Spyderco Price Increase Impact Survey

[Murphjd25]

I’ll still buy Spydercos but I don’t see any new releases that appeal to me yet. Prices won’t matter just save a little more. I guess I’ve kind of graduated to other brands.

 

[DShiflet]

It just depends on how much the increase is, how much I like the design, and what I am getting for the price. $150 is about my limit for any one knife, so anything that goes past that has a greatly reduced chance of being bought. Likewise, I wouldn't pay $60 for something in 8Cr13MoV. But if I decide to buy another Endura(it's possible, I have a blue one, a green ordered, and I'd like to get a purple) for example, a jump from $75 to $80 isn't likely to deter me.

 

[toxophilus]

I will buy fewer spydercos but not because of price increase. It is because I have accumulated more knives (spydercos included) than I could ever use.

Winner, Winner chicken dinner; In the same boat, I'll be more selective in the upcoming year...

 

[vilePossum]

No problem, I have turned my back on Spyderco over the past year, and though it is sad to look back there are plenty of other fish in the sea.
Considering that most Spyderco are already horribly priced over here and the price increase will most likely carry over 1:1 dollar to Euro, European alternatives become more and more attractive.

 

[Stays Sharp]

Imagine all the people....

Livin with no MAP, yeeheehooo....

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one...

I hope some day you'll join us... And the world can tolerate normal price increases as one.

 

[Mo2]

Question... If more people buy a single new knife at high map pricing... Then does it matter that less of those people buy more than one at lower costs?

Ie if more people are buying knives overall the knife makers and vendors make more money. Rather than selling more knives at less markup.

 

[DShiflet]

Question... If more people buy a single new knife at high map pricing... Then does it matter that less of those people buy more than one at lower costs?.

It might. If one guy buys a single new knife at $200, and another guy decides not to buy 2 knives because they each went from $120 to $140, then yeah, the company is making less money and eventually that does matter. Just depends on how many people are buying at high MAP vs how many are NOT buying at lower costs. I assume right now the company is making money. But if prices keep going up, eventually more people are going to stop buying, and at some point, the balance will shift.

 

[anonymous71]

We all know that price increases are generally inevitable over time. Such increases can cause us to re-evaluate our priorities and perhaps result in change of how we spend our hard-earned dollars. Other brands, other products--there are a lot of choices out there these days.

My intent with this survey is to simply get a general head count of how Spyderco consumers think they will behave in the year to come given price increases, no matter the cause of said increases. Hopefully people have a good idea of how much prices will increase in the new year at this point, so now seems timely to put this out there. And let's not over-think this; I am not a marketing pro and I have no idea how many people would need to participate in order for it to be considered statistically significant. Still, I think it can be useful in providing a snapshot of current sentiment, if even just for entertainment purposes. Please just go with your "gut sense" and let's see where this ends up. And if it makes a difference, votes are NOT publicly displayed so you are anonymous unless you choose to post how you voted in this thread. You get one choice, but can change your answer once submitted.

I dumped Spyderco in 2016 when the MAP was lowered to 35% from 40%. The 40% price floor was understandable because Amazon was a bottlenecking threat, but the subsequent Amazon boogeyman scapegoat excuse for the 35% was a lie because Amazon complied with the 40% MAP. Also, notice that Spyderco did not reduce the MAP this time but tried to disguise/conceal the price hike to the general public by simply increasing the retail pricing.

but yeah, in late 2016 I sold off my entire Spyderco collection at discount on Ebay to deny Spyderco profits and then became a happy Cold Steel customer. Cold Steel is where the value is now.

People who say "uhh, price hikes are inevitable" are apologists. Spyderco never initiated these dramatic price increases while the internet was still dormant and thus their popularity was suppressed. The internet greatly increased their publicity since about 2013 and they accordingly jumped the gun by greedily jacking the prices. You can counter this threat by boycotting the company until they bring their prices back to reasonable standards.

 

[JJ_Colt45]

I understand price increases can and will affect many ... but usually the market goes on ... those that really want or need will pay the extra and not blink an eye ...

others will skip some buys but eventually they find increases are market wide ... just not always annouced or noticed right away ...

but if you love our country and freedoms ... then you can't knock capitalizism too much (even if sometimes it's frustrating as h***l ... and you can't really be to upset over it ...

but yes we can still complain ... because we still have that right thanks to alot of brave men and women that ensure it daily.

