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Has Great Eastern Cutlery peaked in popularity?

honestly, I half expect this may come to pass, .... when people have to buy a dozen eggs for as many dollars, & $5 for a pound of flour or a quart of milk...

selling off luxury things will become a common occurrence,... supply will outstrip demand, and prices will drop... then eventually only pawn shops will be into it for pennies on the dollar


if I was gec, I'd just do a mass email to every shop/buyer etc and basically take orders... if they end up prepaying for 100k barlows - ramp up & meet the demand !!
it would be glorious imho - that's how you really actually end the scalping bs

imagine if Taylor Swift actually was pissed off with scalping bs & did that with concerts, --- she could keep selling tickets and adding nights until it didn't fill another night
that would be the best "fk u" to every scalper everywhere
 
dirc said:
if I was gec, I'd just do a mass email to every shop/buyer etc and basically take orders... if they end up prepaying for 100k barlows - ramp up & meet the demand !!
it would be glorious imho - that's how you really actually end the scalping bs
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I like that. Kinda like a Kickstarter.

They haven’t peaked in popularity in this house, I can tell you, but I’d buy more from them if I could score them at the original prices. Every so often I bump into some archived ad from a knife shop and get amazed all over at what they cost to begin with. Most of them quickly escalate out of what I’ll pay for a knife I want to use rather than just ogle.

Heck, pick a few of the bigger runners and keep repeating the process, producing them whenever you amass enough orders to make a decent profit.

Honestly, not sure why more craftspeople don’t do it that way … lots of advantages without many of the risks. But I suppose it’s a pretty different way to think about it If you come from a traditional manufacturing frame of reference where you’re just always churning stuff out and stocking shelves.

That said, I’m sure GEC is in a challenging place. That’s a lot of equipment to maintain, and you have to have people when you need them but not when you don’t. It would be interesting to know more about how they operate. (Maybe that info is out there?)
 
GEC is sort of a unique beast. It’s got so much going on and so many options to choose from that it seems hard to say whether it has ”peaked.” If anything, it would seem to have a lot more freedom than Case does to adapt to a changing market if that’s the, uh, case. If we’re talking the secondary market, I sure hope so, because there are a bunch of them I’d like to have.
 
dirc said:
if I was gec, I'd just do a mass email to every shop/buyer etc and basically take orders... if they end up prepaying for 100k barlows - ramp up & meet the demand !!
it would be glorious imho - that's how you really actually end the scalping bs
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If the # was truely 100k, it would end everything. Lol. It would take over 3 years to produce at current rates. That would certainly drive away customers or, wait for it, make scalping worse. Hard to say.
 
For the folks who're "Buy More Machines, Hire More Workers, Take the Production Overseas, Push Up the Numbers, Business. Business, Business Yay" you're skipping right over what makes the GEC brand so in demand.

If you want to walk into a local hardware store and buy a slipjoint get a Swiss Army Knife. They're great, they're releiable, and very few models get scalped so FOMO isn't a thing.
 
SomebodySomewhere said:
I like that. Kinda like a Kickstarter.

They haven’t peaked in popularity in this house, I can tell you, but I’d buy more from them if I could score them at the original prices. Every so often I bump into some archived ad from a knife shop and get amazed all over at what they cost to begin with. Most of them quickly escalate out of what I’ll pay for a knife I want to use rather than just ogle.

Heck, pick a few of the bigger runners and keep repeating the process, producing them whenever you amass enough orders to make a decent profit.

Honestly, not sure why more craftspeople don’t do it that way … lots of advantages without many of the risks. But I suppose it’s a pretty different way to think about it If you come from a traditional manufacturing frame of reference where you’re just always churning stuff out and stocking shelves.

That said, I’m sure GEC is in a challenging place. That’s a lot of equipment to maintain, and you have to have people when you need them but not when you don’t. It would be interesting to know more about how they operate. (Maybe that info is out there?)
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If you'd ever done this yourself, you'd know why they don't do it. There's actually plenty of risk involved for the seller/maker/manufacturer.

1. Every maker will tell you stories all day long about a guy who was SUPER DUPER EXCITED!!!!!!1!!?!! about their work, and oh em gee, they've wanted one of his knives for just ages, and just couldn't be happier to have finally landed on his books, who just couldn't wait to have a custom knife made, only to turn around and juat vanish when it was finally done and the maker was trying to get in touch with the guy to get paid, and send them their custom knife. Now they're left with a knife they have to try to sell to someone else who may not want those features.

2. Makers who take payment up front are generally frowned upon, but let's say they do. They could take payment up front for those orders, buy all those materials, start making knives, and still have a bunch of people possibly cancel on them citing any number of excuses for needing that money back. Oh man, my dog is sick, my car is broken*, my Mom needs surgery, etc." Now they have to hope they can find more buyers immediately so they aren't left with stock at the end of the manufacturing period.

Whereas instead, GEC knows concretely that they can make however much of something they want to make, and they will sell them all with zero issues. BOOM, whole batch sold, onto the next. There are countless companies out there who would commit outright murder to be able to have such a guaranteed success rate on moving their products.





* LOL as if GEC money is enough to fix anything on a modern car these days.
 
SomebodySomewhere said:
I have come to enjoy people thinking they know someone’s background.
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I'll take your insinuation that I must be incorrect as your agreement that I am correct, which I've always enjoyed. This is why a lot of makers don't do what you've described, particularly because there is risk* involved.


* Reminder, the opposite of what you claimed.
 
