“You all worked hard.”
“I-It was tough.”
“It’ll be like this again tomorrow.”
“On the other hand, we were bored.”
The other slaves also looked quite tired, which shows just how hard they worked today.
I should have them continue working in teams of 20 for a while, then split them into teams of 10 once they get used to it. After handing over the recipe to the Commercial Guild, we can split them into teams of 3.
Anyway, it’s important now to get them used to the work. As I was thinking about this, Machad came over with a question.
“Rolando-sama, may I ask something?”
“What is it?”
“It’s about the price of the cookies. They’re 1 small copper coin each, and 9 small copper coins for 10, right?”
“That’s right.”
“But 30 cookies is 2 large copper coins and 8 small copper coins, and 50 is 4 large copper coins and 7 small copper coins. Doesn’t that make the discount percentages weird?”
After Machad asked that, I thought there was no problem with it. Anyone clever enough to think that much would realize that if you order 10 cookies 5 times versus ordering 50 cookies at once, you lose 2 small copper coins with the separate orders. So numerically, ordering in increments of 10 and lining up again to order another 10 when you could order 50 at once does mean you lose money.
But think about it carefully. Today was the first day of cookie sales, and we had to forcibly end sales because “we ran out of ingredients for the cookies.” So people who wanted to buy cookies but couldn’t will think “there’s a limited number of cookies.”
With that possibility, would they really go to the trouble of ordering 10 at a time? Even understanding it’s slightly more expensive, choosing the maximum order of 50 in one go makes more sense in terms of the end result.
Some bold folks might try ordering 10 batches of 10 at once, but we can just decide not to allow that. For food businesses, high volume low margin sales are key, you can’t profit without selling in bulk. That’s why intricate pricing like this pays off in the long run.
“So the pricing we set this time isn’t wrong. And really, there shouldn’t be any discounts in the first place, right?”
“That’s true, but…”
Basically, when selling something, aside from goods that degrade in quality over time or are past their seasonal prime so will be hard to sell, it’s not that common to offer discounts all the time.
Once the price of an item is set, whether you buy 10 or 100, the per-item price doesn’t change. Professional merchants aside, sometimes stall vendors and the like will throw in a few extra pieces as thanks for a large purchase, but that’s not always the case.
Therefore, the price list shown to customers should simply say 1 small copper coin each, maximum order of 50 pieces.
“This is just another business strategy, Machad.”
“I-I see…”
“Plus, it has the added purpose of deterring business rivals.”
“Deterring them?”
“That’s right.”
Eventually, we plan to hand over the cookie recipe to the Commercial Guild and sell it after negotiating conditions. However, we expect that before recipe sales, greedy merchants eager to cash in will mimic it and sell similar products without waiting.
So in terms of deterring that, these constant discounts are effective. Even if someone tries selling similar products, disregarding profit margins like we are, they aren’t a threat to us.
For example, if two shops are selling identical quality products, Shop A sells for 100 coins and Shop B for 120 coins. When asked where they’d buy it, most would answer Shop A. It’s the same idea.
Furthermore, even tailored to commoner tastes, the cookies we sold today are quite high quality by this world’s standards. If someone tried to mimic them and sell them, they’d have to charge at least 4 small copper coins per cookie to turn a profit as a business.
So how can we offer them for 1 small copper coin? Because we obtain the base ingredients of wheat, sugar, and eggs directly from producers rather than the market. Those producers are none other than my mansion and the orphanage.
By keeping material costs low, profit is made with every cookie baked, so even if competitors try the same, the difference in base costs is too great for them to possibly use absurd pricing like 1 small copper coin each.
However, in order to eventually make cookies available nationwide, we will need rival cookie sellers to get involved, so copies made before the recipe spreads won’t cause any real harm.
But as the first to start something, people naturally want to monopolize it amongst themselves if possible, and I’d like to maintain dominance for a while if we can.
“I see, deterrence in that sense.”
“Well, eventually we want cookies to be available in cities, towns, and villages outside the capital too, so it’s imperative that people other than us also engage in cookie sales.”
“That’s right. Until then, let’s sell as much as we can and earn!”
As we were discussing that, I noticed the slaves were all looking at us. They had probably been waiting so as not to interrupt our conversation. When I turned to face them, Meranda came over to report.
“Master, clean up is finished.”
“Got it. Rolando-sama, about that matter from before, should we go ahead and give it to them now?”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
The slaves had questioning looks, not knowing what we were talking about, but to put it simply, the slaves here now are employees hired by Commercio Trading Company to sell cookies.
As employees, there is an obligation to employers to pay them for their labor. However, that’s only how it works on Earth; detailed labor laws including slaves don’t exist in this country.
So how do business owners here pay their employees? Generally the same as, or a little higher than, the going rate for day-to-day living expenses, strictly enforced by the Commercial Guild.
I said earlier there are no labor laws, but in this world, merchants must register with the Commercial Guild to conduct business.
The Commercial Guild disapproves of clearly unfair treatment of hired employees. If such things become public, the merchant effectively becomes unemployed.
Abusing employees and not paying them for their work, such business owners would hardly find anyone willing to pay them properly for goods and services, becoming an issue of credibility.
Once exposed, their credibility as merchants plummets, and the Commercial Guild judges them unfit to conduct business, often forcibly revoking their registration.
Due to these rules, aside from truly crooked merchants, employees do not often suffer terrible conditions.
Therefore, from that perspective, many merchants purchase slaves as labor, and for businesses of a certain scale, the ratio of slave employees tends to be high.
However, I am treating them as employees rather than property, so arrangements are in place to pay them wages.
“You all worked hard today. Line up by team.”
I had the slaves line up by cooking team, service team, and guard team. As they lined up, I began explaining.
