Beautiful packaging

[Gears_QQQ]

Buying a knife is a holiday for me. It's an opportunity to treat myself. Perhaps that's why the box and unpacking are also part of this holiday for me.

[GarageBoy]

I mean, you should see how snap on tools come (you get a baggie and some kraft paper at best)

I like the giant mouse packaging. Simple kraft paper box with a cotton/linen pouch

[jwesley235]

I would rather have better blade steel than better packaging. Where was the microtech made?

North Carolina or Pennsylvania, most likely.

[sv4]

I think the packaging is a good balance as they do it now. I would not support fancier packaging.

If there were to be a change, I would go back to either old style gray and black or white boxes.

I agree with this. I find the older grey and white boxes to be sturdier, with thicker card stock. I do keep all my Spyderco boxes as it helps me with storage & organizing, especially when I rotate different ones over a period of time.

[mikey177]

I had a crazy and impractical packaging idea: Spyderco Salt knives get shipped in a mason jar filled with water

[Brock O Lee]

I could not care less about packaging. In my view it should only be functional enough to get the knife to me undamaged.

[Gears_QQQ]

I could not care less about packaging. In my view it should only be functional enough to get the knife to me undamaged.

I'm getting knives from far away, and the box, without any soft filling, doesn't guarantee the integrity of the knives.

[RustyIron]

I had a crazy and impractical packaging idea: Spyderco Salt knives get shipped in a mason jar filled with water

[standy99]

Funny as collecting watches the exact same subject comes up regularly.

I will answer the same here as I have on a watch forum.

“I would be happy if a $10k Omega Speedmaster watch came in a brown paper bag if it made the watch cheaper”

I'm very surprised by this. Don't you want a nice box? It won't increase the price of these watches that much

Have a heap of watch boxes sitting in a cupboard. Some watch boxes add a couple of hundred $$ to a watch and are not as small as a knife box.
If I had one nice watch yeah give me a nice box, but once you have 6-7 they are annoying.
Do have a few nice wooden ones that are very nice…. But been in a cupboard since I got the watch.
(Watch boxes are a special part of a watches resale value)

[TimButterfield]

I can see keeping a box such as CRK as that is also used to hold the tools that came with that knife. But, other than the perception of having it for possible resale later, once the knife is removed, of what use is the box? What does it contain of any value? As sturdy as Spyderco are, it would probably be just fine to wrap in a cloth and put in a plastic bag, though a light box stacks a little better on a dealer shelf than a bag. I've mentioned this next bit before. Even though my perception was incorrect, if a knife came in too fancy of packaging such as the padded zipper cases, it came across as too fancy to be a user, which is what I want in a knife. Of the nearly 40 Spyderco I've purchased, I currently have 0 boxes. So, I'm all for minimizing packaging costs and planning for recycling of those materials.

Resale value if I (or my kids someday) ever sell them, but also for storage. I'm not blowing knife money on a fancy compartment box or a spyderpack or whatever when this works so well.

That's quite the collection. My modest collection of Spyderco users still fits flat in a single drawer. I do like that I can eaily see what to grab next to carry.

I used to save boxes like that also, though just stacked in a closet. My perspective changed from living full-time in an RV for a while and then, especially, being overseas for 5+ years. With only personal luggage for moves, it is much more difficult to carry along the empty space of boxes. I do like the resale aspect of having the original boxes, though I probably wouldn't use them for storage until collection size demanded it. lol Now that I'm back in the US with a house for 'stuff' storage as Carlin would say, perhaps I'll be tempted down that path again.

[KeepCalm&Carrion]

To each their own, but I could not care less about packaging. I want as much of my money going into the knife as possible.

[mikey177]

I consider this box that my Boker Kihon Bifold came in as beautiful packaging.

Instead of plastic, the knife is wrapped in this water-repellant paper. Instead of foam padding, there is a cardboard interior that has the stiffness of an egg carton to absorb shock. And finally, a hard outer cardboard (?) box that is sturdy enough for stacking on dealer shelves.

With the exception of the included pivot adjustment screw that came in a tiny ziplock bag, every packaging component could go into my compost pile.

[Wowbagger]

I was chatting with friends about how knives are packaged. Unfortunately, spy's packaging is just a cardboard box. I'm probably a "magpie," but I want a beautiful box. I have a buck, and it has a whole case. Cold steel also has a friend in a case. Chinese manufacturers put it in a purse. I really wish spyderco would at least put foam in the box

I remembered this thread when first started and before I started an account and very much wanted to respond :
I just received another disappointingly broken DVD case in the mail today because of it not being shipped in a box but was in a bubble envelope . My point is I regularly have stuff show up in the mail that has been damaged in shipping
but
never a Spyderco knife = I see no need for the foam mentioned in the OP's post. And I have over a hundred Spydercos .

