"Only wealthy families can afford toothbrushes; too cheap is also not good. Firstly, many wealthy families will think that things that are too cheap are of poor quality."
Secondly, the costs of raw materials, workshops, and labor are not low. In addition, Shanshui Village is remote and can only deliver goods. Nowadays, the outside world is chaotic, and the labor cost of transporting goods back and forth is also quite high. It is not worth the hard work to earn too little.
"You set the price at eighty to ninety coins per stick, and the shop sells it for about one hundred and twenty coins. If they can sell it at a higher price, that's their skill. The more you sell, the more you earn, and you make the same profit," Bai Manshan continued.
Shui Qing was slightly shocked when she heard that it cost eighty to ninety coins per item.
Toothbrushes are different from medicinal herbs. Medicinal herbs are limited by yield per acre. Last year, she added them to the market, which was cheating. Otherwise, she wouldn't have had that income. In the future, she would only rely on the acreage. Therefore, she needs to mobilize the entire village to grow medicinal herbs so that even if she doesn't rely on the market later, she can still have a high income.
However, toothbrushes are not restricted. The hair from a rabbit or a pig can make dozens or even hundreds of toothbrushes, and the cost is only twenty or thirty coins. Pig hair doesn't even cost twenty or thirty coins. Bamboo is practically free. The total monthly wage is thirty taels of silver.
The profits are no less than those of a traditional Chinese medicine shop!
Once the market opens up, production can be expanded further, and the profits may far exceed those of the herbal medicine workshop.
Furthermore, toothbrushes are small and lightweight, allowing for the transport of a large number of them at once. This enables the delivery of goods to cities along the route in sequence, resulting in minimal transportation costs when spread out.
Shui Qing became more and more excited as she thought about it, and planned, "If Wen Hua and the others are quick, they should be back by the end of this month. By then, the toothbrush workshop should have several thousand toothbrushes, which will be perfect for delivering them to you first!"
Bai Manshan shook his head: "No need. Since Governor Ling rectified things, Nandu is not so chaotic anymore. The servants and guards of the Bai family can stay at the mansion to take care of things. Hu Yu and his fellow disciples have not had any business since the flood. I plan to form an escort team to help the Bai family transport goods."
They are skilled, their goods are safe, and they can earn some money this way.
Most of my shops are located south of Shanshui Village, while Yuhang is north of Shanshui Village. I simply can't manage both the south and the north.
After Wenhua returned, he rested and then took the finished toothbrushes to Yuhang to scout out the area. Production continued in the workshop until he returned, at which point large quantities could be shipped there.
Shui Qing thought about it and agreed. Relying solely on Wen Hua's delivery team, which was only covering the north and south, was simply not enough. Moreover, the main market for toothbrushes was in the Jiangnan region, where there were many wealthy families with strong purchasing power.
However, "Brother Bai, you can stock the goods yourself, and I'll save you manpower. I'll give you fifty coins per tube. Is that alright? If so, then take the goods at that price."
It's impossible to charge insiders the same price as outsiders; you have to give them some preferential treatment.
And at fifty coins a piece, it's quite profitable.
In the village, manpower, materials, and land are worthless, so the more Bai Manshan sells, the more she earns.
Bai Manshan shook his head even more vigorously and said hurriedly, "The cost of transporting goods once is not that high! Besides, I'm not just transporting toothbrushes; there are other goods as well. Compared to the other goods, toothbrushes don't take up much weight."
He laid out his goods all along the way in Nandu and the other eight prefectures and the cities under its jurisdiction. The first batch of goods was at least tens of thousands of pieces. Shuiqing offered at least thirty coins less per piece. Tens of thousands of pieces was equivalent to losing several hundred taels of silver!
Based on his businessman's intuition, he felt that toothbrushes would sell very well, especially in the Jiangnan region where people value refinement. He was confident that Shuiqing's toothbrushes would sell well, even without him.
“These goods of yours will be worth silver when sold. In Jiangnan, a wealthy family, including the master, mistress, young master, young lady, and their respected stewards, maids, and head maids, can afford your toothbrush. A single family can buy dozens of them, not to mention the wealthy merchants, noble families, and officials. I’m afraid the supply will not be enough to meet the demand.”
"You've reduced the price by almost half; wouldn't a significant reduction mean I lose even more money?"
Shui Qing smiled faintly and said, "Brother Bai, you also said that once it's sold, it's silver. I don't earn much from you, but it's still a profit. You've been coming to the workshop often these days. As a merchant, you must be able to calculate that my costs aren't high. I'll definitely make a profit even if I give you fifty coins per piece."
To be honest, if you hadn't transported the goods yourself, I would have had very little manpower to continue going south to distribute the goods, let alone open up sales channels!
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