The Day Charles Schwab Bought Lunch

In 1978, I recently started working for a new brokerage company. The company is not only new, but the whole concept will be a revolution. The company is founded by Charles Schwab and amp; you must be familiar with this name; to some extent, it is the largest planning company in the United States. But we don’t know that fact.

But in 1978, like other beginners, he tried to attract attention. The reason why Schwab is so unique is the commission rate. Up to 1975, all brokerage firms conducting business on the New York Stock Exchange must receive commissions set by the New York Stock Exchange. On that day, General Motors(GM), IBM, P&G and other large enterprises only traded in “GM”;

Brokers of over-the-counter transactions are considered “over-the-counter transactions”. But everything changed in 1975. Since the 1930s, the most fundamental change has been to allow intermediaries to charge for all options. It is said that Hugo Quickenbush is a colorful figure like his name. He suggested Schwab let them form a “little boy”. Discount commission brokers “They did so as soon as the new law came into force.

So the new Charles Schwab and The company began to operate. A few years later, I entered the company. Like most new companies, you need some time to get the news. I was very busy in the last few months, but I can handle it. I think there are enough transactions on my desk every day. Stop talking, so it’s not boring, but not too much. I’m at a loss. Remember, before the advent of the Internet, customers called or ordered directly. At that time, Schwarzenegger had two important offices, headquartered in San Francisco, and I worked in Sengil City outside Los Angeles.

Schwarf also had three satellite offices at the time. Each main office has a central trading desk, which is the core and soul of the company. We sat in front of the telephone exchange and the flashing light told us that someone was making a phone call. There are two bundles of tickets in front of us: white ones and light red ones.

When someone called, we filled out a form, put it on the conveyor belt and gave it to the order entry clerk. Then they cut out the stock code and pasted it on the West Union stock code, and Schwolf sent the order to New York or other stock and bond exchanges.

It’s just an ark: as you can imagine, we will make large cassette tape recorders at the end of a busy day. This is the tape they threw out of the window when demonstrating in New York. Long tapes will float there for several hours. This is a place worth seeing.

Go back to the original Schwab trading desk. As the summer of 78 began to disappear and the subtle autumn of Southern California began, you can feel the momentum increased significantly.

Schwerf’s marketing efforts are beginning to pay off. The investors responded to Schwarzenegger’s important advertising position in the Wall Street Journal. The increase of the advertising and market turnover means that the trading desk must speed up. In the past, we had periodic breaks when we could take a breath, but now such breaks are less and less.

As autumn goes by, we find ourselves coming earlier and leaving a little late. The phone seems to be ringing all the time. We need more time to answer more and more calls.

All of a sudden, we started to run and keep up with the pace. Interestingly, we didn’t care. Most employees just thought this was the direction of work. Yes, although it was difficult, I knew we were changing the world. People’s investment methods would be different. This was a financial revolution. We sit in the front row.

At that time, an unusual thing happened. One Friday afternoon, Swarov flew over from his headquarters in San Francisco and bought lunch for the whole office.

Of course, we can’t leave our desk; those phones are still ringing. But Schwab joined us and sat next to the teletypewriter operator. He would make jokes when biting people. Thanks for our hard work. Answer any questions we can ask.

As a growing and changing company, we have many problems. Where is the next office? Answer me, Chicago. Should we buy a large receptionist? Okay, go ahead, go ahead.

We ended the week at the peak of nature. The boss was with us. We went somewhere else. I remember Schwarzenegger resigned a few weeks ago, when we were trying to cope with this huge new business surge.

Schwerf will face such a surge over the years, which will become the standard for this incredible company.

I hope you are lucky on Labor Day 2022. A boss sometimes invites lunch