The 800 pound gorilla in the room...

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tradewater said:
I come here primarily for the pear preserves. When I hear about a new batch, I'll start freaking out.
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I hear alot about these mysterious "pear preserves" but have never seen them first hand. This something that is going to make an appearance at the Gathering in May?
 
DerekH said:
I hear alot about these mysterious "pear preserves" but have never seen them first hand. This something that is going to make an appearance at the Gathering in May?
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Not a chance in hell. I'm not sharing. I love you guys, but I'm drawing the line here.
 
He hurled a snake around the Gathering, just not the slithering on the ground sort. Why do you think Moose made such a thud last time? It wasn't gravity, so much as Trade and a variety of snake known to dwell in trousers.
 
Like Doc-Canada said, it's tough for us old guys to follow a thread this long through 5 pages!

That said, I've had several decades in non-knife related business, and there has been a lot of good stuff said here. You have to put Beckerhead-ness into perspective: us Becker enthusiasts are but a mere raindrop in the sea of potential world sales. The whining dog under the table that gets a few scraps of food from the master. We got no power, guys -- get over it. The numbers just aren't there.
Bladite mentioned that KaBar is flat out in production. The tweeners are coming out and the head of marketing sits down at the weekly/monthly/quarterly meeting with all the other managers including the Head Cheese and the word comes down: "Do what you have to do, but whatever it is don't have a fiasco like that BK-10 thing you got us into!"
So marketing comes up with limited edition models to introduce their new line -- but with this nagging BK10 thing still in the back of their minds -- and SMKW makes an offer: "We'll take them all and take all the risks and you're off the hook." What marketing manager wouldn't leap at that chance?
While Tomar may be a nice guy -- I never met him, but I have bought knives from him -- he's a fairly little outfit, too. So here's my math: 200+ LE knives of each style = 600 knives minimum. Wholesale price figure something like $30 per knife. That's $18,000 (roughly) SMKW had to pony up. That would be a tremendous nut for someone the size of Tomar.
So now the cat's out of the bag, SMKW is selling and shipping knives, and the Beckerheads step up and.... there's still close to 200 '15's available? Uh...they aren't exactly flying of the shelf at SMKW. Business-wise, KaBar did the right thing. They can now concentrate their efforts on getting the lion's share of production out to their distributors and not be distracted by this fluff.
Nice fluff, though it may be. I know -- I ordered six of them -- the first three are due here tomorrow! :-)

Oh, and Doc-, I'd send you my box of cordura sheaths, but the postage to Canada is just too costly!
 
DerekH said:
I hear alot about these mysterious "pear preserves" but have never seen them first hand. This something that is going to make an appearance at the Gathering in May?
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Unlikely since tradewater has THE LAST jar and since the pear trees are just starting to bloom.

P1040424.jpg
 
K9-Handler said:
While Tomar may be a nice guy -- I never met him, but I have bought knives from him -- he's a fairly little outfit, too. So here's my math: 200+ LE knives of each style = 600 knives minimum. Wholesale price figure something like $30 per knife. That's $18,000 (roughly) SMKW had to pony up. That would be a tremendous nut for someone the size of Tomar.
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mmm, did i miss something with Tomar? was their a problem? or a slight? KaBar has dozens and dozens and dozens of vendor possibilities. SMKW just happened to be there at the right time. could have bee Amazon, or 1SKS, or ...

SMWK bought a pile of steel that was going to be majorly different from the true production runs. a risk for them possibly. what if nobody wanted to pay a premium? mmm. good on them for taking the risk.
 
bdmicarta said:
Lots of us want the products, especially those who were left out by this special edition. How long do we have to wait until more are available?
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Who's been left out??? There's 120+ of each knife still left......

Now that might not be enough for Bladite, but for the rest of us that should be plenty.
 
f
Cobra281 said:
Ka-Bar was under no obligation to give anyone on the forum special treatment for being a BeckerHead. We as forum members and you as BeckerHeads are not entitled to anything simply because we give a good review where it's due,


Easy there Rusty ... :D

Nor is anyone "obligated" to purchase their product ... Yet we do.


A quote from the Beckerhead sign up thread:

Here's what you can look forward to getting as a Beckerhead:

-You can use your Beckerhead number in your Location or Signature
-12 contests a year for gear and toys
-4 major contests a year for knives. These will be known as Ethan's Challenges and will be 1 for every season
-Take a tour of the Kabar Manufacturing (pending)
-Information on knife shows, and gatherings exclusive to the Beckerheads
-Beckerhead Gear, starting with Patches with your specific Beckerhead Number on it
-Privileges to participate in pass arounds, new product info, and new design beta testing
-More stuff as we go along, somethings aren't final or even thought of yet

BH is an earned priviledge. There ARE cool/exclusive things that go with it.

