I think… it’s complicated.Wartstein wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 2:42 amSure I can´t actually proove that, but I figure that not many really assume Spyderco just uses "cheaper" materials and charges higher prices in order to make more money than other companies and "rip off" their customers - ?! I certainly am sure that this is NOT the case!
For their Chinese knives I think they’re trying to maintain higher margins than their competitors.
Then there’s the actual knives. They are pushing 8Cr based products when literally nobody wants 8Cr. For better or worse the knives are all very similar: G-10 slabs, unnested steel liners, liner lock. My guess is they don’t have the best OEM over there. They should be putting out comp lock flippers for $60 with decent steels.
[side note: if you’re trying to tell yourself Spyderco’s 8Cr is better than the other Chinese 8Cr, you are in denial]
And then there’s MAP. MAP is Spyderco’s way of telling us how much they care about retailers. I don’t care about retailers.
Outside of the Chinese production, I see decent value proposition in Taiwan (if I lost my Chaparral I would replace it for sure). Golden seems focused on knives that cost at least half of what a Glock costs. There is no knife design that is worth $250 to me.
In summary, I see a company that has always excelled at knife design struggling to keep up with modern manufacturing.
People need to do the math before they chock this up to inflation. Lots of knife makers cranking out great knives for half the price. It’s not inflation, it’s not greed, they just aren’t competitive.yablanowitz wrote: ↑Sun Feb 18, 2024 9:27 amPolitical discussion is frowned upon here, but I can't help thinking the federal government spending trillions of dollars that they don't have could have something to do with what we are seeing, and not just Spyderco's alleged greed.