The reporter experienced the online celebrity store queuing to do ＂trust＂： queuing for 5 times in 9 hours to earn 140 yuan.

　　A tea shop in raffles city was promoted to "online celebrity" in the first half of this year. When it was most popular, it had to wait in line for seven hours to buy it.　

　　This week, reporters did five "queuing jobs" in Shanghai People’s Square and Xujiahui, totaling nine hours, earning 140 yuan.

　　Because of the queue, it is more and more incomprehensible — — Two shops across the street in Shanghai People’s Square, one selling tea drinks and the other selling traditional cakes, often queued for hours a few months ago, and were called "people and people". Everyone saw that there were many "scalpers" around, and passers-by in line wanted to break their souls. After that, "online celebrity Store" was copied and promoted, and noodle shops, wonton shops, furniture stores and so on appeared from time to time. From obscurity to sudden crowds, there was a "grand occasion" of standing in line for nearly 100 meters in the open air in midsummer and connecting umbrellas into long queues … … The question of "fake queuing" never stops, and the statement of "online celebrity Store" always denies it. There is also a store that publicly "swears": if someone can come up with valid legal evidence that the store hires people to queue up, the whole store will send it.

　　Amid the uproar, "online celebrity" is more popular, but people know in their hearts that it is irrational. How tempting is it to be worth waiting in line for three or five hours? But the more curious, the "scarcity" will reflect the value. Drinks and cakes with tens of dollars can enjoy the feeling of being envied in the circle of friends, which makes people itch — —

　　What a "psychological warfare" and "marketing drama" However, the law on the protection of consumers’ rights and interests clearly stipulates that between operators and consumers, the principles of voluntariness, equality, fairness, honesty and credibility should be followed. With regard to the authenticity of the queue of "online celebrity Store", it is difficult to implement the evidence and enforce the law. The reporter wants to get to the bottom of it, so he applied for "queuing" to see the people.

　　"One of our own" and "real guests"

　　At 9: 45, at the entrance of raffles city in People’s Square, it was the assembly point for this batch of reporters to "queue up". This was an appointment in the WeChat group last night. In all kinds of part-time websites and groups, "queuing to fill the field" is described as "playing soy sauce", which is easy and makes up the number.

　　There are always one or two "colleagues" who are out of the chain, dragging their feet, getting lost and asking for directions in the group. Only in the early 10 o’clock did they get together 11 people and went to work all the way. The task is to "support" a newly opened hot dog shop near the street, which is only a few square meters — — Before work, the team leader concentrated on telling a few main points. First, if you want to buy the cheapest hot dog, you can pack it or eat it yourself, and keep a small ticket for reimbursement afterwards. Second, don’t be nervous, don’t look around, be natural and generous, and pretend to be an ordinary guest; Third, listen to the command in the group, sometimes you can go in batches, and sometimes you have to queue up together to "bang".

　　Everyone has no objection, let’s get to work.

　　Waiting for the gap between hot dogs, everyone stood near the store door and played with their mobile phones. Team leaders often patrol and squat nearby, observe the team, and send notes in WeChat group as appropriate: "Line up in an orderly way", "Try to line up in a queue while waiting" and "Hot dogs can also be eaten at the door".

　　Everyone is very serious about newcomers, new stores and new jobs, but it seems that embarrassment is inevitable — — Hot dogs are cooked very quickly. Even if a dozen people queue up and spend their time outside the store, they will stay for more than 20 minutes. If three or four people queue up in batches, it will only take ten minutes. Most of the time, when reporters look around, they are all "our own people", silently winking at each other and smiling at each other. Occasionally, while killing time, there are "real guests" who come to see the queue. After a little hesitation, the store manager is clever and beckons and shouts: "This way to order." The queues quickly and consciously gave way.

　　Perhaps it is because the "repetition rate" of "one’s own" cannot be too high, so each person can only queue three times every two hours, and the real "work" time is only about 40 minutes. The rest of the time, free activities, playing mobile phones, you can visit bookstores or supermarkets, blowing cows and air conditioners, and wait for the group to call.

