2020 prices

For the above poster saying everyone can afford buying one knife: do you honestly believe Spyderco thinks/hopes/expects every knife nut to buy only one knife (theirs or some other bands)?
You do realize that us "knife knuts" are only a very small percentage of Spyderco's customer base right? Yes, most of the sprints and exclusives go to people like us but I'm sure a large percentage of standard offerings go to non-knife knuts looking to carry the same good folder every day.
 
Lots to comment on:

I have to say as a broke college student who is relegated to the low-mid range end of things its becoming harder and harder to be a Spyderco fanatic.

I bought a total of two knives while I was a college student. One was to replace a lost knife (multi-tool, actually) that my father had gifted me and I couldn’t stand to live without. The other was a G2 Clipit Delica, the very first Spyderco I’d ever seen.

College for me was studying my butt off and trying to scratch through to my next meal, not knife collecting. ;)

I don’t mind paying more for sprint runs...

Actually, the whole sprint run society has me very disenfranchised. I understand the economics of it (I think) but the whole idea of manufactured scarcity and the ravenous flipping it engenders doesn’t sit well with me as a consumer.

The prices of knives are becoming ridiculous.

Well, at the very least price increases are proportionally outpacing any increases in my income. I recognized this a few years ago and mentioned it in similar threads. Inflation. Sucks.

Chinese influx into the market was brought up. Last year I decided I would rather have fewer knives than support Chinese manufacturers—regardless of the designer’s nationality. It’s a personal thing, voting with my wallet I guess. I’m at a point in my life where supporting the home team (as much as possible) has become very important.

I hope Spyderco and others are around for a long time to come.

Rant over. Sorry for going off topic.
 
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You do realize that us "knife knuts" are only a very small percentage of Spyderco's customer base right? Yes, most of the sprints and exclusives go to people like us but I'm sure a large percentage of standard offerings go to non-knife knuts looking to carry the same good folder every day.

No I do not realize that. I do not know if what you said is facts. I have not seen a single people that has ONLY one folding knife and that knife costs $100 or more.
 
I rather the manufacturer raise the price to cut the profits out of flipping knives. I keep trying these spyderco sprint pre buys... I have no problem buying Benchmade Limited Production, just seem to strike out on spyderco a lot.
 
Lots to comment on:
College for me was studying my butt off and trying to scratch through to my next meal, not knife collecting. ;)
That is why I also included the part where I said my perspective is most likely shared by people who aren't as into the hobby or aren't willing to pay huge prices. Knives like the Delica have become entirely outclassed within their price range by other knives in regards to value for materials. You said yourself one of your two purchases was a Delica, I'm sure people buying a few select knives or lower invested collectors is a much larger market than people who buy a bunch.

In this thread I'm seeing a lot of "heh well i guess I'll just have to tighten my belt" type of posts but you have to understand that a large percentage of people either don't have the interest or values to vote with their wallet. If they see a Spyderco on amazon and a competing brand like cold steel or kizer with a knife that's cheaper and has better materials they will surely buy the cheaper knife in most cases. The majority of people aren't a small dedicated group like you have buying everything regardless of the context.
I get spyderco needs to make money but I'm just questioning if this will have a positive impact in the long run. Its a tricky situation for sure but there has to be a better way.
 
For many year I've been a collector (some may say hardcore collector) of Spyderco knives, but I was forced to stop, due to impossibility to continue. Price increases during the last years were the reason, no criticism only the truth.
Please try to understand that prices go up when costs go up.
Of course you have my understanding. Well, as Austrian I can't say how much factory costs in US or within the worldwide distributor-chain rose, but without any doubt prices for Spyderco knives rose tremendously more than my income ... very sad.
 
I certainly do understand, I am a businessman myself. I’ve voiced my frustration with MAP policies before and another change to it in favor of the dealer I fear may be misguided in their effort to increase their margins as it will decrease volume. Although, maybe that is the intent.

The only reason I even care is because Spyderco is my favorite knife company so whenever I buy somebody a first pocket knife, it’s a Spyderco. Whenever somebody asks me for a good pocket knife recommendation, it’s a Spyderco. It’s becoming harder and harder to find a model that the average person who isn’t a pocket knife fanatic can afford.

