chapter 184 part 1
Chapter 183: Messenger Mechanical Factory
Author: Yue Shang Xintou
"I'm sorry, Mr. Langer Worster, but The Messenger has no plans to purchase a new rotary printing press at the moment."
After a moment's thought, Colin already understood Langer's purpose—the Four-Color Duplex Sheet-fed Offset Press technology he possessed.
On the surface, however, he maintained a dismissive attitude.
"No, Mr. Colin Luper, I'm not here to sell you a rotary printing press."
Langer could clearly sense the dismissiveness in Colin's tone, but he pressed on, unwilling to give up.
"My purpose in coming here is primarily to see the new printing technology you've developed with my own eyes. If possible, I hope we can cooperate."
In a negotiation, Langer's approach was clearly flawed.
Because it was tantamount to showing Colin all his cards. However, from a practical standpoint, perhaps his circumstances forced him to do so.
After losing his agency with Manroland, he no longer had the confidence to bargain.
If he annoyed Colin, he might lose even this last possibility. In that case, it was better to state his position frankly. That way, he might still have a slim chance.
"Cooperate?"
Looking up at the middle-aged man before him, whose face was filled with expectation, Colin didn't soften his stance just because of the man's earnest demeanor.
After all, in the era of the Great Depression, the streets were full of 'pitiful' people like Langer, including the unemployed who had previously applied for jobs at the newspaper office.
"Mr. Langer Worster, I don't see any reason why we should cooperate. After all, as I said before, you recently lost your agency with the printing company. From a realistic perspective, you're just another unemployed person, a common sight. Why should I risk failure to cooperate with you? So, give me a reason to be convinced, Mr. Langer Worster."
Facing Colin's question, Langer took a deep breath. His status as an unemployed person was indeed an unavoidable hurdle.
"You're right, Mr. Colin Luper."
At that moment, Langer felt as if he had returned to the past, back when he gave up his job as a maintenance worker at a printing factory to fight for the Manroland agency.
"It's true that my status right now is merely that of an unemployed person. However, as I said, I only lost my agency with Manroland a short time ago. In fact, even my workers don't know I've lost the dealership yet. This means I still have a team of capable workers at my disposal. They have been in the printing industry for many years and possess a wealth of work experience."
"Currently, nearly a third of the printing presses used in factories throughout New York are manufactured by Manroland or its partners. As Manroland's agent in New York, I've been in contact with all the major printing plants and know their production and business situations clearly. I am confident I can persuade a tenth of them to replace their printing press equipment."
Given the current situation of New York's printing plants, one-tenth was already a significant number.
After all, during the Great Depression, most factories were trying to cut production costs. For instance, Colin's color rotary printing press was an idle machine from a printing plant.
Langer seemed to know that what he had said so far wasn't enough to convince Colin to let him represent the Four-Color Duplex Sheet-fed Offset Press technology.
So, gritting his teeth, he made an offer that was hard to refuse: "In addition to all that, as long as you agree to let me be your agent, Mr. Colin Luper, I'm willing to take only a 3% sales commission on each printing press. As long as you pay me, I'll work."
A 3% sales commission was extremely low—no, it was practically a pittance. Even in his previous agency agreement with Manroland, Langer had received a 7% commission. This just went to show how dire his situation was.
A 3% sales commission was indeed a tempting offer.
After all, manufacturing a printing press was one thing, but selling it was another entirely.
With a 3% commission, Langer was practically working for free when considering the overall profit margin of a printing press.
If Colin were a slightly greedier capitalist, he might have already accepted the offer. After all, with such a cheap contract, even failure wouldn't impact him much.
"No, I'll give you a 5% sales commission."
However, he unexpectedly rejected Langer's proposal, even raising the commission rate.
Hearing Colin's words, Langer looked at him in disbelief. He had never imagined that in this era, there was actually someone willing to pay more.
Under Langer's astonished gaze, Colin said slowly, "Not only will I give you a 5% base sales commission, but for every printing press you sell from now on, I'll give you an additional 1% commission, calculated every three months, with no cap."
"A 1% commission for each machine?!"
Langer's gasp of astonishment echoed through the newspaper office.
This was completely different from what he had expected. Initially, he had only hoped to secure the agency for Colin's printing press, even with a low sales commission, just to ensure he could survive the Great Depression.
But the terms Colin offered weren't just about survival.
They would allow him to live better during the Great Depression, perhaps even better than before it began.
According to Langer's estimate, he could persuade roughly six or seven printing plants to upgrade their machinery in a short time. If he added the 5% base sales commission guaranteed by Colin, that would be a total of 13% commission. Such a rate was even higher than what he had in his previous agency agreement with Manroland.
The thought of earning a 13% commission on a single deal made Langer's breathing quicken.
Taking a deep breath and trying to suppress his excitement, Langer looked at Colin and asked in disbelief, "Mr. Colin Luper, is all of this true? A 1% commission for each machine?"
"Absolutely."
Colin had no intention of deceiving Langer on this point. The commission incentive was a very common marketing tool in later generations.
Its purpose was to motivate workers, based on the principle that the more capable one is, the more one is rewarded.
Although Colin hadn't set a limit on the commission on the surface, the three-month interval was, in fact, a kind of restriction. Furthermore, a printing press wasn't like other consumer products. Besides printing plants and newspaper companies, ordinary people wouldn't buy such large machinery. This meant the customer base for the machinery was limited.
Moreover, once a new printing press was purchased, a factory wouldn't be upgrading its equipment again for a long time.
Unless, of course, Langer could convince factories to replace their printing presses every so often.