Age ol wal-mart thread

TorzJohnson said:
Maybe somebody could refresh my memory a little bit. I seem to recall back 4 or 5 years ago there was a really sub-par run of Natives made for Spyderco by some other company, that ended up in Wal-Marts or something. Could this be why people are asking about Wally World versions of knives?
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The BRK Natives?
 
On the other hand, I'm amused by the contention of some of my fellow collectors that the BRK Native does not deserve a place in a collection of Natives. Consider this - the original catalog illustration for the Native shows a knife with a 440A blade with 9 thumb grooves. Now granted, that picture could be nothing more than an "artists conception" but, if one ever turns up with solid provenance, they'd be fighting one another (and me) tooth and nail for it.

What does he mean by saying they would be fighting over it??? why??
 
Bait and switch does happen - just on a subtle level. Check the steel compositon of your favorite knife and Wally will be selling the cheap steel with very little way to tell in the blister pack. Academy gets the same kind of product.

Going to a real knife retailer will get you quality, and a hands-on with the knife at the counter from a knowledgeable enthusiast.
 
Mick R. said:
This topic has come up many times and Sal Glesser has said on these forums that the Native they sell at Walmart is the exact same knife they sell everywhere else.

Think about it for a minute - Mr. Glesser has built a top notch reputation in the knife business by selling a high quality product and standing behind that product with an excellent warranty and great customer service. Spyderco quality is known the world over - Does anyone really think he would risk the hard earned reputation of Spyderco Knives by selling a subpar Native at Walmart??... I think not.
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This is an interesting point. While any given quality manufacturer whether it be lawnmowers, knives, computers, clothing or whatever has a lot invested in their reputation for a quality product, when someone waves millions of dollars in their face, they choke. Its just natural. Just a hypothetical example: Company A has for the past five years grossed $5 million on $4 million worth of cost. Wal-mart comes in and says we'll start buying your product in mass quantities at the normal discount. gross is now $10 million on $7 million cost. But at that level for several years, Company A has had to upgrade their eqipment and facilities, hire many more employees and now has 50% of their business coming from wal-mart. So, who has the power now? the company or walmart who essentially owns 50% of that company now? Wal-mart does, so company A now has to say "how high" when Wal-mart says jump. A company that has been operating at a certain level for a couple of years simply cannot at a whim cut production in half. It would cripple that company, and Wal-Mart knows this and they plan these things. Meanwhile Sam Walton (deceased Wal-Mart founder) is spinning in his grave.

You can add Toro lawnmowers to the list of otherwise good brands that you definitely shouldn't buy from Wal-Mart.
 
I dug around in some older threads and found this post by Mr. Glesser. It should answer most of the questions about the quality of the Walmart Native.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=389361&page=2

Hi TFin04,

I understand your feelings and many agree with you;

"I'd rather pay more for a local shop".
"I'd rather pay more for American made".

I also understand your dislike for Wal-Mart. Many agree with that point of view as well.

As a business, building products for YOU, the ELU (End Line User), we must consider all possibilities to reach our customer. One model in Wal-Mart helps our distribution in a variety of ways that have been discussed.

Spyderco is not dependent on Wal-Mart.
Spyderco is commited to serve our ELU's to the best of our ability.

We (Spyderco management team) discussed long and hard the question of lowering quality to meet price points and we decided against it. We owe that to our customers. The Native that you buy in Wal-Mart today is the same materials and quality that we have always provided in the Native. In fact, it is now better.

As we continue to make more of them, we can continue to improve and refine. In fact, it is our plan to help Wal-Mart upgrade the model when the next "board" is created.

Wal-Marts first requirement exceeded last years production, by all of our dealers all over the world. This means, to us at Spyderco, that we get to service more cusomers.

As you, there are many things in this world that I do not like or would prefer that they be different, however......reality is a firm, but honest teacher!

While we recognize that some companies might lower their quality to meet Wal-Mart's pricing, we have elected not to on the grounds that our customer is you. Wal-Mart is a distribution channel to serve more of you.

sal

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The entire "business chain" from; raw materials, invention, design, manufacturing, marketing, selling, distributing, shipping, warrantees, insurance, credit, etc. ALL EXISTS to service the ELU (End Line User). Remove the ELU from the equation and the entire business chain falls like a house of cards. We all work for you!
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I hope you all don't mind me throwing out my experience with Wal-Mart here.

Kai USA has dealt with Wal-Mart for many years, and we do have placement with 6 items in all stores.
We have not found Wal-Mart to be overly aggressive or looking for the lowest quality for the least that they can pay. They appreciate our USA made knives, and have kept them on the board for that very reason. IMHO, that is a positive thing.

The products we have in Wal-Mart are the same and are not altered in any way. I don't see that changing.
 
I recommend watching Penn and Teller's show Bullshit! and their episode about Wal-Mart (their position is that hating Wal-Mart is dumb, and they explain why).

Wal-Mart buys inventory in ridiculously huge volume. That's how they offer it cheaper than other places. Also, certain items serve as a loss-leader (sold at a loss in order to entice you into the store so you'll buy other stuff, too), and these may rotate with sales from time to time.
 
rexivy said:
where do u live ashtx??? I live in del rio, i bought a nice sog twitch, kershaw, and a benchmade at russells. Theres a nice shop in ingram mall in san antonio. I find it hard to buy retail, though. Cant beat those prices online
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Seguin Tx 25 miles east of San antonio.
 
Yep! Penn and Teller, now there are a pair of real experts on quality, manufacturing, merchandising, not to mention metalurgy that I will plan my future on. come on!
 
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