　　During the break, everyone analyzed the success or failure of this hot dog shop. Some people think it’s a single product, and it’s useless to ask people to line up if the hot dogs are not delicious. Others say that the market is not good, and the residents around are mostly aunts and grandfathers, which are suitable for selling scallion cakes and pancake fritters. This kind of hot dog for young people should be driven near the school. Everyone also calculated the cost of the hot dog shop, and they had to bear the store rent and labor. They had to sell at least 200 hot dogs a day, but at 17: 30, looking at the number on the cashier’s note, only 73 were sold that day, and many of them were bought by their own people … …

　　The originally silent team leader couldn’t help interrupting: "The store pays too little, and there are too few people waiting in line … …” He discussed with the other party that there should be at least forty or fifty people and ten people in a batch to queue up, so that the flow of people will continue to be full, the interval between repeated queues will be long, and the organizers and queues will be relatively relaxed. For example, he talked about the last time he organized a queue for a tea beverage shop and called more than 100 people. On another occasion, he created a momentum for a limited edition mobile phone, and gathered more than 1,000 people, almost all of whom were college students. "How much money can you do?" He said. Although he complained that the store didn’t invest enough, his circle of friends still released the "hot" photos and videos lined up in the hot dog shop, with the words: "Business is leveraged."

　　In this line of work, he claims to be a "veteran", and he also has a screen name and nickname that is quite Jianghu. I don’t know my real name. Let’s just call it "Big Brother".

　　Familiar faces in the circle

　　There are circles in "queuing". Along the People’s Square and Fuzhou Road, many people know "Big Brother", whether it’s a "man and a woman" or near various youth groups and moon cake shops.

　　The queuing business of this hot dog shop was negotiated by "Big Brother". The store’s requirements include "18 to 35 years old", "people should try not to repeat" and "it is best for girls". They signed the contract and queued for a week, one in the morning and one in the afternoon every day. The reward offered by "Big Brother" is 15 yuan per hour, on-site checkout and mobile phone payment, which is very convenient.

　　Although it is a "soy sauce job", it seems not easy to recruit people — — Age is limited, working hours are short, and there is not much money. In order to avoid "repetition", you can only come back every two days after participating in one game. The reporter also specially changed his costume style and glasses. Unexpectedly, he ran into familiar faces several times.

　　There is a pair of 50-year-old "sister flowers" who speak Shanghainese. One of them wears sunglasses and flowery clothes. When she sees passers-by hesitate, she will take the initiative to "knock on the drums": new things must always be tasted. Their plan is to take advantage of nothing to do in recent years and "hang out". If they have grandchildren, they will not come out. They complained that the team leader was too serious and used age restrictions to prevent them from coming more. According to their observation, many stores now queue up for young people. "Which come so many young people are free? In my opinion, retired workers are best suited to queue up. " Aunt sunglasses said.

　　The youngest of the familiar faces is a girl in her early 20 s. There are dozens of part-time groups in WeChat, which can’t be seen. She claimed that she was weak and not good at communication, so she quit her sales job to do "soy sauce work". She showed reporters the recent "good work", such as a restaurant filling the venue, "just sit in the store and play with your mobile phone. Everyone is 130 yuan, aged 18 to 28, dressed neatly and cleanly"; For example, a convention and exhibition center recruits people to fill the field. "As long as girls bring their own laptops of any style, they can play games and watch dramas online when they turn on the computer. There is no task, and the salary is 3 days in 300 yuan"; There is also "pretending to be an interviewer, one hour in 40 yuan" … … After a selection, she prefers Chinese Valentine’s Day to go to a shopping mall and pretend to be a couple, hoping to have a romantic holiday.

　　Xiao pang, who was bowing his head and playing a mobile game, suddenly said: Do you want to fill the mobile game activities? But you need to "have a good time … … There are at least 14 heroes in the account. " The girl was confused and asked Xiao Pang to say something "reliable". Xiao Pang talked about his "great achievements": a shopping mall in Lujiazui recruited people to pretend to go shopping, and he recruited 300 people; Not long ago, at a shopping mall in Songjiang District, 150 people came to line up, which was also organized by him … … So everyone added Xiaopang’s WeChat one after another and asked for a job.

