We successfully implemented documented transactions, although we didn't gain any immediate financial benefit from manipulating the secondhand goods price list.
Our sales were increasing rapidly, and once we surpassed 5 billion won in monthly sales, we would be on par with any other major wholesaler handling large corporations' waste.
That took care of the secondhand goods side of the business for now.
"But we can't just sit around and wait for the sales figures to accumulate. Team Leader Park, are you making any progress with the mid-sized companies? What's the response like?"
Park Jong-bum clicked his tongue in frustration.
"It's not easy. The existing disposal companies have a tight grip on the mid-sized companies."
Mid-sized companies, with annual sales of at least several hundred billion won, were considered quite large from an ordinary person's perspective.
"Sir, even if the wholesalers collect the goods from those companies, we're the only ones buying them right now. All sorts of electronic scrap from large companies are being delivered to us through the wholesalers, aren't they? Let's not be too hasty. Time is on our side."
It was true that all kinds of electronic scrap were pouring into our company, as we were the only option for wholesalers looking to sell the waste they collected from large companies.
"But we need to secure those deals ourselves. You've experienced it yourself, but in this business, it's not the one with the money who's king, it's the one with the goods. They're selling to us now because they have no choice, but as soon as another competitor emerges, the competition will drive down the profit margins. We need to secure those deals ourselves, whether it's through bribery or other means."
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The sound of hammers echoed through the air.
Workers were hammering away at motherboards in a corner of the discarded computer warehouse.
Heatsinks, stainless steel brackets, and other miscellaneous components flew off the boards with each blow, piling up on the floor. The processed motherboards were then neatly stacked in ton bags.
"Maru, how's the search for a shredder and a compactor going?"
"I found a used shredder, but we'll probably have to buy a new compactor."
Meeting the smelter's requirements turned out to be more work than we anticipated.
We had to remove the components with hammers, shred the boards, compact them, and then secure them with strong straps. With so many processes, the discarded computer assembly factory alone wouldn't be enough, so we were looking for a new factory site.
"Order three compactors while you're at it. Even if the machines are idle sometimes, we need to be prepared for a surge in volume. Find more shredders too. It's always better to be prepared."
"Alright, I'll do that."
I looked at the growing pile of motherboards and said with anticipation,
"I wonder how much money we'll get from these. Will it meet our expectations?"
"Well, they said there's at least 1 gram of gold per kilogram, so it should be at least 10,000 won, right?"
"I'll be happy with that."
We watched for a while, the sound of hammers as our background music, and then Park Jong-bum approached us.
"Sir, I found a company in Ansan Industrial Complex that manufactures IC chips."
"Oh, really? Let me see."
Park Jong-bum placed a small bag, about the size of a sack of rice, on the floor.
"What's this? Is this all?"
"Yes, and this is three months' worth, they said."
I lifted the bag slightly. It was incredibly light.
"This can't be more than 20 kg. And you're saying this is three months' worth?"
"Apparently, IC chips are expensive and the manufacturing process is so precise that the defect rate isn't that high."
Seeing my disappointed expression, Park Jong-bum grinned.
"But this is worth a lot of money. Didn't I tell you that most of the gold in the boards comes from the IC chips and CPUs? A motherboard only has about ten IC chips, but this bag is full of them. There must be hundreds per kilogram."
"So the price per kilogram must be quite high."
"That's right. It should be at least 100,000 won per kg. But the volume is too low."
"That's the problem."
The price per unit seemed good, but the volume was too small.
The only people actively doing sales for our company were me and Team Leader Park Jong-bum, and we couldn't visit every company in Korea.
"We might need middlemen like brokers."
Wholesalers knew that it was more profitable to secure deals directly, but they couldn't cover every source, so there was a layer of brokers between junkyards and wholesalers.
Wholesalers usually only dealt with quantities of at least 5 tons. Junkyards could directly deal with wholesalers for items like waste paper, which was generated in large volumes, but for non-ferrous metals like copper and aluminum, which were generated in smaller quantities, it was difficult for a single junkyard to accumulate a truckload.
That's where brokers came in.
They bought specific items from junkyards and accumulated enough to sell to wholesalers.
Chunha Trading's regional branches acted as brokers for secondhand goods, but we didn't have a system like that for electronic scrap.
We could handle large corporations and mid-sized companies directly because the deals were significant, but it was impossible to cover all the small businesses scattered across the country.