“You all worked hard.”
“I-It was tough.”
“It’ll be like this again tomorrow.”
“On the other hand, we were bored.”
The other slaves also looked quite tired, which shows just how hard they worked today.
I should have them continue working in teams of 20 for a while, then split them into teams of 10 once they get used to it. After handing over the recipe to the Commercial Guild, we can split them into teams of 3.
Anyway, it’s important now to get them used to the work. As I was thinking about this, Machad came over with a question.
“Rolando-sama, may I ask something?”
“What is it?”
“It’s about the price of the cookies. They’re 1 small copper coin each, and 9 small copper coins for 10, right?”
“That’s right.”
“But 30 cookies is 2 large copper coins and 8 small copper coins, and 50 is 4 large copper coins and 7 small copper coins. Doesn’t that make the discount percentages weird?”
After Machad asked that, I thought there was no problem with it. Anyone clever enough to think that much would realize that if you order 10 cookies 5 times versus ordering 50 cookies at once, you lose 2 small copper coins with the separate orders. So numerically, ordering in increments of 10 and lining up again to order another 10 when you could order 50 at once does mean you lose money.
But think about it carefully. Today was the first day of cookie sales, and we had to forcibly end sales because “we ran out of ingredients for the cookies.” So people who wanted to buy cookies but couldn’t will think “there’s a limited number of cookies.”
With that possibility, would they really go to the trouble of ordering 10 at a time? Even understanding it’s slightly more expensive, choosing the maximum order of 50 in one go makes more sense in terms of the end result.
Some bold folks might try ordering 10 batches of 10 at once, but we can just decide not to allow that. For food businesses, high volume low margin sales are key, you can’t profit without selling in bulk. That’s why intricate pricing like this pays off in the long run.
“So the pricing we set this time isn’t wrong. And really, there shouldn’t be any discounts in the first place, right?”
“That’s true, but…”
Basically, when selling something, aside from goods that degrade in quality over time or are past their seasonal prime so will be hard to sell, it’s not that common to offer discounts all the time.
Once the price of an item is set, whether you buy 10 or 100, the per-item price doesn’t change. Professional merchants aside, sometimes stall vendors and the like will throw in a few extra pieces as thanks for a large purchase, but that’s not always the case.
Therefore, the price list shown to customers should simply say 1 small copper coin each, maximum order of 50 pieces.
“This is just another business strategy, Machad.”
“I-I see…”
“Plus, it has the added purpose of deterring business rivals.”
“Deterring them?”
“That’s right.”
Eventually, we plan to hand over the cookie recipe to the Commercial Guild and sell it after negotiating conditions. However, we expect that before recipe sales, greedy merchants eager to cash in will mimic it and sell similar products without waiting.
So in terms of deterring that, these constant discounts are effective. Even if someone tries selling similar products, disregarding profit margins like we are, they aren’t a threat to us.
For example, if two shops are selling identical quality products, Shop A sells for 100 coins and Shop B for 120 coins. When asked where they’d buy it, most would answer Shop A. It’s the same idea.
Furthermore, even tailored to commoner tastes, the cookies we sold today are quite high quality by this world’s standards. If someone tried to mimic them and sell them, they’d have to charge at least 4 small copper coins per cookie to turn a profit as a business.
So how can we offer them for 1 small copper coin? Because we obtain the base ingredients of wheat, sugar, and eggs directly from producers rather than the market. Those producers are none other than my mansion and the orphanage.
By keeping material costs low, profit is made with every cookie baked, so even if competitors try the same, the difference in base costs is too great for them to possibly use absurd pricing like 1 small copper coin each.
However, in order to eventually make cookies available nationwide, we will need rival cookie sellers to get involved, so copies made before the recipe spreads won’t cause any real harm.
But as the first to start something, people naturally want to monopolize it amongst themselves if possible, and I’d like to maintain dominance for a while if we can.
“I see, deterrence in that sense.”
“Well, eventually we want cookies to be available in cities, towns, and villages outside the capital too, so it’s imperative that people other than us also engage in cookie sales.”
“That’s right. Until then, let’s sell as much as we can and earn!”
As we were discussing that, I noticed the slaves were all looking at us. They had probably been waiting so as not to interrupt our conversation. When I turned to face them, Meranda came over to report.
“Master, clean up is finished.”
“Got it. Rolando-sama, about that matter from before, should we go ahead and give it to them now?”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
The slaves had questioning looks, not knowing what we were talking about, but to put it simply, the slaves here now are employees hired by Commercio Trading Company to sell cookies.
As employees, there is an obligation to employers to pay them for their labor. However, that’s only how it works on Earth; detailed labor laws including slaves don’t exist in this country.
So how do business owners here pay their employees? Generally the same as, or a little higher than, the going rate for day-to-day living expenses, strictly enforced by the Commercial Guild.
I said earlier there are no labor laws, but in this world, merchants must register with the Commercial Guild to conduct business.
The Commercial Guild disapproves of clearly unfair treatment of hired employees. If such things become public, the merchant effectively becomes unemployed.
Abusing employees and not paying them for their work, such business owners would hardly find anyone willing to pay them properly for goods and services, becoming an issue of credibility.
Once exposed, their credibility as merchants plummets, and the Commercial Guild judges them unfit to conduct business, often forcibly revoking their registration.
Due to these rules, aside from truly crooked merchants, employees do not often suffer terrible conditions.
Therefore, from that perspective, many merchants purchase slaves as labor, and for businesses of a certain scale, the ratio of slave employees tends to be high.
However, I am treating them as employees rather than property, so arrangements are in place to pay them wages.
“You all worked hard today. Line up by team.”
I had the slaves line up by cooking team, service team, and guard team. As they lined up, I began explaining.
