Originally, Tao Yushu planned to stay in the United States to attend the Oscars before returning to Xiangjiang, but was inspired by Lin Chaoyang.

She has a lot of hope for the videotape rental industry.

Lin's Pictures is about to expand its distribution channels in European and American countries, so it's better to take this opportunity to conduct a good research.

Tao Yushu has a strong execution ability and does what he wants when he has an idea. He immediately convened some backbones of the Lin family in the United States to sort out the content that needs to be investigated.

She first hired AC Nelson, who focused on market research, and then sent a 10-person research team to work on a two-pronged approach.

In addition, the couple was not idle and went deep into audio and video stores across the United States to learn about the situation.

The VNS video format originated in the 1950s, but the real commercialization was in the 1970s. In the following decade, an industrial chain covering the upstream and downstream gradually formed.

According to statistics, by May 1988, the number of audio-visual stores in the United States had exceeded 25,000, and there were 45,000 stores that also operated rental businesses.

Such a huge rental market has also created a huge industrial scale. As of the end of 1994, the annual revenue of the video cassette rental market in the United States had reached a huge amount of US$11 billion.

The more Tao Yushu investigated, the more he became jealous of this huge market.

But as she worried, Blockbuster has now become a well-deserved overlord of the American video tape rental industry. In the past two years, many audio and video stores run by individual store owners have closed down amid fierce competition from Blockbuster.

When talking about Blockbuster, all the individual shop owners who were still struggling to maintain their teeth were gritting their teeth, and their hatred was itchy.

That afternoon, the couple came to Santa Cruz, a small town in northern California. There was a Kane audio-visual store here. The owner of the store Mike is a veteran movie enthusiast. This can also be seen from his store name.

"See you next time!"

"goodbye."

The couple stayed in the store for more than half an hour and had a great chat with their boss Mike.

Lin Chaoyang spent $500 to buy videotapes in the store, so it is hard for Mike to dislike such a customer.

"Eat something."

After leaving the audio-visual store, Lin Chaoyang took Tao Yushu along the Pacific Avenue to the end and walked into a cafe called "Lulu Carpenter's Store".

Sitting down and ordering two cups of coffee and desserts, Lin Chaoyang counted the videotapes he had just bought.

The cassette tape is very bulky, with only 6 boxes in total. The most expensive one is "Jurassic Park" released last year, which costs up to $93.

In the past few days, in order to better communicate with the store owner during the investigation, the couple often purchases some video tapes, but they are always impressed by the high price of the video tapes.

Even the rental price is becoming more and more expensive. Some of the newly released blockbuster video tapes are even less than 50 cents lower than the theater price.

According to Chinese logic, the competition in the video tape rental market is so fierce now that the lower the rental price, the better.

But China's business logic has an underlying logic, which is a huge population and demand. It doesn't matter if the price is lower. As long as the quantity is increased, I can still make money.

But in the United States, where the land is vast and sparsely populated, this road is not feasible.

Suppose you are now the owner of a video store in a small town in the United States, and the customer base you can cover is the people in this town, with only a few thousand potential users, and there are more than one or two thousand people.

The population and movie viewing potential of the town can only support one audio and video store, so your life is still quite comfortable.

That day, a dog named Blockbuster suddenly opened the store next to you. There are a wide variety of videotapes, and there are many exclusive film sources, and customers flocked to them.

Can you cut the price at this time?

People are big companies and can always bear losses better than you.

And even if the price is reduced, the town has so much movie viewing potential. Although you may save your customers, you will lose the profit you deserve.

This is why personal audio and video stores across the United States have been closures over the past few years.

Tao Yushu is engaged in film production and distribution. She was not unaware of the video tape rental industry in the United States before, but this time she went deep into the local area to have a deeper understanding of this industry, and many of the experience she had accumulated in Xiangjiang before were also subverted.

The couple ate and chatted and had enough rest. Tao Yushu noticed the Santa Cruz Post Office opposite the coffee shop.

The post office decorated with Roman columns is magnificent and looks a bit old. It stands solemnly on Pacific Avenue like a church. It is one of the few iconic buildings in this small town.