Being a knife nerd of the more vigorous type I have , quite literally , enough little zip bags and "collector" boxes to fill a wheel barrow . (I don't need more and very rarely put one of the knives in one of the bags . My knives are all users and are laid out in organized trays (like with like) so I can grab and go . I often carry several to work but in a knife wallet and the little zippered bags are just in a sad unused pile .

Bottom line I appreciate the Japanese tradition of fine and artful packaging but there is a point with us nerd / users when it is kind of a waste.

[Gears_QQQ]

I was chatting with friends about how knives are packaged. Unfortunately, spy's packaging is just a cardboard box. I'm probably a "magpie," but I want a beautiful box. I have a buck, and it has a whole case. Cold steel also has a friend in a case. Chinese manufacturers put it in a purse. I really wish spyderco would at least put foam in the box

I remembered this thread when first started and before I started an account and very much wanted to respond :
I just received another disappointingly broken DVD case in the mail today because of it not being shipped in a box but was in a bubble envelope . My point is I regularly have stuff show up in the mail that has been damaged in shipping
but
never a Spyderco knife = I see no need for the foam mentioned in the OP's post. And I have over a hundred Spydercos .

Being a knife nerd of the more vigorous type I have , quite literally , enough little zip bags and "collector" boxes to fill a wheel barrow . (I don't need more and very rarely put one of the knives in one of the bags . My knives are all users and are laid out in organized trays (like with like) so I can grab and go . I often carry several to work but in a knife wallet and the little zippered bags are just in a sad unused pile .

Bottom line I appreciate the Japanese tradition of fine and artful packaging but there is a point with us nerd / users when it is kind of a waste.

Thank you for sharing your opinion!
I only have about 10 knives, so I don't have any problems with storing the boxes.)
The knives I receive are often well-packed by the sellers (I buy them on the second-hand market). I don't think the frn would survive the journey across the ocean.

[sal]

We've driven trucks over our FRN knives. I don't the FRN would be a problem. We've shipped millions of knives all over the world with very few problems, and if there was a problem, we solved t.

sal

[James Y]

FRN is very tough, durable stuff. Many people underestimate it, thinking it's "just cheap plastic." It's not. I believe that FRN has greater toughness than G10.

Jim

[aicolainen]

Like many others I want my money to be spent on the product.
But even more important for me is that my knife interest has as little impact as possible on resource spending and environment.
Sure, the impact of the packaging is probably miniscule compared to the knife itself, but every little effort helps and the packaging is just a necessary "evil" to get the product from factory to customer in a practical way. In that regard the packaging should be as simple and minimal as possible to perform its primary functions, which are basically protection and providing a more practical form factor for storage and shipping.

If anything I'd appreciate if Spyderco went the other way and made their packaging even simpler. Raw, un-treated cardboard without dyes or additives to make it colorful and shiny. Glossy cardboard contains very little raw paper/cellulose which makes it unsuitable for recycling.

And no swag, please. I'm a big proponent of deliberate consumption. Don't send me stuff I never asked for, that 90% of the time ends up in a drawer or trashcan. If I need a zip pouch, a sticker, a watch box, phone charger or a bottle opener - I'll go out and buy one.
I'm fine with getting hard to acquire spare parts that needs to be a very specific type/size, like screws, o-rings etc. And consumables that everyone needs once in a while is also fine, like the suggested band aid (my domestic knife dealer does that).

[RustyIron]

Production costs, sales, marketing, profits... they're all related and not in ways that you might think. Including unnecessary trinkets such as fancy boxes, stickers, and key chains adds perceived value and might actually bring DOWN the cost of the product

I'm just making up these round numbers for the purpose of discussion. They're not real, but you get the idea. Suppose a knife wholesales for $100. The cost of manufacturing is $90, they take $10 profit. They typically sell 100,000 of these units annually. That's $1,000,000 profit.

Suppose they upgrade their packaging for an additional $2. They hold the price at $100. Retailers now put the fancy boxes on the top shelves where people can see them, and consumers have the impression that the product is superior because it comes in a nicer box. Sales increase 10% to 110,000. Increased volume brings down production costs 5% per unit.

Let's do the math. Production cost is now $85.50 plus the extra $2 for packaging, equalling $87.50. Wholesale is still $100, so profit per unit is $12.50 per unit. Sales are now 110,000 units annually. That's $1,375,000 profit!

Taking it further, the marketing wonks might decide to lower the wholesale costs, stimulating sales even further. By adding a fancy box that costs $2 more, we increased company profits AND lowered prices for the customer. Bonus checks are going to be lookin' mighty good this year!

In the interest of complete transparency, I don't know anything about marketing. This discussion reminded me of a high-school math problem back when my slide rule when it was shiny and straight.

[Gears_QQQ]

We've driven trucks over our FRN knives. I don't the FRN would be a problem. We've shipped millions of knives all over the world with very few problems, and if there was a problem, we solved t.

sal

I had an endura with dents on the frn. I wore it on my pocket, it was strange

[cycleguy]

The Carter Muteki I purchased before the sell off came rolled in plain brown paper. I thought that was cool!

CG