Price increases blown out of proportion?

115Italian said:
I own a business. One reality thats hard to convey to clients/ customers is that prices go up over time.
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Yes, it can be tricky. The industry I work in is very much affected by the recent and upcoming minimum wage hikes. It doesn’t just effect those making minimum, you have to increase most of the rest of the employees or they go elsewhere. I doubt Spyderco sees much from this directly (?) but could see it indirectly from others that they source from.
 
Sal Glesser said:
Hi Whp,

Map is an advertising thing, not a price fixing thing. Some companies do use it for price fixing, but Spyderco only enforces "Minimum Advertised Price". This gives our dealers more options and more control. Pure Capitalism means Amazon and Wal-Mart are the main sources.

sal
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Thanks Sal.
I guess that means I can go to my large local brick and mortar store and ask for a better deal on my next desired Spyderco purchase and not have to worry about a company restriction on the final price.
Appreciate your explanation.

I appreciate Wal Mart and Amazon as much as anybody for their low prices. But to me capitalism is about more than low prices. Service and relationships also are important factors. I just like retailers to be able to use pricing to compete as well as other factors. I still don t like MAP but as long as Spyderco does t restrict the sales price I feel better about your position.

Best regards
 
ScooterG said:
Yes, it can be tricky. The industry I work in is very much affected by the recent and upcoming minimum wage hikes. It doesn’t just effect those making minimum, you have to increase most of the rest of the employees or they go elsewhere. I doubt Spyderco sees much from this directly (?) but could see it indirectly from others that they source from.
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Everything costs more. Power to keep the lights on at the factory, freight to bring the materials in and then send the finished products out, property tax for the factory, new computers for the office staff, and the beat goes on. Nothing costs less.
 
price increases have to have consumer push back. if we never did the makers would just keep raising prices whenever they wanted:) instead of justifying increases and being very smart how they address cost pressures and how they pass it along etc. im kidding on doing it whenever they want......but some makers, not spyderco of course, might do just that.

its normal to whine and complain on prices increasing. that consumer pressure keeps makers competitive and doing more for less. its a needed part of supply and demand in a crowded market.

plus i just like to complain and whine.:)
 
jbmonkey said:
price increases have to have consumer push back. if we never did the makers would just keep raising prices whenever they wanted:)
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Of course. This relationship between price and people wanting to buy is called price elasticity. Let's say you're selling Oranges and your labor cost goes up. Do you charge more? If you do, will people just buy apples instead? Every business person understands this trade-off. Spyderco has to be keenly aware of this.

Short anecdote somewhat related: was talking to a small midtech knife maker at a show. Good stuff most of you have heard of. Knives are not cheap. The discussion somehow veered toward the business side and the maker said "oh, I'm still not making any money at this." He priced at a point where he could sell and it wasn't working for him. Clearly not sustainable since he can't lose money indefinitely.
 
In some cases, you have an increase in MSRP in addition to the change in MAP.

MSRP on the Shaman went up from $249.95 to $279.95 which is a 10.7% increase. Of course, the MAP discount off MSRP went from 40% to 35% (that by itself is an 8.33% increase in street price). The combination of the MSRP increase and change in MAP, has effectively increased the street price from $149.97 to $181.97 which is a 21.34% increase or $32.00.
 
RamZar said:
In some cases, you have an increase in MSRP in addition to the change in MAP.

MSRP on the Shaman went up from $249.95 to $279.95 which is a 10.7% increase. Of course, the MAP discount off MSRP went from 40% to 35% (that by itself is an 8.33% increase in street price). The combination of the MSRP increase and change in MAP, has effectively increased the street price from $149.97 to $181.97 which is a 21.34% increase or $32.00.
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Excellent point. I'm sure it will effect the market somehow. It might even bring secondary market prices up as well?
 
RamZar said:
A 21.34% street price increase or $32.00 in the case of the Shaman is pretty significant.
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On the other hand, if we compare the new price of this knife to the new Benchmade mini crooked river ($187), it is not out of line. But again, I think the Benchmade is significantly overpriced.
 
Personally, I want to be able to go into my local Mom and pops store and buy a pm2 for the same price I can buy one on Amazon.

Without MAP I would have to spend much more to do so. Now it is not the case. I like that. I much prefer to support small businesses and have my taxes go to my local govt.

In addition, I don’t get upset or worked up over price increases. As an employee I hope to get a yearly raise to help off set col and inflation. I like to think that Sal and co. treat their employees well and pay them accordingly.

Materials aren’t getting cheaper. I don’t want them to move their manufacturing out of country just so I can get my pm2 $10 cheaper.

They still seem to be among the best values at their respective price points.