And we have all enjoyed it. And look forward to all the cool stuff to come.
I have said in the past, this place could be a B. School case study in marketing it's so good.
Which again (and again, and again) is why this launch was surprising.

And honestly, if you don't wanna pay $15 above the production model price for a very limited, very nice looking very EARLY release of something that has people waiting with their tongues hanging out and drool dripping from their chin, then don't. If you don't like the dealer, then don't. If you don't like the laser etching, then don't. If you don't like the saber grind, then don't. Just wait.

I didn't

I will :)
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well, you know, mostly, this is Ethan's forum, not KaBar's. as run by your MODular ones. we setup the rules.

we MODs don't have a contract with KaBar. they have NO OBLIGATION to help out.

now, KaBar does provide provide information and goodies and often; they are not involved in heping make this place what it is though. that's YOU!

those major contests? Ethan's thing. passrounds? your MODs and YOU set those up. not KaBar. who posts that's tasty information for the most part? your MODs. Ethan. wonderfully, OfficialKaBar when he's not overworked, but usually us. we ferret it out. we ask. we dig. we try and sometimes fail. thems the breaks. ALSO: let's not forget the TOoOjular one. he pops in here a lot more than we give him credit for, and provides absolutely solid information, and background, and technical stuff. because he wants to. the last word in steel and other processes. appreciate it! i do!

we want you guys to have exclusives and privileges that are earned, and rewarded; i think we've succeeded on many points and many times. we work hard for it. as well, to echo Mooose, we didn't help Ethan start this place for anyone's benefit but his, and yours. lastly, myself - i've been an avid fanboy for decades. yeah, i want to see this place thrive. mostly for Ethan's benefit though. trickle down says you guys get benefits too..

KaBar is a fine business, but they are not obligated here in any way. they make wonderful knives. which we lust for. we buy them. we wax poetic over them. when they DO help out, with generous donations of prizes and such, we should be quite thankful, which i don't think we express often enough (esp with good reviews :D).

there's a KaBar forum over the other side. Official. not much in the way of contests, of prizes, or stuff; not like here. imho, the difference is Ethan. his place, his ways. super busy guy, so when he pops in, when he can, it's special. imho, hes not really obligated either. we love it when he does, but we should treat it as special, not a right we expect. not an obligation.

everything else is gravy :)
 
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Mmmmmm....... gravy.......

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Oh yeah, and whatever else Bladite said :thumbup:
 
Who the hell is gonna hold down the gorilla while Bladite pours the gravy on him?!
 
bdmicarta said:
From the time I've been reading this forum I've seen that Becker customers are among the most loyal that there are anywhere. If the company starts messing with that and is not loyal to the customers then they might lose the loyalty of the customers.
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This has got to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever read on this or any other forum. For one thing, the way that the company "stays loyal" to their customers is by continuing to put out a superior product and selling it for a price that most agree is an exceptional value. I'm not a customer of BK&T and/or Ka-Bar products because of specials they offer me as a Beckerhead, I'm a customer because I have always felt I got my money's worth (and then some in most cases) whenever I bought their products. I went to the trouble of applying for and qualifying for this exclusive club because I get benefit from the camaraderie, the knowledge-base, and access to Tooj and Ethan, who can answer every technical question any of us might have, and nearly always do.

I am not "loyal" to BK&T products, I am sold on them through a ton of hard use going back somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 years. I'm also sold on other brand names from which no company representative has ever given me or any other customer that I know of the time of day. Loyalty is a trait better left to God, family, country, maybe I'd go as far as to an employer, but I'd never claim "loyalty" to a corporation whose business I patronize because they offer goods and services which I am willing to pay for.

As others have said much more eloquently than I ever could, Ka-Bar owes us nothing at all. They don't owe us the use of one of their trademarks for the purposes of the title of this forum. They don't owe us special pricing or a heads up before they make a business decision. They don't owe us nothin'. If they quit making tools that served my wants, needs and desires, I'd quit patronizing their business in a heartbeat. If they make decisions that I would make differently, I'll keep that in mind when I open up my knife manufacturing business, but until then, I'll shrug my shoulders and buy what I want/need and be happy as a pig in slop for the added bennies and value I get out of their blessings being given and participation in this forum.

Sorry for the rant. I can't afford the sabre grind, Ethan-signed version of the BK16 even though I would love to have one, but I think I can swing the regular production model next month, and I won't think twice about using the Hell out of it, where I might be more concerned with a limited edition, signed version. Whatever, congrats to all who got 'em. Seriously, don't we have more important things in this world to get our panties in a twist about than Ka-Bar and/or SMKW doing what they can to make a buck?

Blues
 
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