Seeing that news about Headwind Logistics had made it to the trending topics, Pei Qian couldn’t help but feel his heart tremble.
What was going on?
Headwind Logistics was the major source of losses and the hope of the entire Tenda Group. Lü Mingliang could be considered a pillar of support like the Sea-Calming Divine Needle. They absolutely couldn’t run into trouble!
Pei Qian quickly clicked on the trending topic to check the details.
Actually, while it was said that Shengrun Group and Headwind Logistics occupied the trending topics, the news about the two companies was separate.
Shengrun Group had a high position in the trending topics, with hashtags like #ShengrunGroupCausesProblemsAgain# and #ShengrunGroupParcelOverflow#, while Headwind Logistics was much lower on the trending list with the hashtag #HeadwindLogisticsPausesService#, the former being a definitive statement and the latter a question.
But clearly, the two were connected.
There was quite a bit of discussion online, and although it was fragmentary, through the netizens’ discussions, Pei Qian quickly pieced together the true picture of what had happened.
“What’s wrong with Shengrun Express again? My parcel has been at the transfer station for several hours now, why hasn’t it been delivered to me yet?”
“They probably can’t keep up with deliveries. I’m in Shanghai, and I saw that all of Shengrun Express’s parcel lockers downstairs are completely full, and their community stations are also piled high with parcels, with no space to even set foot. If you’re in a hurry to get your parcel, you’d better go pick it up yourself from the community station.”
“Why should I go to the community station to pick it up? Didn’t they always deliver to the door before?”
“The door-to-door delivery was done by Headwind Stations… I asked around, and Headwind Stations temporarily stopped accepting Shengrun Express parcels due to a system upgrade, so… Shengrun Express was probably caught off guard, and these parcels piled up together, giving a bit of that Double 11 warehouse overflow vibe.”
“The entire Shengrun Express company is really a bunch of incompetents. This isn’t even a holiday season, so how can they have a parcel overflow? Or is it that they fundamentally haven’t arranged personnel at each distribution point according to parcel volume and capacity? So as soon as there’s a slight unexpected situation, everything falls apart?”
“I’d say this is Headwind Logistics’ fault. Look, Shengrun Express has issued an announcement saying that due to problems on Headwind Logistics’ end, parcels are piling up at terminals. They’re adding extra personnel for delivery, so there will be delays of a few days, and they recommend that everyone pick up parcels from lockers and stations as soon as possible.”
“How is this Headwind Logistics’ fault? They never said they would definitely deliver for Shengrun Express. They’re free to adjust their business as they wish. Shengrun Express, as the courier company with the highest market share in the country, can’t even handle the delivery process without Headwind Stations? Are you a courier giant or a courier baby?”
“Hmph, they still have the nerve to blame Headwind Logistics? Wasn’t Shengrun Express the first to issue an internal announcement cutting off cooperation with Headwind Logistics? How can they now turn around and blame others? It’s simply shameless!”
Although the spectating crowd was somewhat confused and not everyone could figure out the truth of the matter, their natural fondness for Headwind Logistics made them instinctively lean towards one side in their stance.
Headwind Logistics was a courier brand under Tenda, and for a long time, they had been diligently delivering parcels to people’s doors. The couriers were kind and warm-hearted, leaving a good impression on customers.
But what about Shengrun Express? Although they had a high market share, their image was far worse than Headwind Logistics in every aspect.
So when this situation occurred, everyone’s first reaction was naturally to criticize Shengrun Express.
Actually, there was no reason for this matter to have escalated so quickly. After all, it was just a slight delay in delivery, but it had made it to the trending topics in just one day, which seemed a bit ridiculous.
The key point was that this wasn’t simply a “slight delay in delivery,” but rather a serious delay phenomenon occurring in the surrounding areas of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Jingzhou, and Shengrun Express’s own parcel lockers and stations were all overflowing!
If it were during special holidays like Double 11, parcel overflow would be understandable, and everyone would understand. Shengrun Express could even claim that their business was too good, causing warehouse overflow.
But these days weren’t special days; they were just ordinary workdays, yet the parcels were still overflowing. Didn’t this indicate that there was a clear problem with Shengrun Express’s entire system? It was so fragile that it shattered at the slightest touch?
Shengrun Express was also trying hard to deflect blame, saying that because Headwind Logistics suddenly stopped supporting Shengrun Express’s delivery, it caused delays at the terminals.
But soon, people stood up to expose Shengrun Express’s behavior of “only telling partial truths”: it was clearly Shengrun Express that first stopped cooperating with Headwind Logistics in second and third-tier cities and remote areas!
And there was an internal notice as evidence, making it impossible to deny.
In fact, when Shengrun Express initially blocked Chilu Express, they had issued internal notices like “Notice on Prohibiting the Agency of Chilu Business Across the Network” and “Punishment Notice Regarding the Agency of Chilu Business.” At that time, someone had leaked this information, but due to low attention and heat, it didn’t cause much of a stir.
