Bye, Bye United Cutlery

I have a scout pattern that was given to me as a present, it's actually a decent knife, one of my edcs. It was a Sierra Club issue from 1993, has walnut scales and a Sierra Club medallion. Well finished. It's stamped United on one side, Made In USA Stainless on the other. It has two screwdrivers, a sawblade that works well, etc. The only problem is the main blade will not take a really sharp edge.
 
They lacked the fundimental understanding of their core market and the fact that the market is always alive and fluid. A simple mind shift to made in China and without a contingency plan it was gone.
 
In regards to job loss, how do we know that the companies they rip off can now ADD jobs that more then make up for what was lost?
 
DaveH said:
In regards to job loss, how do we know that the companies they rip off can now ADD jobs that more then make up for what was lost?
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I doubt that any of the companies that make the knives that United copied are going to be adding employees because of this. People that have been paying $10.00 for a United knife aren't going to rush out and pay $100.00 for the original. Those sales will go to the Chinese knockoffs, so maybe it will create a few more jobs in China.

The fantasy knife/sword collectors are going to be in need of a company to replace United. There is a niche there that needs to be filled.
 
DaveH said:
In regards to job loss, how do we know that the companies they rip off can now ADD jobs that more then make up for what was lost?
Click to expand...

Part of the reason that UC is going is out of business is because of Chinese competition, so that's probably where the labor supply will come from to make up the difference.
 
Well, junk goes the way of junk. He could have at least made some good knives with 440C and 420HC and maybe 440A for the low end knife market. Instead he made fantasy junk for kids that quickly outgrew them.
 
The funny thing is that United Cutlery CREATED the higher end Chinese knife business. A perusal of their catalogs over the past decade will show the vast majority of their product coming from Taiwan or China! The fantasy knife business is almost entirely Chinese. These knives are complicated pieves that require good equipment, cheap labor and technology. If you can make a Gil Hibben fantasy knife with complex grinding and handle treatments, most anything else is elementary.

When they built a US facility, most people within the cutlery business shrugged and blamed it on ego. After all, most Americans really WANT to build their product in the USA...but why do it if you don't absolutely need to? United customers had been purchasing Asian imports all along--a move to domestic production would not have improved their credibilty or image within the mass market or their core customer base.

It is no surprise to me that the monster they helped create has helped to swallow United. No brainer.
 
Just an interesting not (to me) I emailed to author of the article asking about the reserach he did in writing about United Cutlery. He said he called a couple of people in the industry.
 
I could have swore I saw an ad for a new line of knives from United in either Blade, TK, or KI this month. (Forgot what the new line was called. Sorry.) How are they doing that when they don't have a company any more? Did someone else already buy them?

Anyone know anything new?

oil
 
From the link:
We are now operating under new ownership and in a brand new location in Thomasville, Georgia. The Customer Service and Distribution Center have been updated with innovative technology providing ease of ordering and prompt shipping.
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No comment on where manufacturing is being done.

They are the new Cold Steel! :D
 
The remains of United were purchased by the owner of Bud K. He purchased Mathews Cutlery, a knife distributor, a couple of years ago. Manufacturing for UC will still occur in China. I should mention that Bud K, Taylor (who recently bought the remains of Schrade) and others at the low end of the market are growing like crazy while the high end of the market is shrinking. It may not be a pleasing concept to the group but it is a fact. Buy whichever knives you like but, if you want to invest in the knife industry, go low.
 
its just a name, there are dozens of companies makign the same crap right behind them and they will all fill the gap and provide cheap cutlery to the masses...lol...sad but true...
 
I just came across a bargain in a catalog today: 50 Maxam knives for $34.97, in a molded polymer case. Because he bought out the last of another dealer's stock, you save 65%.

How much better could Spyderco originals have been? :p
 
Unitedcutlery?
Aren't companies with a name like that suppose to be simply - indestructible?
It implies more than just one entity.
Therefore a very powerful name, dreaded by many.
I hope with all it's all new power regained, that it doesn't get corrupted from within becoming more of an "evil empire" of knifedom.
I an certain that the new regime will not fail to impress upon the good citizens of the free world what great marketing can do for the domestic economy.
 
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