Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

”Brother Wei, come over to Longcao Road. I’ll treat you to hotpot tonight,” Pei Yi said with a wide grin.

”Maybe next time. The boss is in Hu City today, and he might even come inspect the company. How can I get away...?”

Liao Wei shook his head, declining.

”The boss is here with me,” Pei Yi interrupted.

”Uh... okay, I’ll be right there.” Liao Wei hung up before Pei Yi could even react.

Pei Yi put away his phone and returned to his seat.

”Briefly tell me about the latest progress in the Hu City market,” Chen Yansen asked while they waited for their food.

”Kuai Pao’s operating area mainly covers Xuhui and Changning District. We have 1,300 full-time riders and average around 100,000 orders per day. During peak hours, we can requisition 100 to 300 couriers from Cloud Speed at any time, and our delivery delay rate is under 0.2%...” Pei Yi reported, going down the list.

”The delay rate is a bit high. What are the problem areas?” Chen Yansen said.

0.2% might seem low, but once you scale that to the 100,000-order level, that’s 200 orders.

In other words, 200 Kuai Pao users were dissatisfied with their delivery times every day.

”Inaccurate route planning from the navigation, and the proportion of new riders is too high. They’re not familiar with the routes and residential complex layouts,” Pei Yi sighed, speaking helplessly.

Kuai Pao’s expansion in Hu City had been too rapid. He had initially only transferred 100 experienced delivery riders from Luzhou, but in just over twenty days, that number had grown to over 1,300.

If it weren’t for the fact that over 200 of those 1,300-plus riders were former Eleme riders familiar with the road conditions and surrounding areas, Kuai Pao’s delivery delay rate would have been even higher.

”Just wait a little longer. I’ve already negotiated with Gaode, and we expect to finalize the acquisition in March. Afterward, I’ll have someone create a group chat, and we’ll directly sync with Gaode’s latest map data. Also, you must limit the number of concurrent orders for new riders who are unfamiliar with the road conditions. We can’t chase order volume at the expense of our core service.”

Chen Yansen warned with a serious expression.

’Gaode Map?’

’An acquisition?’

Pei Yi swallowed, a flash of astonishment in his eyes.

After all, Gaode Map had gone public on the Nasdaq back in 2010 with a market capitalization as high as four to five billion.

From what Chen Yansen said, it sounded like Senlian was acquiring Gaode Map in its entirety, making it a subsidiary of Senlian Capital.

Kou Zhen, who was sitting to the side, was equally shocked. After all, this was a company worth billions, not just tens or hundreds of millions.

”Boss, we’ve actually already placed limits on concurrent orders, but many of the new riders have never done food delivery before and aren’t familiar with the surrounding commercial and residential areas,” Pei Yi said truthfully.

”Try a different approach. Poach people from the delivery depots of the Three Passes and One Reach. When it comes to delivery capability, couriers are just as good as food delivery riders.”

Chen Yansen reminded him with a smile.

”Boss, all the couriers who’ve left the ’Three Passes and One Reach’ companies have already been recruited by Cloud Speed.”

Just then, Liao Wei strode over with Zhai’an, two burly bodyguards trailing behind him. He spoke smugly as he approached.

Cloud Speed’s situation was similar to Kuai Pao’s. Both were in a period of rapid development and were also short on manpower.

It was only because the delivery rhythms of the courier and food delivery industries were different that he was able to spare a group of people to support Kuai Pao.

”Sit!”

Chen Yansen glanced at Liao Wei, noticing he had gotten a bit chubbier. He couldn’t help but joke, ”You should lose some weight when you have the time. You’re representing Cloud Speed’s brand image, you know.”

”I’ll go get a gym membership and hire a trainer right away.”

Liao Wei gave an awkward smile, grabbed a chair for himself, and sat down on Chen Yansen’s left.

”I called you two over for more than just a meal. There’s something I need to discuss. I know that for both food delivery and express couriers, efficiency has always been low for that ’last 100 meters’ of delivery.”

Chen Yansen said.

”Boss, the Customer Service Department gets bizarre complaints every day from customers who say the courier didn’t deliver to their door. But when the courier calls, they don’t answer, so with no other choice, they leave the package with the residential complex’s security guard.”

Liao Wei couldn’t help but interject.

”Kuai Pao has those kinds of users too. They don’t answer their phones, and then complain the moment you leave the food at their door,” Pei Yi added in agreement.

