What happened to GEC?

birdsbeaks said:
That said, when in business as a manufacturer it's ridiculous to believe that no policing of your retailers is needed. Every business I've worked with or consulted for has enforced price controls on their retailers. Don't want to play by the rules? Find another manufacturer's products to sell. Posts like this are evidence of how not enforcing some rudimentary standards on your retailers ultimately damages the reputation of the manufacturer.
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When GEC sells wholesale, they put maximum and minimum retail prices on the knives!!
The flipping is almost exclusively done in the aftermarket!!!

The only real control, is by the consumer.
birdsbeaks said:
Walking this talk, I have missed out on knives I've wanted because I care more for the health and sustainability of the community than I do satisfying my own fleeting desires.
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A valiant effort to control personal greed, and benefit the community!! Good on you!!!
No-one needs any particular knife badly enough to pay too much!!!
 
MolokaiRider said:
While I really like GEC knives, I don't bother trying to buy them anymore. I don't have any interest dealing with flippers, or marked up secondary prices.

I now just wait for the hope that BladeForums puts one together.
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I have not worn out my 2022 Bunny Knife, which has turned out to be a very nice little user knife. Thanks to the folks at GEC (and others) who made that possible. Bill could have said "sorry, with the demand from my dealers, I can't really fit a special order into my production schedule." But that did not happen, and we got a really nice knife. No hassle ordering it, I think the link was live for a good 2 weeks. Spark did us a solid by being willing to take it on again last year.
 
people with more money than sense,

I would say more money AND sense than morals.
The 22 Bunny knife currently on ebay for like a thousand bux says it all.
My famous military ancestor
Colonel O. Truth once said :
"theres one born every minute...too bad its not a GEC knife ! " . .....moments before he was trampled to death by a herd of ravenous Elephant Seals whilst queuing up for a beard and sausage tool .
 
Don't worry about it, there will always be another knife.
Gec produce a good knife & do what they can & others will view them as financial investment. With $$$ in their eyes. You can only pay what you want.
Most of BF members have been pretty lucky.
Here in Aus we are pretty used to it, been that way for a long time with dollar conversion & mark up. Even brands like buck. A buck 110 on buck site $65US the cheapest I could find for sale here(just did a search) approx $97US+ postage $145aud. Average price approx $113US around $170 Aud. If you want an s30v version😱
Lucky I don't want 1, just an example as it is popular brand on the web here.
So relax & enjoy the hunt😃
Oh yeah go the Bunny knife!
 
waynorth said:
When GEC sells wholesale, they put maximum and minimum retail prices on the knives!!
The flipping is almost exclusively done in the aftermarket!!!

The only real control, is by the consumer.

A valiant effort to control personal greed, and benefit the community!! Good on you!!!
No-one needs any particular knife badly enough to pay too much!!!
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Thanks for the education, waynorth waynorth .

When I first discovered GEC, I was perplexed by ebay sellers being listed as "official" distributors/dealers on their site. For companies with which I've been involved, a dealer or distributor account application would not be approved without a full-fledged website listed, as with age-controlled products, there's too much liability for the companies, and too little accountability for the sellers on that platform if they decide to not play by the rules.

I've mentioned before that in order to combat FOMO, I've developed a strategy I refer to as IDNI - "I Don't Need It" (patent pending 🤣).
 
ferider said:
Why not raise prices and salaries ? Obviously, the flipper dominated market can take it, and the money much better be channeled to the makers, no ?
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I've just retired from a lifetime in engineering, quality and manufacturing. There has been a sea change in the work ethic in America, which has meant that it doesn't seem to matter what you pay, an awful lot of people just don't want to work. Just getting people to show up for a five day week is a challenge. It is a nation-wide phenomena - Mike Rowe has estimated that there are currently 7,000,000 American men who aren't even looking for jobs.
Rant over.
 
waynorth said:
A valiant effort to control personal greed, and benefit the community!! Good on you!!!
No-one needs any particular knife badly enough to pay too much!!!
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Sadly it happens way too often. If you have enough discretionary income you don’t have to build a collection you can just buy one. And I guess that’s the price the community has to pay. 🙁
 
M MessieurRick , I do agree with you. But maybe not the problem here .... when people walk away (probably to another maker in Titusville?), money might be the issue, and it's very expensive for the maker after training. Life is much more expensive than a couple of years ago. How much more does driving to the office cost, compared to two years ago ?

Say, GEC would increase their prices by 20% and translate that to salary increases. I'd say most customers would accept this, the run on the knives might even increase. When knives are sold out in seconds, and flipped for twice or more (I'm not defending flippers, hate them), the price is just too low. Increasing the price for better employee benefits doesn't mean the maker is greedy.

Anyways, I said my part, none of my business, really. Carry on.
 
waynorth said:
Funny joke, but a kernel of truth in that;
In the small town of Titusville, finding workers has always been a problem. And most have to be trained - there is no formal apprenticeship in the cutlery industry - a niche market at best!! We all love knives but face it, we are a small percentage of the general population!!

