2019 Price Increase?

[Smaug]

Guys, I get it. They're a good company. Quality is usually good. Design is usually good. Yes, it's good that Sal participates here.

But let's put aside the fanboy hats for a minute. They've got plastic handles, a few bits of cheap metal, and one bit of expensive metal. Mature design. Probably $10 worth of material cost, and the tooling is long since paid-for. 5% increase? C'mon. It's a lot.

 

[19-3ben]

Guys, I get it. They're a good company. Quality is usually good. Design is usually good. Yes, it's good that Sal participates here.

But let's put aside the fanboy hats for a minute. They've got plastic handles, a few bits of cheap metal, and one bit of expensive metal. Mature design. Probably $10 worth of material cost, and the tooling is long since paid-for. 5% increase? C'mon. It's a lot.

You really do not know of what you speak.

As they say, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”

There are manufacturing costs well beyond what you know of. You think they are making knives for $10 each eh? Raw material costs are one thing, but the overhead is astronomical. You’re just not taking into account the logistics, administrative costs, supply chain management, etc etc that goes into running a large operation like Spyderco.

Seriously. You’re wrong. If this is your hill to die on, you picked the wrong hill. Nothing fanboyish about it.

 

[LEGION 12]

Guys, I get it. They're a good company. Quality is usually good. Design is usually good. Yes, it's good that Sal participates here.

But let's put aside the fanboy hats for a minute. They've got plastic handles, a few bits of cheap metal, and one bit of expensive metal. Mature design. Probably $10 worth of material cost, and the tooling is long since paid-for. 5% increase? C'mon. It's a lot.

Someone needs to go away. ^^^

 

[19-3ben]

And I’ll add, it’s not “good” that @Sal Glesser participates here, as you say Smaug . It’s integral to him being a man of the people. More so than any other knife company owner except maybe Ethan Becker(I’ll call it a tie) Sal has his finger on the pulse of the knife knuts, the ELUs as he put it. Someone says “hey, we should have a wharncliffe Delica, and he says “cool idea, let’s build it.”

Surfinggringo suggests a fishing specific knife, and guess what gets tossed in the R&D stack and then produced.

You see, it’s constant innovation but it’s being driven by those who the company serves. And yes, they get paid to do that. It’s not a charity. It’s a business that must remain solvent to be sustainable. The knife community is what it is today in large part because of Spyderco.

Apes have flung feces at the feet of great men since the dawn of humanity, but that doesn’t make them right.

 

[cj65]

Guys, I get it. They're a good company. Quality is usually good. Design is usually good. Yes, it's good that Sal participates here.

But let's put aside the fanboy hats for a minute. They've got plastic handles, a few bits of cheap metal, and one bit of expensive metal. Mature design. Probably $10 worth of material cost, and the tooling is long since paid-for. 5% increase? C'mon. It's a lot.

You contradict yourself in your own words there Smaug.
Good company, quality company, good design. Plastic handles and cheap metal with some good metal, with a “they are gouging” theme with the tools are paid for.

Your logic is not logical.

 

[Danke42]

Guys, I get it. They're a good company. Quality is usually good. Design is usually good. Yes, it's good that Sal participates here.

But let's put aside the fanboy hats for a minute. They've got plastic handles, a few bits of cheap metal, and one bit of expensive metal. Mature design. Probably $10 worth of material cost, and the tooling is long since paid-for. 5% increase? C'mon. It's a lot.

Tooling never wears out. That's an ironclad fact.

 

[JJ_Colt45]

I won't pretend to know the exact % of cost increases for steel ... or wages ... or every other small cost that a business such as Spyderco has ... but I do understand things are costing more everywhere ...

it's not just Spyderco ... and every company's margines will be somewhat different ... you mention the tarriffs wouldn't add cost made in the USA ... that's not exactly true ... and not all products are made here ... but a small increase of all products off sets the ones that do have material cost increases ...

it has to come from somewhere ... and I can even understand frustration of people because money is tight for most these days ...

but Sal and Ethan Becker and Nathan Carothers and some others (I won't mention them all) but there are many here ... these men come here and interact with us ... their consumers ... and I have found them to be straight shooters and to care about their customer base ...

And as it was mentioned hopefully Sal nor the other makers and companies that do their best to communicate with us and offer us what we want and ask for ... at a fair price (even if it's not as low of a price as everyone may want) ... I for one really appreciate them and I think most members do ...

so yes Sal I hope you can read through everything and know it's a minority that doesn't understand or is frustrated. ... but I believe the majority understands and appreciates your interaction and telling us about price increases as you tell us about new products ...

it will all settle into place soon enough ... and your products speak for themselves ... as does your involvement here ...

so thank you.

 

[DShiflet]

Firstly, it would be helpful to get your facts straight.
In 2018 MAP for a standard PM2 was $136.47. In 2019 it's $140.40..

That's not the only PM2 mate. I literally ordered a PM2 in S110V Dec 26. I price shopped before ordering. BladeHQ, Knifeworks, and KnifeCenter all priced it at $155. All 3 sites now price it at 172.25. That's as factual as you can get mate, and that's nearly a $20 increase. Don't tell me that increase just comes from regular "cost of doing business". I suppose it's possible retailers are increasing stuff beyond Spyderco's own increases, but seems odd all 3 vendors would increase it the exact same amount.

 

[Danke42]

That's not the only PM2 mate. I literally ordered a PM2 in S110V Dec 26. I price shopped before ordering. BladeHQ, Knifeworks, and KnifeCenter all priced it at $155. All 3 sites now price it at 172.25. That's as factual as you can get mate, and that's nearly a $20 increase. Don't tell me that increase just comes from regular "cost of doing business". I suppose it's possible retailers are increasing stuff beyond Spyderco's own increases, but seems odd all 3 vendors would increase it the exact same amount.