That time, Shengrun Express blocked without hesitation because Chilu Express was a soft target.
Although Chilu Express was cheap, their service didn’t leave a deep impression on customers. After the blockade, Shengrun Express’s own business wasn’t affected at all. So, Chilu Express quietly faded away.
But this time, the situation was completely different. Shengrun Express had hit an iron plate!
Obviously, Headwind Logistics and Chilu Express were not on the same level, or even in the same dimension.
When netizens saw this, they thought: Ah, Shengrun Express first stopped cooperating with Headwind Logistics in second and third-tier cities, forcefully promoting their own parcel lockers and community stations. Isn’t this burning bridges after crossing the river? Isn’t this cursing the food while putting down the chopsticks?
Their cooperation had been going well, but Shengrun Express insisted on building their own parcel lockers and community stations to replace Headwind Stations.
Then, Headwind Stations logically stopped cooperating with them in first-tier cities as well, and suddenly Shengrun Express panicked? Started crying foul?
Never had they seen someone so thick-skinned and shameless!
Of course, although Shengrun Express was being criticized, public opinion wasn’t completely one-sided.
Because Shengrun Express could hire water armies!
Once the water armies were deployed, they could barely maintain a balance in terms of volume, using arguments like “Headwind Logistics isn’t a good bird either,” “Headwind Logistics wants to pull the rug out from under Shengrun Express,” “Shengrun Express had no choice, this was cutting off a limb to save the body,” and so on.
And the more both sides heated things up, the higher the popularity of this matter rose.
Those who were frustrated because their parcels weren’t being delivered channeled their anger into energy, frantically following the drama online, then engaging in 300 rounds of battle with the water armies defending Shengrun Express!
Having roughly understood the ins and outs of the matter, Pei Qian felt that he should inquire about this.
Headwind Logistics was the key to whether they could achieve losses in this cycle’s settlement!
Because Pei Qian had roughly calculated that the pressure to make losses in this cycle was unprecedentedly enormous. Even considering methods to rapidly spend money such as charitable activities, zoo construction, and headquarters building investment, completing the loss target was still a bit uncertain.
Because Tenda’s scale was now too large, it was becoming increasingly difficult to calculate accurately.
Not to mention, if those few profitable industries had even slight performance fluctuations, a large sum of money would appear out of nowhere.
So, Pei Qian had to rack his brains to plan ahead.
The acquisition of the Finger Company could indeed spend a large sum of money at once, but it might not be finalized before the settlement! This couldn’t be counted on too much.
Moreover, all these calculations were based on the premise that “Headwind Logistics maintains its current loss situation.”
If Headwind Logistics suddenly lost less money before the settlement, it could easily cause big problems.
Thinking of this, Pei Qian dialed Lü Mingliang’s number and asked about the situation between Headwind Logistics and Shengrun Express.
On the phone, Lü Mingliang was confident: “Mr. Pei, don’t worry, everything is under my control!”
“I’ve been annoyed with these Shengrun Express people for a long time. They’re making the big money from deliveries, and now they want to kick us away? They’re really taking advantage of our kindness!”
“Just watch how I handle them!”
“By the way, Mr. Pei, rest assured, after temporarily stopping business with them, Headwind Logistics’ work has actually become much less busy. Because we were operating at a loss anyway, so with fewer deliveries, we’re losing less money, and we can save quite a bit on performance wages and overtime pay.”
“In other words, we have no financial pressure at all.”
“If we continue like this, Shengrun Group will definitely be the first to cave in!”
Pei Qian fell silent.
I don’t know whether Shengrun Group or Headwind Logistics will cave in first, but I know that I’ll definitely be the first to give in…
How could you lose less money? At this critical moment, aren’t you threatening my very life?
But with things having escalated to this point, it was mainly because Shengrun Group wanted to cut ties with Headwind Logistics, and what Lü Mingliang did was a justified counterattack.
Pei Qian couldn’t possibly force the entire staff of Headwind Logistics to continue cooperating with Shengrun Group just to lose more money, could he? That would be unconscionable.
Headwind Logistics bore the enormous responsibility of losing money, and Pei Qian still had to rely on them.
Pei Qian thought about it and realized there wasn’t a good solution to this problem. Because he now knew practically nothing about Headwind Logistics’ entire system, he naturally found it difficult to prescribe the right remedy.
When Headwind Logistics was first established, Pei Qian was very familiar with the entire system, after all, the system was built according to his vision. But for several consecutive years, Headwind Logistics had been losing money, and Lü Mingliang had been such a steady and reliable person in charge, it was extremely reassuring!
So, Pei Qian had stopped paying attention to Headwind Logistics’ situation entirely.
Since he completely lacked understanding now, he decided to let Lü Mingliang handle it himself.
After considering for a moment, Pei Qian said: “Alright, handle Headwind Logistics’ matters yourself; I won’t interfere. But I have one requirement: money absolutely cannot be saved.”
“Your most basic task is to maintain the current level of losses.”
“And if you can expand these losses, that would be even better!”