All I know is I said this exact same thing years ago and the reaction was let's say not well. Prices rising is normal, but to add now most models are made out of the USA, with USA parts and materials.

I started with Spyderco, but the competition is strong out there. It's not always about the newest and greatest, normal steel is fine for me.
 
That is why I also included the part where I said my perspective is most likely shared by people who aren't as into the hobby or aren't willing to pay huge prices. Knives like the Delica have become entirely outclassed within their price range by other knives in regards to value for materials. You said yourself one of your two purchases was a Delica, I'm sure people buying a few select knives or lower invested collectors is a much larger market than people who buy a bunch.

In this thread I'm seeing a lot of "heh well i guess I'll just have to tighten my belt" type of posts but you have to understand that a large percentage of people either don't have the interest or values to vote with their wallet. If they see a Spyderco on amazon and a competing brand like cold steel or kizer with a knife that's cheaper and has better materials they will surely buy the cheaper knife in most cases. The majority of people aren't a small dedicated group like you have buying everything regardless of the context.
I get spyderco needs to make money but I'm just questioning if this will have a positive impact in the long run. Its a tricky situation for sure but there has to be a better way.

The MAP increase has the objective of removing free market price competition amongst dealers and guaranteeing them a specific margin over wholesale. Spyderco gets their wholesale price no matter what.
 
The MAP increase has the objective of removing free market price competition amongst dealers and guaranteeing them a specific margin over wholesale. Spyderco gets their wholesale price no matter what.
So then whats the point in the increases? Wouldn't the base MAP implementation plus the yearly increases we've had already be good enough?
 
So, this thread and some of the comments by M Messer Meister caused me to do some further reflection.

I don’t want to come across fanboyish but I had an interesting realization. I’m not advocating inflation, etc. Don’t kill the messenger.

IIRC I paid $40 for my Gen 1 Delica circa 1992. (I only remember that because it was nearly backbreaking for me at the time). Now they’re roughly double, around $80.

MSRP for a base 1992 Corvette was a bit over $30k. Guess what? The base 2020 Vette is supposed to be about double that, a little over $60k.

I didn’t realize that until I thought about it.

 
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The problem with the Corvette analogy is that there’s a lot more technology in the 2020 Vette versus the 1992 model. My Military from 2005 has exactly the same American steel and G-10 as the current model at about half the price. I plugged in what I paid in 2005 for my Military into a US Inflation Calculator and it says it should now be $135.84 compared with the soon to be actual $192.50.

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This is why an occasional recession (or depression) can be a "good thing," as long as you're not heavily in debt and have sufficient cash on hand.

I did during the housing crisis in the mid-2000's and bought my house for 50% of what it is now, which was what it was worth before the crisis.

Cash is king and timing is everything.
 
In the past 5 years it seems like Spydercos prices have gone up about 50%. That is far out pacing inflation.

I am a Spyderco fan and have purchased an obscene amount of them. Last year I was much more selective about what I purchased. Value is subjective and we all must make that decision for ourselves. Personally, I don’t see the value anymore in quite a few models. I suspect that my purchases will be even more limited in 2020. I have disposable income but I cannot spend it on things when price and value get too far apart.
 
Inflation isn't proportional like others have said. Cars suffer a problem similar to universities where people get really easy access to debt so the price isn't really reasonably affordable to most people with stagnant incomes across the board we've had for the past 20+ years. Not trying to derail this into a whole economics discussion but the point is for a vanity item like a nice spyderco I don't see sales going up in any context with these prices.
 
Maybe i'm just getting cheap as I get older but I find price increases curb my impulse buys.
If it's something I absolutely have to have then i'll find a way. But if it's borderline and I'm not sure if I need it then a few bucks extra wipes out any enthusiasm.

Good example where I surprised myself was black friday. A retailer up here had the GB2 for $163 (cad). But they were still adding to the sale and I was hoping for something else. But after an hour I felt like I couldn't say no at that price. Went back to order and it was now $172 (cad) the extra $9 was enough to cool my jets and I walked away.
 
I do the same thing. If I buy a higher end knife it will be a waiting process. But I impulse buy on less expensive options fairly often.
 
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