Benchmade Company Question?

Benchmade lost my business a long time ago. I just don't like the way the way treat their peers in the knife industry. All of this confusion and melodrama about pricing and distribution just adds to how I feel about them.

My personal experience with their more recent (past two or three years) fit and finish has been very poor, as well. My roommate loved the aesthetics of their Kulgera model, and he ended up having the knife replaced three times for terrible blade play and off center blades when closed before he gave up and got a refund. Before that, he tried a 710 D2 that suffered the same issues. The blade play was so bad in one of them that you could shake the knife, when fully open and locked, and hear the blade rattling around. That's some of the worst quality I've ever seen in a $100+ folder. Needless to say, he is no longer a Benchmade customer, despite his first quality folder being a very nice Switchback model that he loved for years.
 
I have close to 400 Benchmades in my collection and F&F on any one of them is just perfect or close to. I have a VERY hard time believing the above post.

Call me a fanboy, but the fact remains. Not once did I encounter a problem with any of my BMs.
 
RxEnergy said:
I have close to 400 Benchmades in my collection and F&F on any one of them is just perfect or close to. I have a VERY hard time believing the above post.

Call me a fanboy, but the fact remains. Not once did I encounter a problem with any of my BMs.
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I find your sentiments insulting, but I'd feel the same way if what you are saying is true.

I owned about 20, personally, before I swore them off, and they were all on par with other companies in their range, but I swear on my family that my roommate's experiences are not a lie, and that I experienced them personally.

We even went to a gun show together to try to find a Kulgera that did not have blade play issues because he was so enamored with the model, and all of the ones we handled were the same, hence my impression of their quality declining.

Admittedly, I have not bothered to handle or buy any of their knives since, so the situation could have been bad luck. I'm sure they would not be able to survive as a high end manufacturer if their fit and finish was generally as bad as the last four knives I handled by them.
 
I never meant to insult you. Please accept my apologies if I unintentionally did so.

I have 2 Kulgeras. One is a Gold Class model with titanium handles the other one is from First Production run (getting a FP run knive of some models could be a lottery, since there could be small flaws not caught during the R&D stage). I have not handled any other Kulgeras, but my only complaint on the Blue Class version is that the AXIS lock sits a little too deep inside the scales and is not as easily accessible as the same lock on other AXIS models. I carried it for a few days, just to get the feel for the knife and didn't notice any other problems with it. Gold Class Kulgera has no problems whatsoever. But ANY problems with a knife that carries an $800 MSRP sticker would be unacceptable.
 
THG said:
(The saying is "I couldn't care less)
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That was the original expression but the one I used has become common in the US and both variations are widely used. It's an expression and whether right or wrong doesn't change the fact that both are used. Like all expressions, I am just copying what I have heard used. I'm also in pain right now and trying not to take my pain pills so I probably shouldn't be posting anything right now. :o

I might buy 3 or 4 Benchmade knives a year. I probably buy more Spyderco at this point. But if they have a knife I want, I'm going to find a good price and not punish myself and Benchmade by not buying it.

I could get mad about it and not buy Benchmade knives, but then I wouldn't have something I want. I don't think the few knives that I buy will teach Benchmade anything by not buying them.

Dealers prices are staying the same. If their sales go down they will find a way to lower their prices to make the sales or they will complain to Benchmade that their tactics aren't working and something will change.

If others feel the need to boycott Benchmade and not buy their products then that is your decision. Things will sort themselves out eventually in a free market.
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
That was the original expression but the one I used has become common in the US and both variations are widely used. It's an expression and whether right or wrong doesn't change the fact that both are used. Like all expressions, I am just copying what I have heard used. I'm also in pain right now and trying not to take my pain pills so I probably shouldn't be posting anything right now. :o

I might buy 3 or 4 Benchmade knives a year. I probably buy more Spyderco at this point. But if they have a knife I want, I'm going to find a good price and not punish myself and Benchmade by not buying it.

I could get mad about it and not buy Benchmade knives, but then I wouldn't have something I want. I don't think the few knives that I buy will teach Benchmade anything by not buying them.

Dealers prices are staying the same. If their sales go down they will find a way to lower their prices to make the sales or they will complain to Benchmade that their tactics aren't working and something will change.

If others feel the need to boycott Benchmade and not buy their products then that is your decision. Things will sort themselves out eventually in a free market.
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Nice catch, beat me too it:D
 
RxEnergy said:
If I'm spending $100+ on a knife I don't mind spending extra 5-10 minutes doing research.
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No offense, but that's the mentality of, "My husband beats me, but it's okay because I still get to live here with a roof over my head." You just said that you acknowledge that they are making you go through hoops to even find the prices on their knives, and you don't mind it.

If I'm spending 5-10 minutes doing research, it's going to be on the blade's steel or performance or something like that. Not on the price. I'll speak for myself, but I'm willing to bet good money that the majority will agree with me.

spoonrobot said:
Why, we should all be so lucky to bow before the feet of the greatest manufacturer of this century! I feel so lucky to even be able to buy their knives! I wish I could pay even more for them!

:rolleyes:
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It's chilling how frighteningly accurate that sounds...
 