Just my opinion as a novice knife guy.
 
sharp_edge said:
On the other hand, if we compare the new price of this knife to the new Benchmade mini crooked river ($187), it is not out of line. But again, I think the Benchmade is significantly overpriced.
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All Benchmade have been overpriced ever since MAP implementation of January 2015. My last Benchmade was the 2017 SHOT Show Limited Edition Sequel 707-1701 which I got in February 2017 and my only Benchmade in 2017!

In that light, I'm still game for Spyderco Sprint Runs and specially Dealer Exclusives where dealers have more leeway on pricing.
 
RamZar said:
All Benchmade have been overpriced ever since MAP implementation of January 2015. My last Benchmade was the 2017 SHOT Show Limited Edition Sequel 707-1701 which I got in February 2017 and my only Benchmade in 2017!

In that light, I'm still game for Spyderco Sprint Runs and specially Dealer Exclusives where dealers have more leeway on pricing.
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I recently bought a Griptilian and a Bugout and think they are both great knives for around a hundred bucks. Those are my only 2 higher end non-Spyderco knives and they get used a lot. Not overpriced at all IMO.

I will keep buying Spyderco until (or if) their street pricing becomes high enough for me to start looking at higher end Benchmade, ZT, Emerson and other manufacturers. As of now, Spyderco still offers tremendous value and quality IMO/IME.

I agree with the sprint run/exclusive comment. Items like the DLT and BHQ Manix and PM2 were great values. That’s also the kinda thing I will be looking for in 2018.
 
SharpieB said:
I recently bought a Griptilian and a Bugout and think they are both great knives for around a hundred bucks. Those are my only 2 higher end non-Spyderco knives and they get used a lot. Not overpriced at all IMO.

I will keep buying Spyderco until (or if) their street pricing becomes high enough for me to start looking at higher end Benchmade, ZT, Emerson and other manufacturers. As of now, Spyderco still offers tremendous value and quality IMO/IME.

I agree with the sprint run/exclusive comment. Items like the DLT and BHQ Manix and PM2 were great values. That’s also the kinda thing I will be looking for in 2018.
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Benchmade Bugout S30V/FRN is $114.75 and Benchmade Griptilian 154CM/FRN is $102.00. Correct?

Spyderco Native5 S35VN/FRN even after the increase is $94.22.

The prices for both Benchmade and Spyderco really shoot up when you go with different steels or G-10 vs. FRN or adding liners.
 
I think the most shocking price increase has been the shaman. 21.34% street price increase. That is almost 1/4 of the price. I love spydercos especially due to their cost/performance ratio. They need to be careful that they don't price them selves out of certain niches though.

When your prices get close to other knives especially in the $150-200 range there is a lot of competition and a lot of options. For instance someone might of paid $150 for a shaman , but now at $180 there are a lot of knives in that niche they can look at.
 
firefighterguy said:
Personally, I want to be able to go into my local Mom and pops store and buy a pm2 for the same price I can buy one on Amazon.

Without MAP I would have to spend much more to do so. Now it is not the case. I like that. I much prefer to support small businesses and have my taxes go to my local govt.

In addition, I don’t get upset or worked up over price increases. As an employee I hope to get a yearly raise to help off set col and inflation. I like to think that Sal and co. treat their employees well and pay them accordingly.

Materials aren’t getting cheaper. I don’t want them to move their manufacturing out of country just so I can get my pm2 $10 cheaper.

They still seem to be among the best values at their respective price points.

Just my opinion as a novice knife guy.
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I wish I had mom and pop knife shops that carried a vast inventory of Spyderco knives but I don't (and I live in a huge metroplex). If I want to buy a knife locally I have Cabelas that carries some knives but usually with poor inventory, slow shipping if I have to order, and high prices. I also have Walmart but their selection is piss poor. I'm not in favor of MAP pricing and I feel like Spyderco hurt their value equation to me, the consumer, but that is their business decision and maybe it was the right one to make, I don't know. I'm not swearing off Spyderco or threatening to stop buying their knives because of it but the reality is I will buy fewer knives from them now because, like most of us, I buy what I can afford.

I should have bought a Shaman before the price hike. Oh well.
 
RamZar said:
In some cases, you have an increase in MSRP in addition to the change in MAP.

MSRP on the Shaman went up from $249.95 to $279.95 which is a 10.7% increase. Of course, the MAP discount off MSRP went from 40% to 35% (that by itself is an 8.33% increase in street price). The combination of the MSRP increase and change in MAP, has effectively increased the street price from $149.97 to $181.97 which is a 21.34% increase or $32.00.
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This is why my personal opinion was that Spyderco should have done A or B this year not A & B it really hurts the drive to buy newer models while instead I will be looking for discontinued models to get deals like I did on my Lil Lionspy which before being discontinued was usually ~$220 it can now be found for ~$150. I also am not a big fan of MAP in knives as most the preferred vendors, at least amongst this forum, do not sell below MAP ever. This is either a choice they make or something they do not have the technical means in their system to do.
 
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