Camillus Closed

orvet said:
Another legacy of Bill Clinton & Geo. Bush. Both were/are big supporters of NAFTA.

I wonder where they will get their tax money when the last American job is sent overseas? :barf: :mad:

A simplistic view I know, much more is involved, but you cannot build a strong economy when the jobs are shipped overseas, just so we can appease foreign leaders & buy cheap imports. Someone in this country has to work & pay taxes!

Just my $.02
Dale
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If people knew what was really going on, they would revolt, but the sheep just keep on grazing ......... I have studied what is going on for 30 years now, and it is bearing fruit, just as planned.
 
ive been lusting after a spyderench ,they dont make them in the usa anymore but make a byrd china version-NO THANKS

as a syracusan,camillus knife has been a historic place to us locals-
my dad used to grab knifes out of the garbage and sell them many many many many years ago

rip
 
As much as we hate to see it happen, I guess we knew it was inevitable. Good luck to all of the folks there that have made such excellent products for so many years.
 
Best wishes to all those folks who actually worked there (as opposed to the people who ran the company into the ground). Thanks for some great knives.
 
A day of infamy:
A loss of a traditional cutler.
Loss of skills and craftsmanship.
For a non American, this is a severe blow too as authentic made in the USA means a lot around the world,tell THAT to the bean-counters!
I'm glad I got my Yello-Back last month.
My condolences to the workers on the shop-floor
 
To those who worked at camillus, i thank you.
And I hope you guys find new jobs soon.
 
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From the Syracuse Post Standard.
http://www.syracuse.com/business/updates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/syr_biz/archives/2007_02.html#241025

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Camillus Cutlery to close for good Wednesday
Camillus Cutlery Co., the oldest maker of folding knives in the country, will shut its doors for good Wednesday, according to a union official who works at the company.

About 35 people are employed by the company, which has dwindled from 200 employees a decade ago and more than 400 in the 1970s.

Management employees were told of the closing Monday afternoon, said Kathy Westcott, president of United Steelworkers Local 4783, which represents 16 employees at the plant. Westcott said managers told her the plant would close Wednesday.

The company was founded in 1876 in New York City by Adolph Kastor, who started by importing knives. In 1902, he acquired a small cutlery in the village of Camillus and began manufacturing knives there.

Camillus Cutlery weathered a six-month-long strike last year. Westcott said the company was crippled by competition from low-cost foreign manufacturers.

Staff writer Tim Knauss will have a full report in Wednesday's Post-Standard.



Codger
 
What is done is done, bitterness in everyday life is not good for your health. Take the good with the bad and go on. Alot can be said on all of this BUT WHAT good will come of it? Finger pointing, sly name dropping and the blame game is what everyday life is. Who can say that they are perfect???? I know that i am not and never will pretend to be. If you live your life open and learn to go with the punches no matter how hard they come at you - you will survive. If we could go back in time with the information that we have learned from now WOULD it be enough to save Camillus???

How many of us give great thought to what choices we are about to make in life that will effect our life either now or later that doesn't have dire consciences one way or the other???

Perhaps this may or may not be the situation here, but we all have feelings. It is like we are talking about one another behind each other.

Yes, this does not do well - just like Schrade - but look at how many other good American companies are outsourcing anywhere but here. My guess is that it all comes down to the almighty $, thou I could be wrong. Or it is just plain bad choices.

Please give some great thought to those people OFFICE/MANAGEMENT and FACTORY who really hung in there to the end - they fought a very, very tough up hill battle to the bitter end.

God bless them and the best of luck to all of you Camillus, you will be missed.
 
Camillus Cutlery Company

54 Main Street
Camillus, NY 13031

1902 - 2007
(1902 first year Camillus produced their own knives with the Camillus Stamping)

The people, the knife, the legend, we will miss you!
 
I wonder the odds of finding OVB Fisk knives at half-off closeout prices?

There were some sweet deals when Schrade closed...

-Bob
 
Those OVBs were hard to get when they were being made!

I seriously doubt there are that many on the shelf anywhere.
If I'm wrong, I'll get myself a few spares.

All those were handmade by the best of the best.

What an epitaph! Becker, CQB, OVB, CUDA 18-Xray, went out of business making some of the best knives we ever made.

Groan
 
Several people I have talked to, had sent in knives for repair, will these be returned as is, or will anyone be there to return them?
 
As much as I'd like to add this to the list of things GWB, or Clinton, (or NAFTA for that matter) screwed up, it really is nothing more than the usual free market system working the way it's supposed to. Freedom means being free to succeed, and also means free to fail. Personally, the blame was most obvious when I looked at the Camillus lineup, and saw nothing that caught my interest enough to make me want to buy.
 
Mountainwind said:
Several people I have talked to, had sent in knives for repair, will these be returned as is, or will anyone be there to return them?
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ALL of the knives that were sent in for repair have been repaired and have shipped back to their rightful owners this week. Anything sent in during the past week have been "return to the sender" as unopened. We had many many knives that were sent in for repair yet we could not spare anyone due to focusing on the production side of things, that was until a kind hearted Camillus employee of 30+years, Ron P. (Kong) got wind of this and took it upon himself to repair ALL of the knives that have been sitting on pending repair trays for months, Kudos to you Ron! I know there will be many smiling faces on all of these concerned customers once they receive their repaired knives. I want to close by saying it has been a pleasure dealing with all of you devoted customers of Camillus Cutlery as well as the employees I have come to know over the few years I have been with the company (you will all be missed!) :(

Future reference for repairs:
The Knife Doctor, Knife Repair & Restoration
Mr. Eugene Blankenship
731-723-7575 or email: KnifeDoctor@aol.com
 
Closed?
I suppose some labels would (be sold) continue under a different "umbrella"?
This is just far too depressing to talk about.
Hardly a day goes by with out loss of some "Americana"; globalization, new world order?? Fat chance we'll see one.
 
Sad, sad, sad day. I hate this %$#@^#* stuff when it happens! It depresses me to no end. When Winchester Arms close shop in New Haven I got the feeling of a little piece of this country's foundation was chipped away. Now Camillus closes and that feeling is back. How much can the foundation stand before the structure collapses? Think about what these companies represented and the forces they once were. Sad, sad day!
 
Mini enron? huh?
Nobody is in business for the purpose of providing employment.

Unions and workers who demand way way more than they are worth are likely to blame for the demise of Camillus Cutlery. Its too bad factory workers think theyre worth so damn much that a companies only choices are to either close completely, or be extorted for absurd amounts of money for generally low skilled workers.

I get frustrated when I see news clips of people picketing a factory, demanding more money when they are already making far more than theyre worth. Automakers are closing plants, and nearly all have high tailed it out of CNY... And the fact is, some people who do the most simplest of jobs in these plants are making upwards of 70k. Basically jobs a chimp could do. I hate to say it, but when unions demand ridiculous amounts of money and benefits, companies have no choice but to rake consumers over the coals and raise prices for products that are increasingly becoming inferior. I say close up shop.. Let the bastards who can never be happy with a fair wage try unemployment.
 
Yeah, yeah big bad wicked unions and greedy lazy workers bleeding the place dry. WHAT AN INSULT and puerile simplification. You feel good about loss of local skills and pride? Good to have sweatshop factories in China pouring out goods and exploiting people and their rights? You could be next......
 
it was a managment thing-the employees bent over backward to keep there jobs-

kjr must be one of the managers who doomed the company with piss poor knowledge of the job
 
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