”So, I’ve come up with a plan. We install delivery lockers in residential complexes, or food delivery lockers in commercial office buildings. After a user places an order, a random pickup code is generated. Once the package or food is placed inside the locker, the user can retrieve it at any time using that code.”

Chen Yansen explained methodically.

’Delivery lockers!’

’Food delivery lockers!’

Pei Yi and Liao Wei subconsciously exchanged a look, their eyes lighting up. They immediately thought it was a brilliant idea.

It would both ensure the security of the items and increase delivery efficiency.

Liao Wei slapped his thigh. ”Boss, this plan is great!”

”But on a technical level, how would we implement it?” Pei Yi scratched his head, his mind a bit muddled.

”It’s not difficult on the technical side. To achieve smart storage and retrieval, you just need a real-time connection to the backend server. The server sends a command to the locker to open the door.”

Chen Yansen said with a light chuckle.

”Boss, I get it now! It’s the same principle as the storage lockers at a supermarket entrance,” Liao Wei said with a smile, a flash of insight hitting him.

”The concept is similar, but the technology involved is different.”

Chen Yansen nodded.

With the product design for the delivery and food lockers in place, the next step was to find pilot residential complexes and commercial office buildings. If the model gained acceptance from users in 2012, they could then roll it out on a large scale.

If not, they would just wait another two years.

Just as the three of them were chatting, the three orders of food that Song Yuncheng had placed finally arrived.

Chen Yansen raised his wrist to check the time. It had only taken 20 minutes from start to finish, well within the delivery window.

Pei Yi secretly wiped away a bead of cold sweat. Luckily, the nearby riders had come through and hadn’t let him down.

In reality, when the Kuai Pao Rider who took the order saw the delivery address was their own company, he had thought, ’This must be an order from a colleague,’ and had given it a slightly higher priority.

”Let’s eat first. Have you guys eaten?”

Chen Yansen stood up and asked the Kuai Pao delivery riders who had brought the food.

”Boss, it’s the evening rush right now. We usually don’t eat until after eight.”

Li Zhou lifted the visor of his helmet and replied with a smile.

”Then sit down and eat with us. You’re Li Zhou, right? Weren’t you in Luzhou?”

Chen Yansen said, beckoning him over.

”The pay per order is higher in Hu City, so I wanted to earn a bit more,” Li Zhou said, looking a little awkward. He answered Chen Yansen’s question first, then waved his hand to decline. ”Boss, we still have orders to run. Maybe next time.”

”We can talk about work while we’re at it,” Chen Yansen added.

Li Zhou looked at the big boss, and no longer trying to refuse, pulled over a chair and joined them.

To be honest, he was quite touched. He had only met the big boss once, yet the man actually remembered his name.

The remaining riders looked at each other, then simply went offline on their apps and sat down as well.

While Chen Yansen was eating with Pei Yi, Kou Zhen, and the riders, over at the Eleme headquarters at No. 335, Guoding Road, Zhang Xuhao was staring at the man opposite him with a look of displeasure.

”Don’t forget, I’m the majority shareholder of Eleme,” Zhang Xuhao said, his tone hostile.

”President Zhang, please don’t misunderstand. I came to Hu City simply to help Eleme optimize its workflow for on-the-ground business development. As for the other colleagues from the tech department, they can help Eleme improve its order allocation efficiency.”

Wei Ran shrugged and explained with a smile.

Though his words sounded pleasant, he was inwardly mocking Zhang Xuhao. ’This guy is all talk and no skill. If the group hadn’t invested 50 million in you, do you really think I’d want to be here?’

Kuai Pao had been in Hu City for less than a month but had already snatched half the market share from Eleme. This caused Ma Liyun, who had personally approved the investment, to lose a great deal of face.

As a result, he had dispatched a team from Hang City to support Eleme.

But who could have predicted that Zhang Xuhao would see him as someone sent to usurp his authority!

Hearing this, Zhang Xuhao’s expression softened slightly, and his attitude became much milder. ”I don’t think there’s anything wrong with our on-the-ground development workflow, but I do want to thank Mr. Ma for his concern for Eleme. The technical staff can stay.”

His meaning was clear. ’I’ll use Ah Li’s technology, but you, Wei Ran, can get lost!’

’Dumbass!’ Wei Ran, who was from one of Ah Li’s earliest batches of business managers, couldn’t help but curse inwardly. How could he possibly fail to understand the man’s unspoken message?