Making Money
With 8 Premium Plans, at 10 Nux Stones a month, that'll net him 960 Nux Stones a year, nearly a grand.
A thousand more of those and this building will no longer be a concern, which may sound like a lot, but with how vast Aleph City was, it was actually nothing.
Praising her one more time, Minos sent her back off to work while he typed down the most important information from the paperwork into his Compo.
After that rich young man, things died down a little bit more, and Minos thought the day would end uneventfully, but who knew that just as the sun was beginning to set, a massive influx of new customers stormed into the building.
Shocked, Minos quickly called his employee aside to ask her what happened, only for her to reveal that word had spread, and now everyone wanted a Rovo.
Both amazed and filled with ecstasy, Minos quickly joined her on the floor, relieving some of her tension as the two split the customers between them.
With every sale, Minos would quickly fill out the paperwork before recording it into his Compo, jumping right back to selling the second he was done.
With the two of them entering overdrive mode, they spent the next few hours trying to deal with the influx of customers, but they just weren't fast enough no matter how hard they tried.
Eventually, despite not wanting to, Minos had to shut down the store for the night, promising everyone that they'd be right back at it at the crack of dawn.
With his guarantee, the overfilled store finally started emptying, allowing the two of them to let out a sigh of relief.
With everyone finally gone, the young lady couldn't help but walk up to Minos and ask him what the sales were like.
Hearing her, he finally took a seat down by his Compo as he quickly ran down all the numbers, his mouth nearly flinging open as he calculated the final amount.
"We sold 142 Basic Plans and 612 Premium Plans, which after a year, comes to a total of 75,144 Nux Stones!"
"Awesome!"
"And based on how many people were lined up, it's likely that number will multiply by ten by tomorrow night!" Minos said joyously.
"Really? That's so much money!" She said, her mouth nearly watering.
"Don't worry, you'll get your share, just work hard." Minos promised.
"No problem Boss!"
After sending her off for the day, Minos did one more check of the numbers before closing the shop, receiving a call on his Rovo just as he did so.
"Minos speaking."
"Boss, I'm just sending you the numbers for today." A young lady said from the other end.
Minos believed in the potential of his product, so he didn't hold back at all, having already hired a person solely in-charge of keeping in touch with all his salespeople and confirming their numbers.
Of course, for the time being, the flagship store would be under his control, but once business starts picking up, he'll start taking on a more executive role.
"Let me hear them." Minos responded.
"For Store 1, we've 83 Basic Plans, no premiums. Store 2 has 112 Basic Plans, again no premium. Store 3 has 213 Basic Plans and 10 Premium Plans. As for Store 4, we've got 284 Basic Plans and 18 Premium Plans."
"All-in-all, we've got a total of 692 Basic Plans and 28 Premium Plans, adding up to a total of 11664 in yearly revenue."
"11664? Well done, the numbers are much higher than I first expected." Minos said with a smile, of course after comparing to his own numbers, they were nothing, but it was still a good start.
He originally thought it would take a few days for sales to pick up, but it seemed even he underestimated the vast appeal of the Rovo, and just how well it would sell.
"Is there anything else you'd like to know, Boss?"
"Not for now, just make sure to record those numbers."
"Already have."
"Good, then I'll talk to you tomorrow. Take care." Minos said, turning his Rovo back off.
After locking the door to the building, Minos headed straight home as he whistled a happy tune, already envisioning his future success.
But while Minos was imagining his future, undercurrents were being set off throughout the city, news of the Rovo having spread far and wide.
…
"You're telling me this little thing can communicate across the entire city, and you've only got to pay a Nux Stone a month to use it?" A fierce looking middle-aged man said as he inspected the Rovo up-close.
"Well that's only the Basic Plan Sir, with limited calls and answers. The Premium Plan costs ten times as much, but everything is unlimited." A younger man replied, his voice a little shaky.
"Are you making a fool of me? Ten Nux Stones? What's that amount to? Nothing!" He growled, slamming his fist onto the table, causing the man across from him to jump back in fear.
"Tell me Emon, what is our business?" The middle-aged man asked after seemingly calming down somewhat.
"Mail…"
"Exactly, and what makes up a big chunk of our service?"
"Delivering letters…"
"What a genius! Since you're that smart Emon, tell me, why is this service that is multiple times cheaper and more convenient than ours a problem?"
"Because we won't be able to make money through delivering letters anymore…"
"Bin-f***-ing-go you dim-witted little rat. Since you know we're f***ed, why aren't you doing anything? Get my men ready, I'm calling a meeting right this second."
"But Sir, it's la-"
"I DON'T F***ING CARE IF IT'S LATE, GET MY MEN NOW!" He shouted, causing the young man's face to go completely pale.
"Y-y-y-yes, right away!"
Seeing him run off to spread the word, the middle-aged man collapsed back into his seat, the wrinkles on his forehead crumpled as he thought hard about solutions.
Violence was always an answer, but this business didn't seem small-scale at all, and odds were there was big money behind it.
If he took a bite before he knew what he was facing, he may just end up losing all his teeth, which would be counterproductive.
As he thought long and hard, some of his men finally started funneling into his room, their eyes slightly red, clearly having just been woken up.
"Boss, what's going on?" One of the men asked as he rubbed his sore-eyes.
Not responding, the middle-aged man just tossed a thick document to him, causing him to step back as it slammed heavily into his chest.
Grabbing it tightly, he flipped it over, reading it silently as the others crowded around him to give it a look as well.
"Trouble…" He finally said as he gently closed the document.
"Trouble? Running out of toilet paper while I'm sh**ing is trouble, this is a f***ing catastrophe, do you understand?"
"I understand, so what's the game plan?" He asked.
"Game plan? What the f*** have I hired you idiots for if not to come up with one. Get to thinking, and I want to hear every thought, no matter how stupid you may think it is."
Hearing his words, his men quickly started discussing, realizing that this may be a moment of life and death.
Finally, after a couple minutes of talking, one of the braver ones cleared his voice before making his thoughts clear.
"Sir, our business has always been two parts, mail and delivery, with mail only making up 20% of our annual profit. Since we can't compete in the mail front, why not expand our delivery channels and fully invest into it, cut the fat and keep the muscle as they say."
"Do I look like a coward to you?"
"No Sir, of course not!"
"Then why are you treating me like one? I didn't start this business all those years ago just so a random entry into the market could f*** me. Think of something else."
Hearing his response, the group got back to brainstorming, but no matter how they thought about it, unless they somehow destroyed the Rovo, their mail-sector was destined to collapse.
"Boss, as much as I hate to say this, unless we could nip this so-called Rovo in the bud and stop it from spreading, all we can do is cut off our mail-limb early so as to avoid the wound from worsening."
"Hmph, useless bastards…" The middle-aged man said, though it seemed even he agreed with such an analysis.
"In that case, send out the best investigators we can hire. I want to know everything about this Rovo company, from its sales, to its employees, to the people who've invested in it, and most importantly, the son-of-a-bi*** who started it all."
"Right on it, Boss!"