THG said:
No offense, but that's the mentality of, "My husband beats me, but it's okay because I still get to live here with a roof over my head." You just said that you acknowledge that they are making you go through hoops to even find the prices on their knives, and you don't mind it.

If I'm spending 5-10 minutes doing research, it's going to be on the blade's steel or performance or something like that. Not on the price. I'll speak for myself, but I'm willing to bet good money that the majority will agree with me.
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Getting a good price on a BM doesn't take any more effort than it would to find a good price on a Spyderco/Kershaw.

Look at the stats spoonrobot posted, you could search 10 different sites and come up with 10 different prices for a Spyderco.

There is no perfect pricing strategy, the fact remains if you want the best price on knife of any company you need to be willing to look around.
 
THG said:
No offense, but that's the mentality of, "My husband beats me, but it's okay because I still get to live here with a roof over my head."
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I can't stand BM, and that's still the dumbest thing I've read all day.

A lot of knife companies have similar practices, and worse. Look at Busse, CRK, ZT, Randall and many others.

Yeah, it's annoying for a mid-level company to make you work a little harder to find a good price, but it's far from customer abuse, and it's only a few minutes more effort if you are interested in one of their models. I never just buy a knife on the fly, anyway. I take a week or so to investigate pricing and do research regardless of the brand.

Yes, it is a little silly and annoying, but the exaggeration is a bit much.
 
tjsulli790 said:
Look at the stats spoonrobot posted, you could search 10 different sites and come up with 10 different prices for a Spyderco.
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I think you read his post wrong :p

J85909266 said:
Yes, it is a little silly and annoying, but the exaggeration is a bit much.
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You're playing on the "abuse" thing much more than I intended it to be used for. In fact, I never even meant to say that BM is "abusing its customers" (although now I see how that connection can be made). However, spoonrobot got it right with the whole "groveling to the holy company's feet." To willingly accept these excessive and unnecessary hoops BM now makes the customer jump through and then go to say they are good for us makes sense only in a fanboy world (which he admitted he was, I guess, so whatever.)
 
Turned out to be quite an interesting thread. For better or worse I hope BM sees threads like this and others alike. Would like to see their responses to the actual knife community.
 
All things being equal, Benchmade's pricing practice does annoy online consumers and will cost them sales in this segment. However, their marketing guy must have justified this by predicting increased sales or increased profit margin in brick and mortar stores.

I think they're trying to elevate their brand image and separate themselves from Kershaw and Spyderco. They want to be viewed as a premium brand above the other two. Like it or not, the average consumer associates high price with quality. Along with their new policy to sell directly and only to brick & mortar stores, they want to move into the "boutique" segment. You can not be boutique if people can still find the products much cheaper online. This is also the reason they discontinue their high-value foreign-manufactured products, the red line.

Benchmade will probably sell less in volume, which is acceptable considering they're producing in full capacity. If you're selling all you can make in a short period of time, it means there's a real possibility you're charging too low. They hope to make up for the lower volume with higher margin. Their cutting the middle man (distributors) is a good sign of this approach, because it also gives them higher margin.

Just like any business concern, they're just trying to maximize profit. If this doesn't work for them, you can be sure they'll try something else and maybe revert to the old model.
 
It's all smoke and mirrors, though. Any knowledgeable knife enthusiast knows that Kershaw and Spyderco are at least on par with Benchmade in terms of quality. Chirs Reeve, they are not.

It comes off pretentious, to me.
 
tjsulli790 said:
I don't care what point he was making, I used his data to make mine.
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Well whatever it is you're talking about (I really don't know what you're talking about), it has nothing to do with what we were talking about. Which is why I suggested you reread the post.

Sep said:
I think they're trying to elevate their brand image and separate themselves from Kershaw and Spyderco. They want to be viewed as a premium brand above the other two.
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You know, I agree 100% with that, but I was afraid to say it. Someone said a few posts up, "I hope someone at BM reads this and responds." I say don't hold your breath; their ego is too big for that.

BM makes a damn nice knife. I don't think anyone can deny that. But this is going to, unfortunately, cause me to refrain from buying their products. If they decide to change their minds, I won't hesitate to change mine either, simple as that.
 
spoonrobot said:
Why, we should all be so lucky to bow before the feet of the greatest manufacturer of this century! I feel so lucky to even be able to buy their knives! I wish I could pay even more for them!
:rolleyes:
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LOL. Sarcasm is so under-appreciated.
And don't forget to genuflect when you say the name or place the order.:D
 
tjsulli790 said:
Getting a good price on a BM doesn't take any more effort than it would to find a good price on a Spyderco/Kershaw.
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Don't know how you figure that. You can compare Spyderco/Kershaw just by doing some browsing online.
Getting to a good price on a BM requires you have to do the same browsing, then you have to call or email each vendor, which IS more effort.
The effort on my part is not the real issue...the calls and emails COST the vendors their time and money.

tjsulli790 said:
I don't care what point he was making....
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That, at least, is perfectly clear.
 
A vendor has employees that are at the store working. How is them picking up the phone costing them money exactly? Answering the phone/ email is part of doing business. Yeah they might have to stop doing something to pick up the phone, but that isn't going to change the hours that are worked.
 
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