Tao Yushu suddenly had a whim and walked into the post office. The exterior walls built with granite and sandstone were mottled, the floor made of ceramic tiles was old, and a postal mailbox was erected in the foyer.

When the couple came in, there was no one in the post office, only a middle-aged man who was in the "Mediterranean" crisis was counting what was going on.

Since the phone has entered the homes of ordinary people, the workload of the post office has been greatly reduced. In the past two years, the Internet industry in the United States has been booming, and the e-mail trend has gradually become popular. This old post office seems to be particularly declining.

Tao Yushu bought a 32-cent stamp with coins through a vending machine at the post office, then put the box of "Jurassic Park" videotape into an envelope and pasted it with stamps.

Finally, throw the envelope into the slot under the shabby copper sign that reads "Only local mail"

"Do you think this video will be able to go to Beverly Hills tomorrow?"

"It's hard to say."

Lin Chaoyang has little confidence in the efficiency of the United States. Although Santa Cruz is hundreds of kilometers away from Los Angeles, it theoretically takes only half a day to drive, but the transfer process of the post office cannot waste time.

It's really hard to say for a day.

"A day? It's enough. Madam, what you should worry about is whether the videotape can reach its destination intact."

While the couple was talking, the middle-aged man next to him spoke.

The man has the typical American Westerner's appearance and temperament, looking a little rough, with a low voice and a slightly hoarse voice.

Seeing that the man seemed very confident about the efficiency of the post office, Tao Yushu asked him curiously: "Sir, are you a post office staff?"

The middle-aged man shook his head, "No, I'm just like you, I'm also here to post things."

The man explained enthusiastically: "I talked to Andy, who is the postmaster here. All emails will be hand-divided before getting off work during this period and will be distributed immediately. Local emails will be sent directly to the driver."

The man looked at his watch after saying this, "In theory, your email will arrive in Los Angeles in the early morning, but if it is delivered to you, it may be until afternoon."

Tao Yushu thought behind the post office there should be a precise and cumbersome process, but he didn't expect it to be a point-to-point operation.

"Is this the case for emails across the United States?"

The man laughed, "Of course not, this is just a process of local mail. All mails sent to other places will be transported to San Jose by truck and will be divided there."

The man talked about the process of extra-local mail, from stamps to mailbox delivery, from classification to bagging, and finally delivered to personal mailboxes by the truck. It is indeed a precision postal machine running at high speed under tremendous pressure.

Both sides have a simple life, and Tao Yushu sincerely expressed his gratitude to the man for his enthusiasm and introduced himself.

"Hello, I'm Mark Randolph-"

Mark Randolph introduces himself to run a direct computer sales company in Silicon Valley, but the company is currently facing acquisition, so he is planning his own second venture.

"Sorry. I'm curious, why did you choose to mail videotape?"

Mark Randolph looked very enthusiastic, but when talking about the entrepreneurial project he was planning, he kept asking Tao Yushu about his purpose, showing his smart side of the businessman.

"Business Secret." Tao Yushu said with a smile.

After hitting a soft nail, Mark Randolph's expression was normal, "Okay."

"But--if you are willing to share your entrepreneurial ideas, I can tell you."

Tao Yushu's words made Mark Randolph hesitate for a moment, and then said, "Why don't we find a place to sit."

"good."

Lin Chaoyang and his wife returned to Lulu Carpenter's shop. This time they had a Mark Randolph, ordered a cup of coffee, and listened to him talk about their entrepreneurial ideas.

"Personal shampoo for mail order?"

Tao Yushu frowned when he heard this idea.

"This attention is really not very good." She said bluntly.

Mark Randolph looked a little embarrassed, and he explained the advantages of this idea for a while, speaking very well.

Lin Chaoyang ended his idea with one sentence, "The daily chemical industry relies on marketing, and it may be difficult to make it bigger when focusing on mail order."

Mark Randolph would not doubt himself because of the denial of Lin Chaoyang and his wife. The reason why he was willing to exchange their own ideas was mainly because he was interested in the behavior of Tao Yushu mailing the video tape just now.
Chapter completed!