Learning from Schrade's demise

mnblade

mnblade

Joined
Feb 7, 2000
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CJ and Joe: I'm curious to know what the fine folks at Buck take away from the recent closure of Schrade. As a very similar company, surely you've done something of a post-mortem to figure out where they "went wrong." I guess you could say that, as a Buck fan, I'm concerned and hope that you all can at least gain something from this terrible situation and use it to become a more solid company. Thoughts?
 
I would also like to hear thoughts from BUCK on SCHRADE's demise. I am and have been since a child a fan of both companies.Losing one was sad, to lose another would be tragic in my opinion.
 
Grateful said:
I would also like to hear thoughts from BUCK on SCHRADE's demise. I am and have been since a child a fan of both companies.Losing one was sad, to lose another would be tragic in my opinion.
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Don't worry about Buck, we'll be here for a long time to come ;)
 
J Rummerfield said:
Don't worry about Buck, we'll be here for a long time to come ;)
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Boy I'm glad to hear that. Losing Buck would be like losing a family member. I feel like I lost one with Schrade since most of my early knife use was with Schrade (and of course Buck :) )
Scott
 
One similarity I see between Buck and Schrade is a concern to me as a dealer.

Walmart selling Schrade knives at deeply discounted prices; while Bass Pro does the same thing with Bucks: Particularly the Alpha series. They have sold 279BKs for as low as $24.95, and presently have them on sale for $34.88, which is less than wholesale.

In my opinion, this reduces the overall value of a quality knife, whose MSRP is $70.00, and does Buck Knives a great disservice. These knives, and their gut hook brothers, are great folding hunters, but because of this pricing policy, I won't be carrying Alpha Hunters any longer, after I move the ones I have in stock - I haven't sold one in several months, and they have always good sellers. Of course this is good policy for the consumer, until the company hits the wall like Schrade.

I sure hope Josh is right, and that Buck, a great American knife company, with a good reputation to go with it, lasts for a very long time.

My two cents - You judge whether it was worth it.
 
Very good point John. You can understand now why I got into knifemaking. It's a shame but the small business people like us get screwed by big companies like Walmart. My 2 cents
Scott
 
People to day , on average, don't carry or use knive as much as in the past.
Now add in the terrorist twist concerning knife use and carry with all the
hassel THAT brings just about everywhere and you have a business killer for
sure. Schrade happened to be the smallest fish in a shrinking pond with no
hardcore following. Schrade made really good knives that were for the most
part old fashaioned or odd. Buck, on the other hand has managed to get
some zip in their knives while keeping the real bread & butter money maker,
the 110 & 112, fresh with new blades and such. Buck's product line is both
old and new depending on what you want.

But like anyone else they need customers. That will be the hardest part for
all knife makers for the foreseable future. :(
 
All established knife companies should be mindful of the fact that changing times must be handled with great foresight, practicality and entrepreneurial wisdom.

In other words, your products must always be value for money. The competitors are always coming with ways to hijack your clients away.

So any product that is excellent, durable and affordable will stand a chance of beating the competitors. Any company that ignores this fact is only heading in the wrong direction.

Take for example, Buck knives in Malaysia. I just went to a warehouse sale the other day. The guy in charge told me Buck knives are hard to come by because their organisation has to purchase a quota which sort of hurts their budget planning.

So what they have in stock, they priced them at ridiculous prices. The 110 is priced at about Malaysian ringgit 215 (about US$54). I know that's way above average for a Buck 110.

There are plenty of Buck admirers in my country but the prices are driving them to other makers. Most companies which ignore globalisation in their mission statement are treading on shaky ground.

The idea is to hold on to your loyal supporters and constantly improve the relationship. If you continue to ignore them, customers will just get up one day and leave when you are out of town. By the time, you come back, it will be too late.

Business is business. People don't mind paying a bit more but not that much more because the market is filled with good-to-excellent substitutes. There's really no point in narrating your company's sterling history if you have nothing in the showcase.

I have seen this happening to too many good companies. Any company, no matter its size, can and will get into financial trouble very quickly, or definitely get into difficulties over a period of time, if they ignore what their customers really want.

The world is your market now, not only your country. Think of the billions of people waiting to hear from you. All you got to do is to strike the right chords, and the cash register will start ringing! :)
 
I don't know enough about Schrade to comment on what they may have done wrong but I can say that I hate the thought of them being "gone" and I feel for the employees. :(
 
I sit here reading this thread with a Puma Prospector (slip joint) in one pocket and a Buck Mayo in another pocket. These two represent opposite ends of the spectrum regarding how reputable knife companies have addressed the challenges of a global market place.

My Puma is from the mid 80's, a very nice specimen. But Puma's quality, marketing, and manufacturing decisions of the past few (10?) years have completely changed the company's offerings, and it is no longer the same company in my opinion. Sure, the knives cost less now, and they probably sell a lot more knives, but it is not the same company, and not the same knives. They are selling common knives under an old, established name.

On the other hand, the Buck Mayo shows what an entrepreneurial company can do in a very competitive knife market. Buck still makes a lot of knives for the more common user, and those knives are of better quality than most others in that price class in the market. I'm sure Buck has had to continually improve the manufacturing process in order to remain competitive in this market. But they also care enough to do more challenging, higher grade products to cater to another segment of the market. Face it, the higher end is probably a small piece of the pie, and it is good that they still grow and learn and improve in all segments of the market, not just in the high volume markets. In the end the benefits gained in the high end eventually work their way down into the standard product lines.

Take as another example the line of S30V blades being sold by Cabelas right now. A 110 with S30V for $60 is a heck of a lot of knife for the money. The only way Buck could do this was to apply the cost reduction methods they have learned over the years. Yet there are many out there (the majority of knife consumers?) who would think that $60 is a lot to spend on a knife. For them Buck has an entire line of quality products.

A little perspective: My first "real" knife was a Buck 110 I bought in 1976 for $40. In today's dollars that is a lot more than the S30V models available right now. It was a lot back then, and represented most of the money I had available that summer. The 110 now costs less than this not only in real dollars but in absolute dollars.

The challenges are not over, they may just be beginning, but if Buck continues to learn and adjust, they should be around for a while. I sure hope so.
 
The challenges are not over, they may just be beginning, but if Buck continues to learn and adjust, they should be around for a while. I sure hope so. "quoted from Don m "

I sure hope so too! :rolleyes:

Your other comments are right on the money! I think that doing business in the higher markets at the same time gives a company credibility. It shows that they are still out there learning new tricks, staying up with whats new and hopefully discovering new things to bring to market.

I bet that if we were still making the 110 like we did back in the 60's, that 110 with S30V would cost double what they have it for in Cabelas.
 
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