Quiet said:
I'll take your insinuation that I must be incorrect as your agreement that I am correct, which I've always enjoyed. This is why a lot of makers don't do what you've described, particularly because there is risk* involved.


* Reminder, the opposite of what you claimed.
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Let's not get all bogged down with facts in a Great Eastern Cutlery thread.
 
Quiet said:
I'll take your insinuation that I must be incorrect as your agreement that I am correct, which I've always enjoyed. This is why a lot of makers don't do what you've described, particularly because there is risk* involved.


* Reminder, the opposite of what you claimed.
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Actually, if you read my post, I didn’t claim there is no risk, I claimed the Kickstarter approach bypasses “many” of the risks.

Also, I think you straw manned my claim by turning it into a “take orders five years in advance” approach instead of what I actually claimed.

And you can take what I say any way you want. You clearly will. Not the first time here with you and probably won’t be the last.
 
SomebodySomewhere said:
Actually, if you read my post, I didn’t claim there is no risk, I claimed the Kickstarter approach bypasses “many” of the risks.

Also, I think you straw manned my claim by turning it into a “take orders five years in advance” approach instead of what I actually claimed.

And you can take what I say any way you want. You clearly will. Not the first time here with you and probably won’t be the last.
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Kickstarter has its own risks as well, which again is the opposite of (and I quote):

SomebodySomewhere said:
Honestly, not sure why more craftspeople don’t do it that way … lots of advantages without many of the risks.
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In any case, what I stated remains correct, and it's puzzling as to why you think GEC should or would operate this way. Ironic given your "YOU DON'T KNOW ME!" insinuation a couple of comments ago. 🤷

FYI, the way of least risk is the way in which GEC is currently operating, wherein they understand that whatever they make, they will sell them all, the entire batch, and won't have to worry about stock remaining on shelves. Once again, countless other businesses would commit outright murder in ord...is there an echo in here?
 
Quiet said:
Kickstarter has its own risks as well, which again is the opposite of (and I quote):



In any case, what I stated remains correct, and it's puzzling as to why you think GEC should or would operate this way. Ironic given your "YOU DON'T KNOW ME!" insinuation a couple of comments ago. 🤷

FYI, the way of least risk is the way in which GEC is currently operating, wherein they understand that whatever they make, they will sell them all, the entire batch, and won't have to worry about stock remaining on shelves. Once again, countless other businesses would commit outright murder in ord...is there an echo in here?
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Ah, we start moving the goalposts. Always the sign of a winning argument.
 
SomebodySomewhere said:
Ah, we start moving the goalposts. Always the sign of a winning argument.
Click to expand...

There are no goalposts being moved, because there isn't a relevant debate happening here. I am having a short back and forth with someone who has essentially admitted that he has no idea how or why GEC does what they do, yet somehow believes that a different business strategy would work better and provide "less risk". Whelp, good luck with all that. LOL
 
Quiet said:
Kickstarter has its own risks as well, which again is the opposite of (and I quote):



In any case, what I stated remains correct, and it's puzzling as to why you think GEC should or would operate this way. Ironic given your "YOU DON'T KNOW ME!" insinuation a couple of comments ago. 🤷

FYI, the way of least risk is the way in which GEC is currently operating, wherein they understand that whatever they make, they will sell them all, the entire batch, and won't have to worry about stock remaining on shelves. Once again, countless other businesses would commit outright murder in ord...is there an echo in here?
Click to expand...

So it’s less risky to make a bunch of stuff that will almost certainly sell, spend a bunch of money and time to make the stuff, and then hope it does sell than it is to take orders, have the money in hand, and then make the stuff?

If you’d murder for that first model, then your business definitely runs differently than mine.

Yes, Kickstarter has risks. Bypassing “many” of the risks is not at all the same as having “no” risks. It’s not at all the “opposite.” The question is whether it has less risk. And the answer is yes, it does.
 
Anyway, back on topic. GEC just blew out the first run of a knife that has an inch and a half long blade, all that's left after they turned the lower half into yet another bottle opener. I'd daresay that they have not peaked in popularity.
 
Quiet said:
There are no goalposts being moved, because there isn't a relevant debate happening here. I am having a short back and forth with someone who has essentially admitted that he has no idea how or why GEC does what they do, yet somehow believes that a different business strategy would work better and provide "less risk". Whelp, good luck with all that. LOL
Click to expand...
Well, you started by saying I had said one thing, then admitted I said something else but claimed (wrongly) that it meant the same thing anyway. That’s moving the goalposts.
 
SomebodySomewhere said:
So it’s less risky to make a bunch of stuff that will almost certainly sell, spend a bunch of money and time to make the stuff, and then hope it does sell than it is to take orders, have the money in hand, and then make the stuff?

If you’d murder for that first model, then your business definitely runs differently than mine.

Yes, Kickstarter has risks. Bypassing “many” of the risks is not at all the same as having “no” risks. It’s not at all the “opposite.” The question is whether it has less risk. And the answer is yes, it does.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I'm glad we agree.
 
2xl6s1.jpg
 
SomebodySomewhere said:
Well, you started by saying I had said one thing, then admitted I said something else but claimed (wrongly) that it meant the same thing anyway. That’s moving the goalposts.
Click to expand...

I appreciate your admission that Kickstarter has risks, and is certainly no less risky than other methodologies despite your earlier assertion. Seriously, real talk, post less, go do some research on GEC and how they operate, and when you come back, I'll make room for you on my side of this. If you realized how hilarious it was to insinuate that maybe GEC should start a Kickstarter.....
 
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