 square feet. Those who can have such a large-area courtyard are estimated to be the kind of mansions that cover an area of more than 5,000 square feet.
In the continental United States, except for Florida, the winters in other places are relatively cold. Even in the southern state of Texas, there will still be heavy snow in winter, and the residents of Texas have no electricity to use.
In winter, when plants don't grow and Americans don't need to mow their lawns, the mowers are completely idle.
In this way, even Li Weidong's cheap lawn mower has a blade life of only 7 hectares, which is enough for an average American family to use for 20 to 30 years. If the blade of Nakamura's lawn mower has a lifespan of 20 hectares, it can really be a family heirloom. !
Even if the blade of a lawnmower really lasts twenty or thirty years, the engine of a lawnmower may not last that long.
Twenty or thirty years, the engine has already aged!
Although there are many classic cars of 40 or 50 years old that are still on the road in the United States, they are based on adequate maintenance and multiple overhauls.
But who has nothing to do to regularly maintain a home lawn mower? No one is going to overhaul a 10-year-old home lawn mower. This thing is worn out and buy another one.
Therefore, in actual use, household lawn mowers have been used for twenty or thirty years.
Cook, a home lawn mower trader, apparently hadn't thought of this before. After all, in the eyes of ordinary people, the more durable the product, the better.
And the manufacturers of that era have always been durable, as a very important standard.
For example, radios produced in the 1950s and 1960s can still be used in 2020; TVs produced in the 1970s and 1980s can still be used in 2020; and refrigerators produced in the 1990s can still be used in 2020.
Enterprises in that era should not realize that products will be updated rapidly, and customers will need new products more.
Enterprises in that era did not want to understand that if the product is not bad, then the customer will not replace it. Who will sell the new product produced by the enterprise?
After Li Weidong's reckoning, Cook finally figured it out!
Why didn't I think of it before! I just thought that the longer the blade life of the lawn mower, the better, but I didn't think that the household lawn mower would not use such a long-life blade at all! 7 hectares of blade, for household lawn mowing, It's more than enough! It's a waste to get 20 hectares.
And the price of this 7-hectare lawn mower is only 400 US dollars, which is not as good as half of other products. I brought this thing back to the United States and sold it for 700 to 800 US dollars, which is equivalent to 200 to 300 US dollars cheaper than similar products. The price difference, it must be a good sale!
At this time, Cook had already developed a great interest in Beverly lawn mowers.
I saw Cook took out a business card from his arms and handed it to Li Weidong.
We should get to know each other. My name is Justin Cook, and I am in the small farm machinery trade!
...
After a series of bargaining, Cook purchased 20,000 Beverly lawn mowers for $7.7 million.
An order of less than 8 million US dollars is not considered a big order at the Agricultural Machinery Exhibition, and agricultural machinery is still relatively expensive.
A Kubota mid-size tractor, buy two Santana and rich. New Holland's top high-power tractor, the price of one can be exchanged for ten Porsche Cayennes.
Things like large combine harvesters, just order a few, and spend millions of dollars.
At this price, it is equivalent to selling each lawn mower for $385. For Li Weidong, it is already a relatively satisfactory price.
Selling lawn mowers at the Hokkaido Agricultural Machinery Exhibition is not the same as selling a car seat or an air fryer at the Canton Fair.
At the Canton Fair, when Li Weidong sold car seat cushions and air fryers, it was his own business. Without competitors, he could naturally ask for a higher price to pursue higher profits.
However, in selling lawn mowers at the Agricultural Machinery Exhibition, Li Weidong has many competitors, and the products of the competitors are better.
If Li Weidong wants to sell goods, he can only fight the price war. If other agricultural machinery manufacturers also launch cheap lawn mowers in the future, Li Weidong will continue to cut prices and carry out the price war to the end.
...
The agricultural machinery exhibition of the day was over. After all the exhibitors packed up their things, they left the exhibition site one after another.
President Nakamura was also walking towards the gate of the exhibition when a voice suddenly stopped him.
President Nakamura, please wait!
President Nakamura looked back, and it was Qiuki of the Honda lawn mower who stopped himself.
It's Qimu-kun! President Nakamura stopped.
Qi Mu took two quick steps, came to President Nakamura, and said, President Nakamura, congratulations!
President Nakamura was slightly taken aback: Qimu-kun, what should I congratulate?
The customer Cook came to the United States, and his order should have been given to you Nakamura Co., Ltd.! Saiki said.
Isn't Cook's order given to you Honda? President Nakamura asked rhetorically.
Cook just came to our booth for a turn, and then left, he didn't place an order! Qi Mu paused, then said: So, Cook didn't give you the order?
President Nakamura shook his head: No! Cook's order was neither given to you nor to me. Did they give the order to Mitsubishi?
Mitsubishi's Ikeda-kun is over there, we can ask! Saiki said, looking at a man not far away, and said, Ikeda-kun, is it convenient for you to come over?
Ikeda came over immediately, and the two also asked Ikeda about Cook.
Cook, you mean the American! He came to our Mitsubishi booth, but just tried our mowers and didn't place an order! Our Mitsubishi mowers, like Nakamura and Honda, still have some The difference, I thought Cook would definitely place the order to you! Ikeda said.
The three of us have no orders, so who did Cook give the order to? President Nakamura said with a frown.
That Cook shouldn't have given the order to the Germans, or the Americans! Qi Muma said.
President Nakamura immediately shook his head: Cook himself is an American, if he wants to buy American lawn mowers, he can do it directly in the United States, there is no need to go to the Hokkaido Agricultural Machinery Exhibition.
As for the Germans, it is possible. After all, the quality of the German lawn mowers is still very good. But I have learned about the German quotations. Compared with our Japanese companies, the German quotations have no advantage at all! Cook couldn't have chosen a more expensive price!
Don't make a guess, let's call and ask. The organizer will count the turnover of the day every day, so the organizer must know who Cook placed the order to!
Ikeda said, took out his mobile phone from his arms and dialed a phone number.
Ikeda is a Mitsubishi man in the end, there are still cards, and I heard the news after a while.
I asked the organizer's staff to help us check. Cook placed an order of 7.7 million US dollars today. The product purchased is the Beverly Fukang household lawn mower! Ikeda said.
Fukang? Never heard of it! Which country is it from? Do you know this company? President Nakamura asked.
The two of them shook their heads at the same time.
Qi Mu immediately suggested: The evaluation result of the lawn mower should still be posted on the bulletin board. There is company information on the report card. We will check it out.
The three of them came to the bulletin board together, with a list of fifteen companies, and they found the Beverly Lawn Mower from the beginning to the end.
Only 60 points? The last one! President Nakamura exclaimed.
As the top student with the highest grades, President Nakamura couldn't imagine that he would be robbed of the order by the last student scumbag.
Beside him, Qi Mu also screamed in surprise: This is a Chinese company!
