American Comics Plane Trader

"These things are the first batch of goods you are going to sell!" In a warehouse in the factory area on the outskirts of Chicago, Josie pointed to a warehouse full of wooden boxes around him and said to Linden Schneider and Dix, and then Pointing to a box beside him "Dix, open it."

Dix stepped forward to open the box as promised.

Seeing what was inside, Dix's eyes lit up, and Lyndon Schneider also widened his eyes.

"High-quality tobacco!" Linden Schneider exclaimed, "Could it be that the curry in this warehouse is all tobacco?"

"That's right, all of them are rough processed dried tobacco. Your task is to find a way to sell them. I don't care whether you sell the tobacco leaves directly or make them into cigarettes. The profit after selling is up to you alone." 10%, other people will share 10%, and the rest will be handed over to me, and the other handed over to me can also be some other things I need, such as arms, steel, cloth, food, etc. If you have a good deal, you can let me know in advance. How about it? Are there any questions?" Josie looked at Lyndon Schneider and asked.

In later generations, when it comes to the illegal profiteering industry, most of the people's immediate reaction is Huang Tian's superiority, the second evil of gambling fans, or arms.

Especially fans, who can benefit hundreds of times at every turn.

But what many people don't know is that in the United States, fans have never been the most profitable illegal industry.

In the 21st century, don't look at this evil thing. The average annual sales in the United States exceeds 100 billion, and the industry is huge. However, Dana has calculated it because of various reasons such as high processing difficulty, scattered market, high risk and high transportation costs. , its net profit margin is actually not high, less than 20%, but because of the layer-by-layer diffusion during the period, there are many intermediate links, and it has been diluted several times, which gives people a feeling that this thing seems to be very profitable ,

In fact, in comparison, this stuff is actually not as profitable as health products.

For example, bird's nest in sugar water, 0.001% of bird's nest ingredients, the rest is actually sugar water, the cost of a small bottle of up to 3 yuan sells for 30... directly 1000% of the income.

As for arms, the real money is always made by the legal transactions of those big arms dealers. Illegal transactions can only be regarded as fragmentary. Even the so-called king of arms can earn more than one billion dollars a year at most.

So in the United States, what illegal industry is the most profitable?

From 1919 to the 1950s, the highest profit margin was alcohol because of Prohibition.

After 1950, it was cigarettes, private cigarettes.

Yes, legal cigarettes are originally a profiteering industry, while illegal private cigarettes are even more profitable.

Take New York in 2021 as an example. Because of the highest tobacco tax in the country, the average retail price of a pack of legal cigarettes is $13, the wholesale price is $12.5, and the profit per pack is only 50 cents.

What about private cigarettes? The cost for smugglers to get the goods is less than $1 for a package, and it will not exceed $3 including the intermediate transportation link. Selling to offline sellers is $5-6, and the profit margin is at least 200%.

The downline sellers can also earn 5-6 dollars by selling at a price lower than the market price of 12 dollars, and the profit margin is still more than 100%.

Cigarettes in other regions are not as expensive, but the average retail price is more than $7...

(In many places in the United States, you can buy domestically produced cigarettes that are cheaper than domestic cigarettes because of preferential tariffs, and the price of domestic cigarettes is not cheap.)

It is also this huge profit that has led to over 60% of private/fake cigarettes in the U.S. market.

The key is how high is the risk of powder and how high is the risk of smoking?

Except for horse grass, which has been gradually legalized in later generations, other selling fans and attracting fans, the sentencing is still relatively heavy. The most important thing is that most citizens' legal treatment will be cancelled, and the sentencing in the early years was even heavier.

But what about selling cigarettes? Unless you are caught by the IRS, under normal circumstances, you can pay a fine.

Risk level is not a level at all.

Therefore, since the 1950s, the mafia with strict organization, high operational efficiency, high degree of information technology and advanced supply chain management has actually begun to shift its industrial focus to selling cigarettes.

Leave this stuff to the bumpkins in Mexico and Colombia.

In addition, since the 1990s, 90% of private cigarettes in the US market are Madeinprc.

The only problem is that the upstream of illicit cigarettes will have high requirements for managers.

This is why Josie attaches so much importance to Lyndon Schneider. This guy is called a criminal expert not only because he has a high IQ, but also because he has done smuggling. The key is that this guy is a real "doctor", a national of the University of Monich. PhD students in the School of Economics...

Who the hell knows why this kind of person is reduced to stealing things.

But think about what happened to Germany during World War I... It seems that this is not too strange.

"How many goods are there in total?" Linden Schneider asked solemnly looking at the full warehouse.

"40 tons!" Josie said with a smile.

40 tons? ? ? ? Linden Schneider couldn't help but gasped when he heard the words, his hands were trembling a little.

The price of cigarettes in this era is also different because of the different purchasing power of currency.

A cigarette is basically about 10 dollars.

This price may not seem high, but if calculated according to the purchasing power of currency, it is actually more expensive than later generations. After all, according to the price of gold, the US dollar has depreciated nearly 40 times in 2021.

