“Did you just ask to borrow a Horse-drawn Carriage?”
“Borrow a Horse-drawn Carriage?”
Hailey and Meat asked in unison. Whoa, that startled me…
“Yes, Hailey. Please lend me a Horse-drawn Carriage.”
Now isn’t the time to show any timidity. I have to say it with even more confidence.
At my reply, Hailey asked again, as if he hadn’t heard correctly.
“Not purchase, but borrowing?”
“Yes. Though I do need to explain what I mean by borrowing.”
Hailey looked quite flustered. Well, if someone suddenly asked me to lend them a Horse-drawn Carriage, I’d probably be taken aback too.
Meat stared at me with a look like he’d been bewitched by the person I introduced. Still, as expected of Hailey, the veteran salesman—he quickly regained his composure and cut to the point.
“I’ve never rented out a Horse-drawn Carriage before… How much are you thinking of for the monthly rental fee per carriage?”
“I’m thinking about 0.5 Gold (1 million won) per month for each carriage.”
He’ll probably think that’s a rather high monthly rental fee. I need to explain further here.
“I’ll pay 0.5 Gold per carriage, per month. For two years. That means, in total, you’ll receive 12 Gold. Until then, you keep the rental going, and at the end of the two years, you transfer the carriage to me.”
“So it’s not just a continuous rental… The price of a carriage is 15 Gold, but…”
“Yesterday, you said you’d offer a 20% special deal only to Level 5 merchants. That’s 12 Gold. If you guarantee that price in exchange for bulk sales, that’s enough. You’ll receive a monthly rental payment, and by the end of two years, you’ll have received all 12 Gold—the same amount you’d get from selling the carriage today. And you’ll be able to sell over a hundred carriages to me steadily every year.”
“But two years is quite a long time.”
“Yes. But if you can clear out your entire inventory, two years will feel much shorter. If you lend out 50 carriages at 0.5 Gold each per month, how much will you recover in costs each month?”
Hailey must be thinking this is a good deal, so long as he can get rid of his inventory.
Even if it sounds a bit reckless.
“Hmm… William, I can’t quite follow your logic. Could you explain it in more detail?”
“My proposal is the Rent-to-Own model.”
I have 23 Gold in hand. With that money, I could buy one carriage and start the business, but that alone won’t let me achieve any real scale.
To set up a mass transit carriage system, I’d need about 50 carriages. Even if I negotiate the price down to 10 Gold each, that’s 500 Gold.
Just for the carriages, I’d need over a billion won. But right now, I barely have enough cash to run a single carriage. So, what should I do?
Rent-to-Own is a business model commonly used on Earth.
When you buy a refrigerator and rent it for 24 months, after 24 months, you don’t return the rented item—it becomes yours.
At first glance, the monthly fee doesn’t seem burdensome and looks quite reasonable.
You just pay a small amount each month, and since you need to buy an expensive appliance anyway, I would always rent appliances like this whenever I bought several at once.
And after 24 months, they really became mine. Of course, I later realized I ended up paying the full price anyway.
The Rent-to-Own model is a business approach where, after paying a certain amount for a product or service, the ownership is transferred to the customer.
This model is useful when buyers can’t afford the upfront cost or have other financial constraints.
The buyer rents for a set period, can cancel anytime by paying a penalty, and since payment is monthly, the burden is lighter.
And if the contract’s full term is completed, ownership is transferred as well.
For sellers, it reduces inventory risk and generates steady monthly revenue.
Additionally, in cases of slow-selling stock, it can allow sales closer to full value rather than dumping.
For these reasons, on Earth, this business model is often used for appliances, cars, furniture, and so on.
But in this world, it must sound like some kind of strange, novel scheme.
“A Rent-to-Own model… I’ve never heard of such a curious method before.”
As I explained the Rent-to-Own approach, Hailey’s reaction was one of surprise.
Hailey is a veteran who’s sold countless carriages.
Even with his instincts, he must have calculated that, if sales could be made this way, he could sell much more.
“How many carriages are you planning to rent this way?”
“You mentioned earlier there were carriages left in inventory. All of those.”
“Huh… All 50?”
Is that all? If things go according to plan, in the future I’ll be buying 10 times, no—100 times more carriages.
So, are you saying you’ll guarantee 12 Gold for every carriage sold over two years?”
“Yes, that’s correct. Frankly, to make a profit, I’d like an even lower price, but… As soon as Hailey mentioned the 20% discount yesterday, the maximum price for a carriage was anchored at 12 Gold in my mind. The moment I heard there was a surplus of inventory, I thought I might even be able to buy them for 10 Gold.”