 

[trevitrace]

Ah, nope showed up.

 

[inkynate]

Our cafeteria at work just raised prices by 3% across the board after the New Year. They must be in league with Spyderco! Let's all boycott food! Who"s with me?

 

[marchone]

Our cafeteria at work just raised prices by 3% across the board after the New Year.

That covers the Consumer Price Index.

 

[Babyboomer]

Well, I'm new to Spyderco, but I'm looking hard at the Smock, a Manix 2 and maybe a Caribbean (though I'd like Caribbean closer to 3"). Benchmade has increased $5/knife -- a similar increase from Spyderco wouldn't put me off.

 

[tsiloics]

I'm not sure how many Spydercos I'll buy this year, but it will not be based on price. The main factor will probably be availability of new PM2 variants, or possibly availability of small/midsize fixed blades in some of the more interesting steels.

 

[willywall]

I'm in the same boat as a lot of the others. I got so many awesome Spydercos that I can't justify buying much more. Plus the orange S90 Native I bought a few months ago has really changed things because of how much I like it. I honestly understand both sides but don't think a small increase would change much for me. I did want to say one thing about the pricing though. Most of the Sprint Runs are not much more than the standard models. If Spyderco really wanted to they could jack the prices up and really gouge on the hot models. We all see what they sell for on the secondary market and people buy them fast. So I think it says something that Spyderco keeps the prices reasonable even after seeing the profits they could make with no extra effort. I'm still a big fan of Spyderco. I hope you all have a great year and are able to add some great new models to your collections.

 

[DJC72]

I will purchase about the same in 2019. My first Spyderco of the year will be the Dlt Manix 2 exclusive. I am an addict. Ha ha! Spyderco makes a great product. Just speculating here but I’m guessing Spyderco doesn’t want yearly price hikes either.

The price increase will probably not sway the amount I spend on knives but it may dictate how I spend my cash. Instead of purchasing one Spyderco and a Zt in a given month, I may choose to spend that $400-500 on one CRK, Hinderer, Olamic, Koenig.... As the prices of the big three rise (Spyderco, Benchmade and Kershaw/Zt) I see them infringing on “mid tech” territory for me.

 

[Dfunk1210]

The price increase will probably not sway the amount I spend on knives but it may dictate how I spend my cash. Instead of purchasing one Spyderco and a Zt in a given month, I may choose to spend that $400-500 on one CRK, Hinderer, Olamic, Koenig.... As the prices of the big three rise (Spyderco, Benchmade and Kershaw/Zt) I see them infringing on “mid tech” territory for me.

Add to that the fact that companies are moving awayfrom showing everything at shotshow in favor of releasing information as the year goes on. I am more likely to wait til later in the year to get a better picture of what is coming out this year, and in that case, I am more likely to amass more funds for a bigger purchase such as a mid tech

 

[BD_01]

The price increase will probably not sway the amount I spend on knives but it may dictate how I spend my cash. Instead of purchasing one Spyderco and a Zt in a given month, I may choose to spend that $400-500 on one CRK, Hinderer, Olamic, Koenig.... As the prices of the big three rise (Spyderco, Benchmade and Kershaw/Zt) I see them infringing on “mid tech” territory for me.

This was exactly my strategy for 2018. I decided I would save up for a specific CRK. Every time I was about half way there, I broke down. That’s how I wound up with more Spydies than anticipated last year.

 

[sgt1372]

LOL!

I just realized that, as a retired LEO, I am eligible for Spyderco's "OpFocus Professional Purchase Program" enabling me to buy knives at a 50% discount off of MSRP directly from Spyderco.

See: https://www.spyderco.com/resources/op-focus/

The sign up only mentions retired military but, when I sent in a photo of my LEO ID and star (both marked "retired") to SheerD, my app was approved. Bought 2 knives to make certain that the program was legit. It is. So, anyone else who is a retired LEO, fire fighter, paramedic or EMT should be able to sign up for this program too.

Check it out!

 

[brj]

Zero impact for me, I'll keep on buying: a/ iterations of the Millie, b/ Salt knives or c/ any other Spyderco that I like, as long as I can afford it