Chapter 27 Scrap Collection Station
Recycling Station No. 16, Block 156, Aitou Street.
Dominic came to the scrap collection station carrying large and small bags of cans. Zhang Ailun also helped him carry a few large bags, each weighing at least 20 kilograms.
When walking on the road, I was almost buried by the garbage bags and I couldn’t see anyone at all.
After arriving at the recycling station, I took a look at today's recycling price displayed on the electronic screen.
Clear beverage bottles, $1 per pound.
Cans, $1 per pound.
Paper shell, $1 per pound.
Glass bottle, $1 per pound.
Zhang Ailun also found that the price of recyclables at this small scrap collection station was slightly higher.
Maybe because it is close to a busy neighborhood, there are many recycling stations of all sizes and the competition is fierce.
The recycling station was only half the size of a basketball court. It was an old house with a rusty iron fence. Outside the door was a broken pickup truck with peeling paint and patched up seams. There were no employees at the scrap yard, only an elderly, short and fat white man.
The other party seemed to be quite familiar with Dominic and had been an old customer for two and a half years.
Coming out of the house, he also greeted enthusiastically, "Hey, Dominic boy, you are finally here, let me see how many pounds of the jars you have saved for several days are."
Dominic responded enthusiastically, "Karl, how are you doing recently?"
"Of course, I've been fine, everything except business."
Old Carl smiled and replied humorously: "I even had the energy to call two beautiful homeless girls to drink with me at night. We had a pleasant night. You know! It's really not easy to fight two people at my age."
Dominic smiled awkwardly.
You are over seventy years old, and your grandchildren's children are already old enough to help with cooking. Why are you still thinking about that kind of thing all day long?
Old Carl also noticed Zhang Allen next to him. It was the first time he saw this unfamiliar face and he seemed a little surprised. "Your friend?"
"This is my friend and partner Alun. Alun, this is Carl Alfred, the owner of this scrap yard that has been open for over 30 years."
Dominic introduced the two to each other as a middleman, and explained to Zhang Ailun: "Two years ago, I ran away from home and wandered on the streets. I knew nothing, was homeless, hungry, and bullied. Thanks to Carl, I learned how to survive on the streets and where to pick up cans to exchange for money."
It turns out that he is the enlightenment mentor of the Wandering God!
Zhang Allen immediately extended his hand and showed a friendly attitude to the vigorous white old man, "Hello, Carl, you can just call me Allen. I am living in the No. 19 Bridge Hole Camp with Dominic now."
"I can see that you are a spirited young man." Old Carl shook hands with him with a smile, patted his shoulder, and suddenly realized that something was wrong.
She pinched his arm and asked in surprise, "Dude, did you put a steel plate in your clothes?"
"Haha, you discovered this!" Zhang Ailun laughed.
He replied humorously: "If my fists are not harder than others, how can I survive on the streets with my skin color?"
Old Carl nodded in agreement.
No matter whether you are black or white on the street, if your fists are not strong enough, you will be bullied every now and then.
He was well-informed. He had been on the streets in his early years and had participated in many street fights. As soon as he touched the opponent, he knew that he was a ruthless character who could kill someone with one punch.
The Dragon is coming. Who are you?
Old Carl turned around and moved out the weighing basket from the scrap yard. Dominic also lent a hand and poured all the cans he had collected with great effort into it.
"Although the recent profits are not very good and the competition is fierce, I have been saving the cans and not selling them to other scrap yards. The quantity will definitely not disappoint you. I can get at least $210!"
Dominic said confidently while looking at the number displayed on the weighing basket.
Normally he would collect cans for three or four days and then sell them, but this time he collected them for a week and knew the number of each can he handled.
Old Carl smiled and said, "Well, it's rare that you still care about an old man like me. Your brain is still so useful!"
After all the items were weighed, the appropriate price was calculated.
Cans 76 pounds, $.
Clear beverage bottle 52 pounds, $.