40 tons of tobacco, if you are more conscientious, according to 1 gram of shredded tobacco and one cigarette, that is 40 million sticks, one million packs, and 100,000 cigarettes, that is two million.

But what kind of conscience do you need for private cigarettes? Roll it looser, or add a little hay, and the output will double directly, that is, four million.

Even if the profit from the downstream sales end is deducted, at least two million can be earned.

Even if they can only keep 20%, that's 400,000.

Isn't this better than stealing gems?

After all, if they can earn 30% of a million jewels, it is considered too much.

And the risk of selling cigarettes is still low.

"Able! Of course I can!" Lyndon Schneider's eyeballs were a little red.

Selling private cigarettes is not just as simple as high profits and low risks.

In many cases, cigarettes can be exchanged for something that is less than money.

Especially in those chaotic areas, such as Europe now...

If these tobaccos can be brought to the present Europe, Linden Schneider can even exchange for a gold mountain!

"But Mr. Kahn, if so much tobacco is to be sold smoothly, I need some start-up capital, and I also need more weapons and manpower!" Lyndon Schneider said after calming down a little.

"Manpower and weapons, Dix is ​​ready. In terms of money, here is 50,000. In addition, I will introduce someone to you. Come out, Lieutenant Dietrich!" Josie clapped his hands.

Immediately, a person in plain clothes was transferred from the warehouse Curry.

It was Sheriff Dietrich who had appeared several times.

"Mr. Kahn! Long time no see, Mr. Schneider!" Sergeant Dietrich first greeted Josie respectfully, then turned his head and greeted Schneider with a hint of arrogance. "It turned out to be Sheriff Dietrich!" Linden Schneider greeted the other party with a strange expression, and instantly understood why Josie introduced the sheriff.

The two-tier profit of tobacco is a carrot, and the existence of this sheriff is a big stick.

However, with the help of such a sheriff, the sale of tobacco will indeed save a lot of trouble.

"Speaking of which, Schneider, you are able to come out so early, and the sheriff has a lot of credit. In addition, the profit from tobacco will also be shared by the sheriff and his colleagues. You will have to cooperate more in the future." Josie said with a smile. "Everyone is smart and should understand the meaning of this business, and this is only the first batch of goods. As long as you work hard, I guarantee that everyone will be rich and rich, but if anyone wants to make other ideas, I will Advise him to think about the consequences beforehand!"

Several people quickly said yes.

"Okay, I'll leave the rest to you. I have something else to do, so I'll leave first!" After explaining the matter, Josie didn't stay long, and left here.

As for whether these batches of tobacco will be hacked by Lyndon Schneider, Josie is not worried at all.

He has prepared double guarantees.

Dix's men were all cowboys he recruited from his hometown of Kentucky, and they were all men with families. Even Dix himself was bound by Louis' widow.

Lyndon Schneider wants to hack this batch of tobacco, it depends on whether these people agree.

And another guarantee is Dietrich.

This guy is a genuine black policeman. When Josie was trying to help Lyndon Schneider and Dix get rid of crimes, he accidentally got a lot of information from this policeman, and as a policeman, he is also a family member .

So under coercion and temptation, the black policeman easily took refuge in Josie.

Especially the profit of dozens of tons of tobacco layer, under normal circumstances, is enough for Dietrich, a black policeman, to collect black money for more than ten years.

As for being bitten back? Josie didn't care at all.

As I said before, buying and selling private cigarettes is not a serious crime at all, and as long as Josie is willing to spend money, not to mention that the probability of losing the lawsuit is very low, even if she loses, as long as Margot is around, she can still get out with some money.

But these people... Hehe.

The only thing to worry about is that these people are barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes, and they are fighting themselves desperately.

But the possibility of this is too low. Who would go into a one-shot deal when they know that as long as they work honestly for Josie, they can make a lot of money continuously?

Unless they can bypass Josie and get the source directly.

But where is Josie's supply?

Westeros!

You take it!

That's right, in addition to comparing the more legitimate trades before, tobacco is a new profitable business that Josie and Daenerys found in the process of communicating.

It’s just that in Westeros, tobacco is not used for smoking, but for chewing like betel nuts. This is actually the way tobacco was first discovered by humans. Because the taste is sour, it is called sour grass—— The finished tobacco leaves are not sour, but rather alkaline, because they are mainly flue-cured tobacco. Fresh tobacco leaves actually contain a lot of organic acids such as citric acid and malic acid. These acids will be precipitated during the baking of tobacco leaves, forming White powder.

Because tobacco itself has great medicinal value and is highly addictive, it is very popular among nobles, so it is grown in a large amount in Westeros.

Daenerys has more territory. After all, it is the Slave Bay, and the cost of manpower is free, so the cost is very low.

But obviously, this guy is useless to Daenerys, a queen who is dedicated to fighting for hegemony.

So they sold it to Josie at a very low price, giving him another big surprise.