“However, since I’m essentially requesting a free lease, if I name too low a price, the deal won’t go through, so I negotiated using yesterday’s maximum discount price. If I can guarantee 12 Gold in two years and dispose of my carriages as William says, it certainly isn’t a bad deal. But the long contract period does bother me a bit. Rent-to-Own is a new concept to me, and while it sounds good, the world rarely goes as planned.”
As expected of a long-time seller—he instinctively knows there’s no such thing as a 100% perfect business model.
“Hailey. Yesterday, another carriage salesman came and whispered to me. He said Fort Rick T isn’t a real carriage. At present, even among other dealers, Fort Rick T isn’t recognized as a carriage, and inventory just keeps piling up. But if someone buys in bulk and there’s more exposure, the perception will change.”
At first, it was nothing, but when the masses buy in bulk and something becomes a trend, there’s a Bandwagon Effect.
The Bandwagon was a type of carriage used in American political campaigns in the mid-19th century.
Politicians would ride around in these carriages and gather supporters. People would follow the Bandwagon, which today we might call a campaign vehicle.
Seeing the growing crowd, others thought something was happening and blindly followed along, causing the crowd to swell even more.
This is what’s known as the Bandwagon Effect—a term that explains the phenomenon where something becomes popular and more people jump on the trend.
In short, it refers to a situation where many consumers or the public purchase a product simply because it’s popular.
In the case of Fort Rick T, if I lease a large number of carriages and they become more visible, people will get used to them, and it will help with widespread adoption.
“Also, those 50 carriages, as they are now, are just a headache and taking up space. If you lease them to us, you’ll free up space and save on monthly maintenance costs. And you’ll be able to supply us with a steady quantity of carriages going forward.”
The truth is, the Rent-to-Own model isn’t without its drawbacks.
From the seller’s perspective, there are two main problems: First, lack of responsibility for maintenance, and second, uncertainty over transfer of ownership.
With basic rental models, since the buyer isn’t the owner, there’s a risk they’ll be careless in their use.
This could lead to high repair and restoration costs, and if the contract is canceled before completion, the carriage might be so damaged that it can’t be leased again.
From the consumer’s perspective, there may even be a sense of betrayal at having to pay more for leftover stock.
Uncertainty about transfer of ownership also leads to increased costs.
If the user stops paying the rent, the company’s liabilities can only grow.
Since it’s fundamentally a rental, there needs to be additional staff to check and manage everything, so it’s not a flawless business model.
Still, compared to other models, it offers many significant advantages. I’m only trying to emphasize those positives.
“So, what exactly are you planning to do with all those carriages?”
“Hailey, earlier you said you dreamed of a world where even commoners could ride in carriages, right? This is the start of that dream.
To create a world where commoners don’t have to walk but can travel more freely, Meat and I are going to launch a public carriage business.”
“A public carriage business?”
“Yes. Not owned by nobles or for transporting certain merchant groups’ goods, but for a new purpose—public carriages. Both commoners and nobles can use them, and you only pay for what you use, when you need it.”
“Will there really be any profit in that?”
“While I can’t give you exact numbers, it seems that even if you add up all the nobles and merchants, they make up no more than about 10% of the population. As for me, yesterday was my first time riding a carriage. I believe the remaining 90%—the commoners—will find all kinds of ways to use carriages. As long as the cost is reasonable. That’s why I plan to charge fees based on distance traveled.”
For a moment, Hailey was silent.
“Charging by distance… If it feels reasonable even to commoners, it just might be possible.”
“But having carriages alone isn’t enough. What about Coachmen and horses?”
At this, Meat, who had been quietly listening, spoke up.
“Don’t worry about the Coachmen. I’ll take responsibility and recruit Coachmen to operate the carriages. Letting Coachmen become the masters of their own economic activity through the carriage—that’s the goal of Maber.”
As for how to handle the horses, I’ve thought about it, but it looks like I’ll have to work through that issue a bit more before an answer appears.
It’s not always best to just show bluster and confidence when persuading someone.
If there’s a problem no one’s been able to solve, sometimes being honest about it actually builds trust.
If someone asked me whether this Startup will succeed, I’d say I’m at least 1000% sure.
Because public transportation is a common solution on Earth. It’ll work in this world, too.
Hailey said nothing. He closed his eyes and seemed to ponder deeply for a long time. Meat and I waited quietly for his decision.
“Very well.”
I’d succeeded in persuading Hailey. Just yesterday, we had nothing, but today, we secured the right to lease 50 carriages.