Glass bottle 42 lbs, $. Total $.
Old Carl handed the money to Dominic and warned him, "Hold it well, kid. Don't let someone rob you as soon as you leave the house."
Dominic had also experienced such a bad thing. If it had happened in the past, he would have been frightened and taken a detour, but this time he was not afraid.
"Don't worry. My friends are good fighters! If anyone dares to rob me, they will definitely hit a brick wall! Alan will teach them a lesson!!"
Dominic is even more confident than Zhang Allen himself.
Old Carl didn't comment on this and spread his hands, "Ok, you know what's going on, just be sure to keep the money."
He wasn't too worried, because few people would be so desperate as to rob a scrap yard.
The money is locked in the safe, the cash prepared every day is very limited, and there is a gun in the house. Which little black guy would be so ignorant as to come here to steal garbage?
Dominic also took out two $20 bills and handed them to Zhang Allen.
Zhang Ailun also chose to accept it with pleasure.
Just for accompanying Dominic on this trip, he received a dividend of $40.
It's like Donuts working hard all day delivering food, only to have all the food snatched away by the black man who's fishing.
This was when Dominic had just taken over Wapson's Street, and one person didn't make much money picking up cans.
If he really took over dozens of streets, opened a scrap collection station, took over the recycling work in the wealthy areas, attracted dozens or hundreds of people, and sold directly to resource recycling companies without middlemen to make a profit, Zhang Ailun couldn't even imagine how much money he could make in a day just lying down.
As long as you find the right direction to work hard and your own strength is strong enough, making money is relatively easy.
As expected, no matter what industry you are in, you have to build a platform and be someone who can provide jobs and allocate resources to others.
Those Mexicans and South Americans who work for Chinese bosses in overseas warehouses can't even speak English clearly. If you ask them what they can do, they know nothing. If you ask them what they have, they have nothing. They just bury their heads in piecework, grunting and making metal boxes.
Even so, they still think they are getting a great deal, they are working for themselves and are their own bosses!
Because the more you work, the more you can get.
Whoever invented piecework was a genius.
Zhang Ailun only takes some dividends and allocates the positions in the streets, and then more people will be willing to work.
I have already decided to recruit soldiers and horses, recruit a team of scavengers to join the Beggars' Sect, and let them work for me... Oh no, let them work for themselves!
Strive for freedom and a better tomorrow!
Dominic said hello to Old Carl, and the two left the scrap collection station.
Zhang Ailun also put forward his constructive ideas and development blueprint to Dominic on the way.
Dominic was a little surprised. "You want to take over all the nearby streets? Man, you're really greedy. You want to start a gang?"
"I just can't stand those homeless people fighting over a can, getting their heads broken and bleeding. The strong ones form gangs to bully those who are alone."
Zhang Ailun shook his head. "We are different from those gangs on the street. Waste recycling has nothing to do with drug trafficking and smuggling. Have you ever seen any gang members rummaging through trash cans to pick up trash? I just want to find more people to cooperate with, to ensure that everyone can make money, have a stable income, can eat enough, and we can also earn more dividends."
Dominic thought for a moment, isn't this still the same gang thing? Just the business they are doing is different.
But the essence of the world is actually collecting protection fees and paying protection fees.
From a small street to various industries and even a country.
"Okay, I'll tell your idea to those lone scavengers on the street." Dominic thought about it and felt that there was no harm in doing so and it would not hurt to give it a try.
Groups of scavengers occupying the streets may resist, but lone scavengers will surely join in.
After all, having someone to protect you and having no one to protect you are two completely different treatments on the street.
If you don't have anyone to protect you, you will have to wait in line to get relief meals, and the food will not even be hot in time.
With someone protecting you, no one will dare to say you have no manners even if you cut in line.
However, most of the people who cut in line are black people.
Or just say that the homeless people on the West Coast are really low-class.
(End of this chapter)