I know Bill has an ongoing problem keeping workers! It seems people don't want to 'stick to it', or find the skillsets too onerous to acquire!! I certainly don't know the answers, but admire Bill for his tenaciousness, and dedication to sometimes thankless training, which is needed on a continuous basis!! Certainly, someone off the street is not able to make these beautiful objects we love without consistent, skillful instruction!!

Part of the reason I participate, is in admiration of what GEC has done!!
Complain if you must, but keep a view of the big picture!!
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Titusville has a population of, 5024 compared to 7715 in Bradford, Pa. That's a small difference in numbers, and when you look at the number of knives that Case put out. With 71.6 miles between them, It's not like Case is pulling workers from the Titusville area. Low production runs for EDC means more set-ups and downtime too. All of this adds to the escalation of retail and resale of their knives. The question is, is it worth it?
 
The Un Marked Up Prices are starting to get to the point where some of us people on fixed incomes are feeling that they may not be worth it . The #87 Camel Bone Long Washington Jack is the Highest Priced knife that I have ever bought . Especially when a fair number of their latest ones are what I did not even like . GEC has to do what they have to do to keep in business and I will continue to buy only what I like and feel like paying for . My meager collection is big enough ????? I can quit anytime mrknife mrknife ????

Harry
 
ferider said:
M MessieurRick , I do agree with you. But maybe not the problem here .... when people walk away (probably to another maker in Titusville?), money might be the issue, and it's very expensive for the maker after training. Life is much more expensive than a couple of years ago. How much more does driving to the office cost, compared to two years ago ?

Say, GEC would increase their prices by 20% and translate that to salary increases. I'd say most customers would accept this, the run on the knives might even increase. When knives are sold out in seconds, and flipped for twice or more (I'm not defending flippers, hate them), the price is just too low. Increasing the price for better employee benefits doesn't mean the maker is greedy.

Anyways, I said my part, none of my business, really. Carry on.
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The economics of what you say makes sense, especially as my statement was a generalization. Certainly, a sizeable increase in GEC prices would probably not hurt their sales. GEC has a cachet that allows aftermarket resellers to charge higher prices. But I will stand by the other part of my argument. I have dealt with suppliers from all over the upper Midwest and all report unprecedented difficulty in hiring and retaining help. This results in huge training and retraining and quality costs. These would be especially exacerbated at a firm like GEC that relies on a great deal of hand fitting to attain its desired quality. Of course, at some point, these costs might justify investments in the kind of new tooling that would improve quality and increase production volumes.
Damn, I can be long-winded.
 
There have been greedy, unethical knife sellers since Fido was a pup...... What used to be a $10.00 profit is now in the $100's..... Well heeled buyers barely blink as they shell out $400.00 for a $125.00 knife.....
These "Friends" of the knife community scarf up every available GEC they can find and market them for max return.... The poor slob wanting to buy an affordable GEC for his brother's birthday is SOL..... And these "Knife Nazi's" are smiling all the way to the bank....
 
People have been saying that if dealers increased their prices there would be more GEC availability.
Well, they have, and GECs are still hard to get. We are just paying more at the dealers.
If they increase their prices even more then we would just be paying even more.

The issue is not just people buying purely to resell at a profit. There are also people that need to get all the variants of a model, sometimes in doubles, even if they "release" some after the feeding frenzy, as well as the many more people currently interested in GECs.

Just because you can get a knife, that you do not want, it does not mean that you ought to get it.
I often sit out of buying GEC models, because I am not interested in that specific model or variant, the current jacks being an example of that.

If GEC makes 100 of a variant and 101 people want it then it will run out fast.
 
or, GEC could just reach out to a big company, like Buck or Case ,and ask them to make some their knives, rembranding them as GEC afterwards....

Joking
 
MessieurRick said:
I've just retired from a lifetime in engineering, quality and manufacturing. There has been a sea change in the work ethic in America, which has meant that it doesn't seem to matter what you pay, an awful lot of people just don't want to work. Just getting people to show up for a five day week is a challenge. It is a nation-wide phenomena - Mike Rowe has estimated that there are currently 7,000,000 American men who aren't even looking for jobs.
Rant over.
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Respectfully disagree. It completely matters what you pay. When I find good and reliable talent, I pay them absolutely stupid money. It works. I keep the solid employees and the competition deals with high turnover and ends up training people for a single position perpetually -- well, perpetually until they go belly up, and then they say "nobody wants to work anymore."

Here's my formula for getting people to show up for work: Take the average rent in the area you plan to operate a business in, multiply it by 3, and that's what you should be paying good help per month. If you can't afford to pay them that, you can't afford to be in that business in that locality. easy-peasy. In an economy with unchecked inflation and wages staying flat for nigh on 40 years, if a business doesn't want to compensate employees adequately of their own volition then they get what they get - usually in the form of substandard help.
 
I get it and it is definitely hard to get a GEC from a dealer drop unless you are in tight with a dealer. However, they are generally available, without flipper markup, if you have a little patience and know where to look 👍
 
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