I wonder what sorta condition Cold Steel's Supply Chain is in right now?

S

SanLuisObispo

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I wonder what sorta condition Cold Steel's Supply Chain is in right now? A number of online sellers such as MidwayUSA show certain models (from both CS and other manufacturers) as being "overdue" and that back-ordering is approved.

Did the distributor channel seem stripped before CS announced their sale on 12/03? It takes what, just under 30 days to get a container over the water from Taiwan to Long Beach or LA?

I'm curious if (at least) one more "CS pure" shipment is due? Looking on GMSO/CS's website, they seem to be raising prices a bit?
 
I'm curious, too. Midway has a fantastic price on a Cold Steel knife that can be back ordered, but I'm leery of placing for an order for something that may not ultimately be supplied...
 
They had srks (sk5) for 35 a piece. I bought 2 to get free shipping. After that they were out of stock. Sorry...? :D
 
Interesting point about the shipping time... that could mean there is possibly a container or two that were already on the way before the company sale. That would be good providing the prices don't all become full MSRP.
 
Weiss said:
I'm curious, too. Midway has a fantastic price on a Cold Steel knife that can be back ordered, but I'm leery of placing for an order for something that may not ultimately be supplied...
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I have placed an order on that inbound shipment so I really hope it's coming. There was an email update the other day saying the date (Jan 6) was still accurate. I have a feeling it might be, as SLO said, a batch of the last true CS'.

I have to say, personally, I think there's also a good chance CS will remain unchanged for about a year or so. Some will disagree, but if a company came in, bought a company, and gutted it, that would be ridiculous. I think they'll experiment and see, "hey if we cut this line or that line, what will happen? What if we bring this knife back, or remove that design feature?" To be honest, I think a lot of the lineup will remain in place, but made out of shittier steel. It's insane to me that on an industry level, knives are either seeing a surge in supersteels becoming common, like Benchmade's lineup, or a downgrade to steels that were worse than what the pioneers carried (5Cr). CS was sort of straddling the gap between those trends, as lineups like the SRK (SK5=good, VG=better, San Mai=betterer, 3V=best) showed, but in the last year we've seen a boom in like 4034 or whatever in CS.

I sincerely hope that GSM keeps the QC and materials as quality. It's easy to cheap out on garbage Chinese steel and cash in on a brand name, but a better long term play to maintain the integrity of a brand, ethics aside. Look at Remington. Profitable, with the occasional drop in revenue, then a strip mining company comes in, strips the company, it falls apart, and goes bankrupt. Might have made them money, but also made them look terrible and I'm sure others will now avoid doing business with them.
 
Weiss said:
Oh. That was you. Hesitate and thou art lost. (I lost.) :(
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I hesitated myself. Was unsure about midway, but decided to take a chance. Glad I did, they shipped quickly and my order was correct, so I can't complain!
 
Well, I'll likely throw my dollars into the fires of chance and see what happens...
 
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Weiss said:
I'm curious, too. Midway has a fantastic price on a Cold Steel knife that can be back ordered, but I'm leery of placing for an order for something that may not ultimately be supplied...
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There's really no risk in this context. If MidwayUSA won't sell it to you for the price shown, then you're not obligated to pay more.
 
I'm only a few miles from Midway. I know several people who have ordered from them (in addition to me) and none of them have ever had a bad experience. They seem solid. Been around a long time.
 
In my long experience in dealing with Midway, you don't have anything to worry about. They are solid and reputable.
 
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