i have a problem believing that the shaman should cost what it does when compared to other similar knives in your own lineup
Do you have any background in manufacturing? I’m guessing you don’t. It’s hard to understand why things cost what they do until you actually try to make them.
Going back to my first response to this thread, I have no idea why the Military costs $50 more than the PM2, but I am sure when you add it all up it makes sense.
It’s also worth pointing out that usually adding $1 in material cost, for example, doesn’t add $1 to the customer price. I don’t know what Spyderco’s margin structure looks like but in the business I’m in we target a certain margin, and then the retailer has their own margin. If those margins are both 50% (just an example) then $1 of BOM cost adds another $1 of wholesale price, which add $2 of retail margin for a total of $4 in retail price. So relatively small differences can really add up.
I don't think that I'm asking for anyone to do anything that they would not ordinarily do. You don't think the Shaman is worth the cost, that's fine. You shouldn't buy one. I believe what I'm trying to say is that we do not gouge our customers on any of our product. If anything, we might make less than we could. Because you can't see the cost, doesn't mean the cost isn't there. I don't believe that I am asking for or expecting unrealistic loyalty. I'm simply defending what I perceive as an implication that I am being unfair or even greedy. If it is only my inference, then you have my apology.
sal
thanks for your comment, sal. i appreciate your willingness to engage and be present here. i think that means a lot to everyone here.
i really do love your knives. and, even if i didn’t, i value your influence and innovation in the knife world as a whole. my first knife as a kid was a spyderco ladybug because i thought it was the coolest knife i had ever seen. i’ve owned many brands since and only came back around to spyderco in the last few years since moving to hawaii and picking up a pacific salt. i love all of my spydercos and i rarely carry anything else anymore. actually i’m sitting on the beach as i type this with a pacific salt and a native salt in my waistband.
like i said, i do trust you guys to make good products. i just also trust that you have a business to run and that you’re going to do just that. while it’s true that i don’t know what your business practices are, i do know you continue to be in business and release new models, so you must not be losing money.
that said, i would never try to imply that you are greedy. you make a product, set a price, and people pay or don’t. it’s as simple as that. we don’t have to know what goes into your pricing model and we don’t have to trust that you are pricing fairly or not. you make products and we decide with our wallets if those products have the right value. “trust” in the way it’s described above doesn’t seem like it has anything to do with that equation. just keep making sweet knives and i’ll buy every one of them that makes sense to me and i can afford.
Thanx much Ladybug. Appreciate your understanding.
Gail and I spend a fair amount of time in Hawaii. Have since 1984. We're in Kauai 4 times a year. Our family meets for Thanksgiving dinner there. Salts are the only way to go there.
Thanx much Ladybug. Appreciate your understanding.
Gail and I spend a fair amount of time in Hawaii. Have since 1984. We're in Kauai 4 times a year. Our family meets for Thanksgiving dinner there. Salts are the only way to go there.
sal
Oh man. Hawaii is something else isn't it?
The wife and I were married while in Maui.
I absolutely LOVED it. I can see why you and Gail spend a lot of time there.
Gosh, I tell everyone I know that they have to go there if they can. That it's more beautiful in person than on t.v.
I sincerely hope that the wife and I can go back someday.
Yep...just a few miles outside of town. Been here a little over 15 years. It's a great area to carry a REX 45 Military, which I think shall get the nod today. (And a late 90's 440V version before that. I obviously need to beef up my Military group.)
Yep...just a few miles outside of town. Been here a little over 15 years. It's a great area to carry a REX 45 Military, which I think shall get the nod today. (And a late 90's 440V version before that. I obviously need to beef up my Military group.)
I hear ya. I pretty much always now carry my Mille 204p.
Well, that and my Dragonfly in HAP40.
