Not meaning to quibble here, but one minute Spyderco calls InterNET dealers "fly-by-night" peddlers, and the next they are "the biggest fish!".
I could start an InterNET business as simply as investing in some inventory (as if I didn't have enough already!
), using my family's already established credit card setup, and using Netscape Composer to draw up a homepage, and then putting in many personal man-hours to build my dream. Now, if someone is willing to invest that knowledge of the InterNET and buy their own inventory while putting in some good old hard work, thereby suddenly making themselves "the biggest fish!", then I would call that "excellent business tactics" and a form of The American Dream - the little guy, with just hard work and some creativity, making something of himself.
Like I said, the market is changing, and as you stated, the InterNET is too powerful to allow the business world to stay as it is. I do not feel sorry for the storefont owners. The storefront dealers already have the stock, already have the workers, already have the credit accounts, all they have to do is pay some geek a few bucks or a couple knives to put up a webpage so that they can keep up with the market. With their pre-established business and any ingenuity at all, they should be able to take over the market, being that they have an extreme advantage over a lone person running a home business with no more inventory than what he can fit in a safe. If someone is willing to give up their storefront business because they refuse to evolve, then that, to me, is just the weeding out of the weak, and the handing over of the torch to someone who wants it enough to do the work. With all the time and inventory that storefront dealers already have put into their businesses, if they aren't willing to make the smallest of changes to keep up with the market, then they deserve to lose their business to someone who will.
It seems to me that anyone who is so creative as to sit in their living room a few hours a day and become "the biggest fish!" is not a "fly-by-night" peddler, but a business genius! And let us not forget, that these InterNET dealers are doing us all a favor with their low prices to the public and awesome service. Storefront dealers can't compete because they don't try. If InterNET dealers are the scourge of the knife industry and storefront owners are the "good guys", then how come every time I call up Northwest Cutlery, I get someone on the phone who is intimately knowledgeable on all the knives in stock and will put it in an overnight package to me at my request, but when I go to a store they can't even tell me which knife is made in America? This is all about the ELU, correct? Well, I can tell you , that as the ELU, I get much better service and satisfaction, and continue to buy more knives as a customer of an InterNET dealer.
You suggest some sort of ethical issue in allowing the InterNET market to take over the business. In my opinion, the storefront dealers are the sharks. If there is someone involved with the stores that does know anything about the product being sold, he is spending too much time on the golf course and needs to come down to the store and give personalized service to his customers like the InterNET dealers do. I see no valiant behavior in storefront dealers who charge insane prices and give no service. Therefore I see no morality in catering to them over the creative and hardworking InterNET dealer who is pulling himself up by his bootstraps with nothing but a dream and some hard work. I appreciate your moral efforts to do the right thing and support the "good guys" and be ethical, but just be sure you know who the good guys are and who really deserves the recognition.
In my opinion, the InterNET is as American as apple pie, and is finally giving some power back to the little guy, while giving the corporations a medium to communicate directly with their ELU. Look at us right here as a prime example, I am just a nobody, but my opinion is as good as anyone's and I have the attention of the creator of one of the most innovative knife companies ever born. The InterNET is forcing large companies to take notice of their ELU on an intimate level, because suddenly the ELU has a medium to voice his opinion to thousands of people. When someone on these forums is mistreated by a large company, we all hear about it in seconds whereas years ago corporations could trample all over people and there was no medium for the individual to fight back. That is power: free speech and the ability to do something with it on a brand new frontier, even for the common person. Rather than being a thorn in your side, I believe that InterNET dealers and these forums are without a doubt the best evolution to happen to the knife industry, and a beautiful picture of the American Dream at work. And, it does not just benefit us little guys, but gives you the chance to go right to your source - the ELU - and ask them exactly what they want before you waste money to make a product that no one is interested in. You don't have to spend money on market analyses and hire someone to keep track of what is hot; just come here and ask the people that are buying your product. Now is your opportunity! Here is a forum that is already established, and is willing to build you a forum. You don't even need to hire a geek to run the board or dish out a penny of money, just say the word and check in once in a while to answer some simple questions. We are not a demanding bunch, just some ELU's who want to be able to get real answers to our questions. I would kindly and humbly suggest that you embrace this opportunity and use the InterNET as a medium for you to build an intimate relationship with your ELU rather than viewing this whole thing as a nuisance.
Respectfully,
J. Thaddeus Hornbaker