　　Among "one of our own", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". After work on a certain day, the reporter chatted with "colleagues". Some people talked about "sister flowers" and felt that people were smart enough. In February this year, they began to queue up in "People and Guang Shuang Xiong". In the past six months, everyone earned at least 10,000 yuan. After that, the other party felt that he was aware of it and went to the queue in June, only earning a little money. Then, she took the reporter to see if an "online black tea shop" can still queue up to make money now.

　　However, this kind of queuing to make money is not the same as filling the field. The reporter met two "scalpers" at the gate of the "net black tea shop". Their current mode of making money is to buy tea drinks and wait at the entrance of the shopping mall to sell them to passers-by in a low voice: "Do you want them in stock? No need to line up. "

　　A "scalper" uncle missed the most prosperous time six months ago. He could sell 30 or 40 cups a day at least at a price of 50 yuan. Now, with a little sadness, he says that business is not good: he came at 16 o’clock and sold four cups until dark, but each cup was only increased by more than 10 yuan. The reporter talked about a business that "Big Brother" just took over, and also bought the tea drink on his behalf. The price of two cups is 150 yuan, which is equivalent to a price increase of about 40 yuan for one cup. "That must be an old customer, and it is rare now." Uncle envy tone, with some loss.

　　Two kinds of "queuing work"

　　Reporters entered the circle and gradually understood the doorway. There are at least two kinds of "queuing" — —

　　First, like this hot dog shop, when the new store opens and needs popularity, it asks people to queue up or fill the field to create the illusion of "excitement". Similar behaviors have been exposed by media peers all over the country, which is called "front door to buy, back door to return".

　　The other is not necessarily the behavior of merchants, but may come from the hands of "yellow cattle". For example, when a company holds a celebration meeting to reward its employees, it needs to give out 100 cups of "net black tea", one for the benefit of employees, and the other for a stunt, but that "net black tea shop" has limited purchases and does not provide take-away service. If you want to gather enough fresh tea drinks in a short time, you can only ask "people with connections" for help. "People with access" are naturally "scalpers" who can organize people to queue up.

　　Not long ago, it was rumored in the circle that a big order came. People’s Square and Xujiahui of an "online black tea shop" needed people to line up at 9: 30. The leader of the recruitment told the reporter, "If you rank 20 yuan once, you will get more if you rank more.". On the 18th, the reporter went to Xujiahui Store and received the second kind of "queuing work". The process was like this — —

　　First, go to the team leader to get a post-it note with the name of 3 cups of tea drinks written on it, telling "Limit 3 cups, don’t buy it wrong". The "Net Black Tea Shop" is located in a shopping mall. When the reporter was waiting at the entrance of the shopping mall, he met the "Sister Flower" aunt. They greeted each other. Don’t wait here. Go to the back door to queue up.

　　The mall opened at 10 o’clock, and the reporter followed the "sister flowers" to the back door of the tea shop. At 9: 50, about 25 "own people" lined up. Five minutes later, the security guard issued a queue number plate. The reporter looked around, and the digits in the queue were familiar faces seen in hot dog shops, nodding their heads.

　　The mall opened, and several "real guests" apparently went in from the mall gate, detoured and listened to the security instructions, only to find the silent team at the back door. Some people took pictures of the team when they saw it, and some people exclaimed "so many people."

　　Ten minutes later, the reporter finished ordering and sat waiting for tea, but suddenly he felt something was wrong — — Why are all the familiar faces gone? Suddenly wake up, act quickly and walk outside the gate, and far see them around the leader’s elder sister. The reporter quickly handed in the tea order and asked if it could be arranged again. The other party waved and said it was gone. I had to pay the bill, 3 cups of tea, 61 yuan, plus 20 yuan’s "queuing fee", and the team leader sent a red envelope to 81 yuan via WeChat.