And the main problem was that the volume of electronic scrap generated by small businesses was so small that junkyards weren't interested.
"Of course, if we offered higher prices for components like IC chips, the junkyards would be scrambling to collect them."
Park Jong-bum continued my thought.
"But that would reduce our profit margin. And it would make it harder to negotiate lower prices when we target large corporations later. How about this? We already have branches all over the country, so we could hire specialized salespeople and assign them to the branches."
We were considering that option, but how many salespeople would we need to cover every company in the country?
There were hundreds of companies in Ansan Industrial Complex alone, and there were five junkyards. If there were about 1,000 junkyards nationwide, that meant there were over 100,000 companies.
And we couldn't just hire day laborers for sales positions.
"Hiring too many employees would burden the company before we even know how profitable electronic scrap will be. The risk is too high. We need to find another solution. Hmm…"
I was racking my brain for a solution, my head pounding, when Maru said,
"Why don't we just give up on small businesses? Our target is large corporations and mid-sized companies, right? The junkyards will collect the scrap and sell it to us once the price goes up. Why are you so worried?"
Maru's words made me let go of my obsession.
"You're right. I was being greedy. Let's wait and see. I was being impatient."
The first delivery began. Since it was our first time, we sent as many different types of items as possible to get a comprehensive assessment of their gold content.
"Number 1 is 5 tons of motherboards with CPUs, number 2 is 2 tons of network cards, number 3 is 1 ton of IC chips, number 4 is 5 tons of high-grade boards with a lot of IC chips, I don't know where they came from, number 5 is 10 tons of low-grade boards with fewer IC chips, and number 6 is 10 tons of boards from appliances, let's just call them miscellaneous boards. And number 7…"
My eyes gleamed.
"Semiconductor integrated circuits. Wafers."
Although we bought them from a wholesaler, not directly from a large corporation, the volume was significant.
We were lucky that the wholesaler had been collecting wafers from several companies to process them all at once.
When we first bought them, they were circular silicon wafers with shiny, rectangular semiconductor integrated circuits on top.
There couldn't be any gold in the silicon, so we had to detach the integrated circuits to maximize their value. It took longer than we expected, and we ended up with 100 kg of detached integrated circuits.
"Why are they called wafers? Shouldn't they be called semiconductor integrated circuits?"
"The silicon base that the integrated circuits are attached to is called a wafer. I'm not sure why, but that's what they call them."
Park Jong-bum explained and then said with anticipation,
"We're delivering 100 kg of wafers today. This will definitely be the most valuable item."
They were high-purity, top-grade recycled materials, and we had the highest expectations for them.
"How much did we pay for all of this?"
Team Leader Park looked through the documents and said,
"Excluding the motherboards and network cards from the discarded computer warehouse, the rest cost us about 3 million won."
"3 million won, huh."
We were loading three containers, and the transportation cost to Japan alone exceeded 3 million won.
"Team Leader Park, are you excited?"
"Of course I am."
I patted his back a couple of times and said,
"I'll keep my promise once we get the results. Just keep up the good work."
"Yes, sir."
As the employees loaded the containers under Park Jong-bum's supervision, Maru and I went back to the office.
"Hyung, how long will you be staying in Japan this time?"
Since it was our first delivery and I didn't even know the contact person, I decided to accompany them.
"I'm not sure. I'll probably come back right away. We need to work on securing deals with large corporations and mid-sized companies. There's always work to be done."
We were getting occasional calls thanks to our fax campaign, but our lack of sales figures was always a stumbling block.
We were slowly building up our track record, but it was still insufficient in the eyes of large companies.
"We need to keep building our sales figures to be able to do proper business with them. Why don't you take a few days off while you're there? It's your first time abroad, wouldn't it be a shame to just come back without seeing anything?"
"Maybe you're right. I have been working nonstop. I could use a break."
"Do that. Tell Team Leader Park to come back first, and you stay there for a few days and relax. I'll take care of things here."
I smiled at Maru's words.
"You're just saying that so you can steal from me behind my back, right? I know your tricks."
Maru scoffed.
"Don't be ridiculous. If I wanted to steal from you, I would have done it a long time ago. You're an easy target."
We chuckled.
"Alright, I'll take a three-day break while I'm there. Let's go together next time."
"Okay, have a safe trip."