Chapter 2726 Disputes on the Train

"Forget it, Papa Luca! Isn't it just a few pieces of candy, why are you so yelling and mad!"

"Tea and sugar are provided to passengers for free, so what does it matter if you take more than one less?"

"Old Luca, don't be so arrogant! You are just a little conductor, not the boss of the railway company. They just took a few extra pieces of candy, and you don't need to pay for it. Why bother meddling in your own business!"

The coworkers of the brown-haired boy couldn't see it, and started arguing around old Luca.

"You fools, don't you understand? I'm in charge of this carriage. If the candy on the carriage is consumed too quickly, I can't explain it to my boss!"

Old Luca stamped his feet angrily.

"In the past, there was unlimited supply of tea and candy in the car. This year, the rules suddenly changed, and each person can only take one piece of candy. If this continues, maybe next year even tea will have to be charged!" Someone next to him complained bitterly. .

"Yeah, how come the railway company has become so stingy!" Some of the onlookers chimed in.

"Nonsense! Don't blame all of you greedy bastards!"

Old Luca was furious.

"Yes! No one cared about putting sugar in the past, but because no one cared about it before, our railway company lost a lot at the end of the year. Brothers, we are losing a lot!"

"My good fellow, the sugar cube alone costs thousands of dollars every year! You guys are really... You don't buy candy with your own money, so it doesn't hurt to eat it!"

"That's sugar for tea, not for you to eat!"

The old man Luka became more and more angry, jumping and complaining.

"I'm not afraid of offending people. To tell you the truth, passengers who buy their own tickets are more respectable. There are very few people who take such a small advantage. You workers are the least shy. You don't need to spend a copper coin, and the tickets are all The factory is reimbursed, and tea and sugar cubes are provided free of charge on the bus, and it doesn’t matter if you add a few pieces of sugar occasionally, but some people can’t stand it because they can’t take advantage of it, so they put eight pieces of sugar in a small cup of tea every now and then!”

"Eight pieces of candy, my goodness! You are not afraid of dying! Doing this kind of vile business of 'sweeping wool' for many years, won't your conscience really hurt?!"

Old Luca pointed and scolded the workers, looking at each other with shame, and fell silent for a while.

Old Luca lost his temper, and his mood eased. Seeing the tear-stained face of the brown-haired boy, he was really pitiful. He sighed unbearably, warned him not to set an example, and let him go.

Joan walked up to the samovar, poured two cups of steaming black tea, returned to his seat, handed a cup of tea to Roland opposite, and cast the "messaging technique" at the same time.

"Your Majesty, you must have heard the dispute over the samovar just now. I wonder what you think of it?"

Roland took a sip of tea and smiled wryly.

"I'm sorry to make your foreign friend a joke, but then again, it doesn't surprise me that this happened."

"Dr. Vinda, the railway companies in our country are all state-owned enterprises, which undertake heavy public welfare responsibilities. In order to facilitate the travel of the people, the train fares are set very low, and they also provide free tea and other convenient services on board."

"Such public benefits are necessary and can improve the public's satisfaction with the government," Joan commented.

"However, public benefits are not created out of thin air. Every benefit needs to pay a corresponding cost. As far as cheap tickets, free tea and sugar cubes are concerned, this cost must be borne by the state-owned railway company, so our railway company The greater the passenger volume, the more money will be lost, so we can only recover from the freight business and barely maintain the balance of payments."

"In the fourth quarter of last year, the growth rate of railway freight volume was not as good as expected, but the cost exceeded the budget. Judging from the situation at the beginning of this year, the performance may not improve. It seems that it is about to lose money. The railway company has to Careful calculations, even a small piece of sugar cubes are considered."

Having said that, Roland sighed, and a faint sadness appeared between his brows.

If the railway company is sold to private operators, won't the government be able to unload this burden?

Such an idea flashed in Qiao An's mind, but in a flash, he realized that privatization may not be a "panacea".

In order to protect profits, private railway companies increase ticket prices as a common means. As for the convenience services on board, not to mention free sugar cubes, maybe even tea will cost extra.

It seems to be a feasible way to introduce a number of private railway companies and force enterprises to provide high-quality and low-cost services through market competition?

However, this is only an ideal situation on paper, "a spherical chicken in a vacuum".

After thinking deeply, Qiao An found that due to the particularity of the railway industry, it is very difficult to achieve the survival of the fittest through market competition, and the negative externalities caused by this are even more immeasurable. , it is better to maintain the status quo for the time being.

Managing the world and helping the people is not in the field that Qiao An is good at, and he can't think of any way to get the best of both worlds, so he simply doesn't think about it anymore. Let His Majesty the Emperor and his ministers worry about such issues.

The workers who had a dispute with the conductor just now were sitting diagonally across from Joan. At the moment, the older workers were comforting the deeply shocked brown-haired boy who was "executed in public".

Qiao An listened to their chat in silence, and found that the older workers generally believed that the business of the factory in the past two years was obviously not as good as before, and their income was not as good as expected.

"Last year, the production tasks in our workshop were completed on schedule. The guys who blamed sales were too incompetent. After the car was built, it couldn't be sold, and even we couldn't get the year-end bonus."

"What are you talking about about bonuses? It would be great if you can get your salary!"

"I heard that starting from the second quarter of this year, the production plan will be cut."

"If you can't sell the car, then you have to cut production..."

"I heard from the elder sister of the personnel department that no more workers will be recruited this quarter. If this continues, there may be layoffs in the second half of the year."

"Damn it! When I think that I might lose my job, I panic!"

"Bachelor, don't panic, I have a wife and children to support, what if I lose my job..."

"The big deal is going back to my hometown and farming in a rural commune. Although the income is not high, at least I won't be hungry. It's more secure than working in a factory."

"That is to say, young people are used to seeing the colorful world in the city, who would be willing to go back to the countryside to work in farming?"

"To be honest, the current situation is not as good as it was during the war with the Ashan Empire two years ago. At that time, our factory's business was booming. The army's orders piled up, and we couldn't finish it with overtime. Every month It’s really nostalgic to get a big bonus!”

A car factory worker expressed emotion, and even vaguely expressed the mentality of looking forward to the resumption of the war.