　　"Sisters Flower" was also slow, didn’t grab the second chance to queue up, and had nowhere to go for a while, so she chatted with reporters at the door — — Like the "yellow cattle" uncle, they also felt the good times six months ago. At first, a friend asked them to queue up and give it to 80 yuan once. Later, they found that the "net black tea shop" was too hot, so they queued up to buy it themselves and sold it. It is no problem to increase the price of 50 yuan, and they can earn six or seven hundred yuan at most a day; They also went to the "online celebrity Cake Shop" to queue up, and a single queuing number list could sell for tens of dollars. At its peak, a "online celebrity store" had at least a dozen "practitioners" attached to it, and even homeless people came to share a piece of the action. Nowadays, they only "earn a little money" when the queuing orders come.

　　The familiar young man on the side also talked, saying that a few months ago, as long as he moved to several "online black tea shops", he could earn more than 100 yuan in queuing fees in one morning. He pointed to the open space in front of the mall and gestured, "At that time, there were at least five or six people selling tea drinks here ‘ Cattle ’ " .

　　Several people looked at the empty space in front of them for a while. Finally, it was really smart to talk about the young girl who lined up full-time. She didn’t come to the queue, because "she earned 20 yuan and went back and forth to 8 yuan by subway".

　　Delicate balance and gray opportunity

　　I didn’t expect the queue of "net black tea shop" to be so fast. Two hours after the reporter’s "call it a day", the leader elder sister of Xujiahui exposed a picture of a circle of friends, and more than 80 cups of "net black tea" filled a whole table with the words "delivery completed".

　　The reporter has tried several times to talk to the team leader’s eldest sister, and the other party is watertight: "I just work for the boss." I don’t know how many people lined up today, and I don’t disclose my "commission". She kindly told me that there might be an order for moon cakes next month, so she could queue up at Huaihai Middle Road. Similarly, the "big brother" of People’s Square also invited reporters, and some time later, moon cakes will be lined up.

　　Queuing moon cakes is also the second kind of queuing. Several "online celebrity" moon cakes are sometimes restricted, so "scalpers" have the business opportunity to hire people to queue up to run errands. However, "this is also a new flower head that was only available last year." "Big Brother" said that the current "online celebrity" came and went quickly, such as a certain tea and a certain cake, which was terrible six months ago, but now it’s just that. He started from buying and selling mooncake tickets, and worked as a "scalper" in Shanghai for more than ten years. He experienced several ups and downs and handled many prosperous products.

　　He has his own business. For example, he talked about the situation of organizing "customers" to look at the house and buy a house for real estate developers in his early years. The property was in the outer suburbs, and it was inconvenient to pull people by car, but there were always people who were late, changed their minds and contacted each other, which was annoying. For example, he is more inclined to talk about cooperation with small tea shops and hot dog shops, and the prepaid queuing fees can be settled in cash faster, while the formal big companies are not as flexible as the "wild way" when they want to go through the process. He summed up his experience: When "online celebrity" is not popular, we must seize the next opportunity and "transform" quickly.

　　"Big Brother" believes that in the absence of major conflicts of interest, there will be no "scalpers" to report online celebrity stores, and it is impossible for online celebrity stores to expose their families and trap "scalpers" in unjust places. This is a delicate balance, and it is also the difficulty of strict enforcement of "queuing marketing".

　　"To open a store, there is no marketing investment of 350,000 yuan, and it will not catch fire at all." If this "big brother" experience becomes a "code of conduct", then the principles of voluntariness, equality, fairness, honesty and credibility should be followed in the transactions between operators and consumers in the Consumer Protection Law. How can it be ensured? If "striving to be online celebrity" becomes a routine means of marketing, how can routines retain real guests?

　　"Big Brother" even used a "candid" WeChat avatar, which read — — "Doing business pays attention to integrity. If you believe me, you can make a deal in a few words; If you don’t believe me, it’s useless to talk eloquently. "

　　"Doing business with integrity" should always be an eternal business experience — — Although it was used in the wrong place by "Big Brother".

　　The "big brother" who never leaves his mobile phone said goodbye to the reporter: "You are still young, take your time, there are many opportunities." The reporter thought, I hope that such a gray opportunity, the less the better. (Kong Lingjun)