Preface
As the May Day holiday is getting closer and closer, many people have joined this "little Spring Festival", but I don't know if you have found a "strange" phenomenon.
Obviously, every train is full of people, but when the meal arrives, few people will buy the boxed lunch on the train.
The salesman pushed the dining cart in the carriage over and over again, shouting over and over again, but these dozens of boxed lunches were like unsellable sugar cane, and no one paid attention to them!
Once upon a time, why did the "sought-after goods" that people rushed to buy become unwanted?
1. Train meals
In fact, no one could have imagined that the lunch box was "snubbed" decades ago, and there would even be a picture of scrambling to buy it, even if decades have passed, there will still be netizens who miss the braised pork on the train.
At that time, the lunch boxes were freshly made by the master on the train, and they were served to the table as soon as they came out of the oven, and they were packed with a layer of rice and a layer of vegetables in an aluminum box, which was naturally delicious!!
In the 80s, the Beijing Railway Bureau also launched fried rice, which could sell nearly 2,000 copies a day!!
This is because there are so many ingredients on the train, and you can't eat them if you want to eat them late on the train, so the box lunch at that time was a "hot item".
But it doesn't matter if you can't grab it!
At that time, people could also choose to go to the platform to buy local specialties, such as Guilin rice noodles, Cantonese rice noodles and other "novel" foods.
In the seventies and eighties, the train lunch officially entered its heyday, and people at that time also needed food stamps to go out to eat, which was more restrictive and precious.
But you don't need a ticket to buy things on the train, and everyone naturally "saves if you can", so except for what you make at home, few people will buy "food" outside and bring it on the train.
The boxed lunches on the train "taste no worse than those at home," and not only are they large and filling, but they can also save the trouble of carrying them, and even save money! After all, the things on the train are lower than the market prices outside the station.
There are also people who buy things when they are in the car, such as some pastries or cigarettes that they smoke every day, which are cheaper than those sold outside, even if they don't buy them, they can bring some for their friends.
But now, not only are there fewer people buying on the train, but there are also very few people eating, so what's going on?
Second, it is unpalatable and expensive
Chinese people buy things in pursuit of a "cost performance".
People can accept buying low-quality things at a cheap price, or they can accept buying better things at a higher price, but they can't accept buying "inferior" products at a high price.
The high price of buying "inferior" products here refers to today's boxed lunches.
The high cost of things on the train has become a default thing for everyone, and a boxed lunch of more than a dozen yuan outside can be sold for thirty, forty, or even fifty or sixty copies on the train.
A small bottle of mineral water is several times that of the outside, and some netizens even complained that they were lucky enough to drink 10 yuan a bottle of water on the train.
Obviously, I didn't even change the packaging, but just moved it to the car, and it "doubled in value", and even sold it at a "sky-high price"!
This is naturally a "small money" for people who can drink thousands of yuan of mineral water, but for most ordinary people, it is a little "worthless".
But the price is not so unacceptable, after all, we don't eat boxed lunches every day, only occasionally take the car to eat, it is regarded as improving the food!
But this box of lunches made everyone complain: "very ordinary and featureless", "no nutrition, not fresh, and unpalatable".
In fact, this is related to the change in the lunch box system.
Since the train meal was changed to a "contract system", this cost performance is getting lower and lower.
After all, as long as I pay enough money for the train, and the rest is my own, can I sell it more expensive and reduce the cost?
Driven by this concept of making money, businesses are becoming more and more skilled in "cutting corners".
Meat dishes are more expensive than vegetarian dishes, so sell meat dishes, but what if there is more meat?
As a result, the amount of meat dishes gradually became very small, and even some dishes were just sprinkled with a layer of "meat foam" on top, and they turned into meat dishes, and the price naturally rose.
But you can tolerate it with less, and the taste is "too ordinary".
Because many trains have canceled the place to cook, you can only pack the lunch box before the train departs, and use the heating equipment directly when the meal is ordered, although the meal is also hot, but the taste will be greatly reduced.
So much so that even if people can afford to eat the boxed lunch on the train, they still don't want to eat it a second time after eating it once, unless they are too hungry!
But "hungry" also has a solution in this era.
Third, fast food products are more cost-effective
From biscuits and instant noodles to bread, ham sausages, and even a variety of braised eggs and chicken thighs, people's choices have become diverse.
There are instant noodles alone, there are countless brands and flavors, and the way to eat them is even more colorful! There are bubbles, dry mixes, and "ready-to-eat" dry foods, just one "bubble" noodles are enough for everyone to pick and choose.
Choose a bucket of your favorite instant noodles from a variety of flavors and soak a bucket of boiling water on the train!
Coupled with ham sausages and braised eggs, it is not only comfortable to eat in large quantities, but also more economical, basically you can eat very rich without 30 yuan, but this is only to buy a box lunch, and the cost performance is simply not comparable to the past.
Of course, you can also choose to eat in the restaurant, the food in the restaurant is freshly fried, and the price is naturally more expensive, for example, the food of the following blogger is 13 yuan different from the above, which is enough to buy a freshly fried lunch outside.
In the 80s, the price of a pack of instant noodles was two dimes and a half cents, but the lunch box with meat and vegetables on the train was only this price.
Same price, better than quality!
At that time, the lunch box was not a plastic box, but an aluminum box with a layer of fresh rice on the bottom, a layer of braised pork and a layer of delicious vegetables on top.
In the fresh lunch box full of "pot gas", the instant noodles in the hand are not so delicious.
Where can't you eat instant noodles? But the train doesn't take you every day!
Because of the difference in the line, the food eaten on the train still has certain local characteristics, people eat something is not to eat a "fresh", one is the "fresh" of the ingredients, the other is the type of "fresh", there are two box lunches, which one to choose at a glance!
But now it's different, and the cost performance of the two has directly turned around.
Even if you don't like instant noodles, it doesn't matter, in this era, it is very convenient to buy all kinds of small snacks, just go to a supermarket and what bread and biscuits, sandwiched and unfilled all kinds of flavors.
You can buy your favorite flavor at any store.
Even if I don't have a favorite, it doesn't matter, I can still shop online, what Internet celebrity small twist, roll cold skin, what do you want to eat is not convenient?
If you don't like to eat in the car, don't worry, get out of the car and eat again!
epilogue
With the development of society, people's lives have become more convenient, and there are more choices of travel methods, such as high-speed rail, airplanes, and even trains.
We often start with K is the express train in the train, G is the high-speed rail D is the bullet train, the increase in the speed of the train will take more than ten hours or even dozens of hours of travel into hours, and even become "sleep and arrive".
Time is short, then people can choose to be patient first, wait until they get off the bus and enjoy a good meal!
That's why the box lunch will appear and now this embarrassing situation of "can't be sold".
Sources of information in this article:
[1] Binhai Financial Media, 2019-11-05, "There are thousands of passengers on a train, why can't even dozens of boxed lunches be sold, the answer is here"
[2] Shuyang Express, 2019-11-04, "Why can't dozens of boxed lunches be sold by thousands of passengers on a train, finally know the answer"