Let's not get all bogged down with the difference between 4 or 20 dollars.

 

[Smaug]

That's not the only PM2 mate. I literally ordered a PM2 in S110V Dec 26. I price shopped before ordering. BladeHQ, Knifeworks, and KnifeCenter all priced it at $155. All 3 sites now price it at 172.25. That's as factual as you can get mate, and that's nearly a $20 increase. Don't tell me that increase just comes from regular "cost of doing business". I suppose it's possible retailers are increasing stuff beyond Spyderco's own increases, but seems odd all 3 vendors would increase it the exact same amount.

Don't look now, but we're in the forum for the Spyderco worshippers. They've already got out the torches and pitchforks and have heard the gospel from The Man himself. They're not listening to us heathens.

 

[craytab]

Guys, I get it. They're a good company. Quality is usually good. Design is usually good. Yes, it's good that Sal participates here.

But let's put aside the fanboy hats for a minute. They've got plastic handles, a few bits of cheap metal, and one bit of expensive metal. Mature design. Probably $10 worth of material cost, and the tooling is long since paid-for. 5% increase? C'mon. It's a lot.

No. You clearly don't get it at all.

Don't look now, but we're in the forum for the Spyderco worshippers. They've already got out the torches and pitchforks and have heard the gospel from The Man himself. They're not listening to us heathens.

And now you are just trolling....

 

[knarfeng]

One warning for trolling issued.
Do not use derogatory terms for people who hold a different opinion than you.

 

[craytab]

That's not the only PM2 mate. I literally ordered a PM2 in S110V Dec 26. I price shopped before ordering. BladeHQ, Knifeworks, and KnifeCenter all priced it at $155. All 3 sites now price it at 172.25. That's as factual as you can get mate, and that's nearly a $20 increase. Don't tell me that increase just comes from regular "cost of doing business". I suppose it's possible retailers are increasing stuff beyond Spyderco's own increases, but seems odd all 3 vendors would increase it the exact same amount.

Did you ever consider that the pm2 s110v was underpriced for what goes into the production? And now spyderco is adjusting the price to better reflect the production cost, especially going into the future? I thought $155 was inexpensive for an s110v pm2. There very well might be more going on with that model than a simple price increase.

And next time, please mention the model when discussing a knife so we can all be on the same page. All you said was pm2.

 

[MolokaiRider]

As a small business owner, and contractor for another, I can relate how challenging it can be to maintain a competitive edge over foreign competitors or a saturated market.

Spyderco has to balance inputs and still try to remain competitive. And I don’t fault a company for trying to make money. That’s the whole point.

Sal has to do what he needs to do in order to keep Spyderco a profitable and innovative company.

Lastly, if anyone wants to donate their Gayle Bradley’s to me I will give them a loving home.

 

[Cursum Perficio]

Don't look now, but we're in the forum for the Spyderco worshippers. They've already got out the torches and pitchforks and have heard the gospel from The Man himself. They're not listening to us heathens.

As I see it, we're in the most diverse, informed, experienced forum on the subject of knives.
Your failure to adopt objectivity when some of what you post is demonstrated to be incorrect is your blindspot, and trying to avoid seeing that by throwing out 'fanboy' nonsense is poor form IMO.

I am much less able to afford what others can, due to international exchange rates and delivery costs.
And yes I feel a bit down when I see prices go up again, as with other expenses in life.
Of course the knife thing is a luxury(if you want to call it that) or hobby, and therefore to be pursued less as I need to cope with other, more essential costs of living and supporting a family.

But in no way do I doubt that Sal is conducting his business with integrity, and doing what he has to do to keep Spyderco going as the innovator it is and has been - in large part the reason for its/his success, and therefore the reason I have about 23 extremely useful and enjoyable Spydercos in the drawer.

 

[91bravo]

Dang, I get back home from ATL and folks are STILL crying about price hikes? Those who don't understand the costs of doing business, think that price hikes are to just gouge the customer? OBVIOUSLY these folks have NEVER owned a business of any sort.... Sal's Shiny Footprints are a great model and I could actually be a better person learning from those footprints. Torches and pitchforks? Far from it, Spyderco is one of the good guys, and everybody likes to support good people. I like donating to the American Cancer Society when I can, and give to St. Jude's Hospital, so I guess that makes me a fanboy...

 

[knarfeng]

Give your opinion on the topic, not your opinion of another poster.

 

[Cursum Perficio]

Thanx for bringing that up Ben and thanx for the encouragement. It's a very important concept. Sometimes when an employee is "not being good", my first reaction is to be ticked at all of the employees and I have to catch myself and remember it's not all. We have a lot of great crew as we have a lot of great ELU's.

sal

As someone who works in a place where all employees are typically tarred with the same brush when one of us 'isn't being good', I commend that attitude Sal, and say to you it is hugely important among a group of employees.

And while I'm at it, a wee while back I sent Spyderco a folder that I broke. I asked for nothing except they look at it, and expected nothing more.
It was inspected, no fault was found with the knife - it was my own doing that broke it.

Then Spyderco sent me a new folder of my choosing!
And I ain't the only one here to experience that.

Do you factor in that kind of cost and customer care Smaug ?

 

[Obcessed]

Wish the owner of the forum would remove the posters that are banging Spyderco. It is obvious they have no idea about pricing and are trolling.

 

[cj65]

Don't look now, but we're in the forum for the Spyderco worshippers. They've already got out the torches and pitchforks and have heard the gospel from The Man himself. They're not listening to us heathens.

I am amazed at your hubris. Free market capitalism will prevail. Spyderco may even get some spike in sales because of trolling comments like yours. It makes me want a 6th Spyderco knife.

Sal, is Smaug one of your employees?

Fess up man!