I'm glad you brought the discussion over to GBU. Charlie's barlow thread is really not the place for it.
I did so days ago after discussing with relevant parties, long before any mod needed to get involved. Unfortunately, the dyed-in-the-wool advocates who followed me over here refused to acknowledge that.
At any rate, I've blocked the ones who needed blocking and simply stopped reading the ones who were only here to inflame and prod.
My input on this: GEC is not changing their business model any time soon. You want the rare ones, you gotta play the game. That's just the way it is. If you don't like it, vote with your wallet. No use crying over spilled milk or missed barlows. Sure lots of people get upset over missing out on the one they wanted, But look at it from GEC's point of view... they're selling 'em as fast as they can make 'em. They have no reason to change how they do things.
Collectors are a huge part of GEC's customer base and like it or not, a lot of the limited runs and SFOs are targeted at collectors. That's just good business sense. Increasing production is an option but these things take time and quality can suffer if it's not done right. Increasing production numbers too far could also hurt the collector's market.
My advice, take it or leave it: be thankful for the things you do have, and don't sweat over the things you can't get. They are just things, after all.
Just a few thoughts from a fellow barlow enthusiast.
You make sense, sir, and I am fully aware of the situation with GEC's SFOs. Part of the reason I figured it was worthwhile to consolidate the thread here was that I want GEC to continue to do well and to fill our hobby with more and more patterns, variations and finishes. However, it's become plainly obvious that demand is rapidly rising to previously-unseen levels, and GEC seems to be lagging behind. Some of their decisions seem to have gone wrong for them, and mitigating those bad decisions by, say, running some highly popular patterns in larger numbers, would be a wise business decision given this spike in demand (which doesn't seem to be temporary, I think we can all agree).
The funny thing is there's a completely unrelated thread regarding a specific Barlow model in trads right now where people seem to be popping off and melting down for
absolutely no reason whatsoever. The knives are available, the first few have already been received and reviewed, they seem to be well-received by their current owners, and yet the strife continues. I had no idea my favorite knife had become so contentious! I only hope I'm not stoking the fire by doing this two weeks of two Barlows thing.
Ultimately when "investors" become involved in any hobby the game changes. Will and Jack made these observations in the "flipping" thread in Trads and it's a hard truth. There's already been a TC on another site offered up for 275% of retail, and the clock is ticking until we see something similarly-priced on the Exchange, or a neverending series of the same finishes at a 50% or more markup from the same fleabay sellers. Eventually, GEC might see that there
is a reason to change, and that reason is the long-term viability of the hobby and industry which keeps them profitable in the first place. It's probably not going to change right away but it's worth having the discussion, IMO. Stepping back and letting the initial flames die down, however, might be prudent in the future.
P.S. Now I know how you filled that safe!
I wish everyone could go see the GEC factory. You would not believe that the amount of knives that are made each year, come from that factory. It's small. As in, you can stand in one spot and see the entire operation. Knives are not being pumped out by the hundreds each hour. They are literally being finished by the handful every day.
Could GEC make 5000 knives in each run rather than a few hundred? Yes they could. Know what that means? You'd only see a couple of patterns made each year and there wouldn't be much to look forward to with new options because you'd never know when those patterns could be made again.
Haven't been yet but I have seen the videos. I do appreciate that they're basically punching well above their own weight. My only hope in the immediate future is that their management doesn't turn around and start seeking to squeeze more blood from the SFO turnip with an eye towards price increases or the secondary market.
