Cutco cutlery, Whats your opinion?

J

johnny reb

Joined
Sep 12, 2006
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My Wife just interviewed for a cutco sales person. What do y'all think? I have seen cutco knives, but I myself, would not own one. Would You buy a Cutco knife? Has anyone here worked for this company? I don`t think that my wife knows what she is getting into.
 
For what they are, they're decent enough. HUGE profit margin, selling $8 knives (laser-cut 440A blades with plastic handles) for $40-$50 a pop is why they have their "lifetime guarantee" because they can replace them three time sand still have a healthy profit margin. Their serration pattern is one of the more effective out there, and keeps the blades cutting by protecting large sections of the edge from counters, pans, plates...you know, all the stuff you're NOT supposed to cut on but so many people do.

Serviceable? Yes. Special? No. Overpriced? Definitely. Better than the Chinese knives at Walmart? Yes.
 
They are great value for people like my father in law (he's had a set for 30 years or so) who prefer to cut directly on tile counters and dishwasher the knives. Then every few years he sends them in for the free sharpening/replacement.
 
Not a good job to be selling, have heard nothing but bad things from former employees. Not quite a scam, but not a real job either.
 
They are owned by KaBar or own KaBar. Not sure how that works. If that helps.
 
Worked for them about 20 years ago for the summer. You have to buy a kit which I believe was somewhat expensive. Wasn't a scam but wasn't great. I think you get a certain percentage of your sales. I can still sell their knives and get the commision if I wanted to I think.

As far as the knives, they are a bit over priced BUT are better than many knives on the market that you would by at a department store, Costco, etc. They are not crappy knives, just not great.
 
I would not buy one. And it's not because they are horrible knives; I agree they are better than much of what you see in a big box store. It's because the price is pretty steep relative to what you actually get.

And I think that last part will make selling them difficult now and even harder in the future. One can find very low prices on mid-end knives now using Amazon, forums like this, or speciality kitchen stores. Companies like SETO or Tojiro are becoming very well known, and their pricing is very reasonable...heck, Spyderco is getting bigger in this area. These mid-end brands are also now being sold direct through Amazon and others. In other terms, the competition for CutCo has changed, and there are high-quality, lower-cost knives which are readily available, and they are becoming increasingly well known by the average person.

And with some of their knives, the prices are just plain outrageous. I've seen people selling one of their "high-end" 8 inch chef knives for almost as much as I bought my 210mm Konosuke HD in White #2 steel for (which is considered to be one of the finest makers, especially in that price range). CutCo is not comparable to Konosuke. That's like selling a Kia Forte at the price of a Porsche 911 Turbo!

There has also been a flood of low-end knives that people tend to like. Chicago Cutlery is one example, and they sell for a fraction of what CutCos do. Selection is greater, as is consumer awareness, and there is a lot of value, quality, and value & quality to be had from many different makers. There are fewer selling points for CutCo today than there was 10 or 20 years ago.
 
t1mpani said:
For what they are, they're decent enough. HUGE profit margin, selling $8 knives (laser-cut 440A blades with plastic handles) for $40-$50 a pop is why they have their "lifetime guarantee" because they can replace them three time sand still have a healthy profit margin. Their serration pattern is one of the more effective out there, and keeps the blades cutting by protecting large sections of the edge from counters, pans, plates...you know, all the stuff you're NOT supposed to cut on but so many people do.

Serviceable? Yes. Special? No. Overpriced? Definitely. Better than the Chinese knives at Walmart? Yes.
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I agree. As for a job? I couldn't say. I actually bought some from a recently graduated high school friend of my daughter's. I have some very nice kitchen knives but I'm a knife addict. She, the sales person, said that her father encouraged her to sell the Cutco products to help pay for college and get some sales experience. Her father, a successful physician (I know of him) helped pay his way through medical school selling Cutco products. My parents have had a set for over thirty years and they still work fine. Some are very dull and I encourage them to get them replaced but they haven't bothered yet. So yes, they work fine, are very expensive for what they are, but do have a lifetime warranty which I do believe they honor. Not as fun to use as a laser sharp custom kitchen knives. The sales person I spoke with, having no previous knife experience, was "trained" to believe that the materials used by Cutco were the best in the world and seemed to strongly believe it. I gently insinuated that 440A might not be the "best in the world" but that statement was brushed off as if it could not possibly be true. I refrained from further like comments (I'm not too grumpy of an old man, yet).

So I suppose it depends on how comfortable your wife is with the Cutco process. Can she make numerous calls to set up appointments. Is she comfortable selling one on one and prepared for all sorts of reactions from grump knife snobs who might run her out of the house with a scolding, to the knife illiterate (or addicts) who may buy a few or even a set, and everyone in between? Having you as a husband, it sounds like your wife may now know more about knives and steels than Cutco would want to teach her. Can she sell the products in a way that she can be comfortable with, knowing that they may not be the best in the world, but certainly functional for many people? If they're guarantee for life, there is not a whole lot to lose if you're not a knife person except the rather large initial output. I'm implying no judgment here. I also don't know what percentage of the sales folks are "successful" and how long they stick with it. It's great to be able to bring in additional income and if your wife has the ability to do the job and enjoy it, I say look into it. Mike

pnsxyr makes some valid points. The one advantage I see with Cutco over the other less expensive knives is that if a person cannot or will not ever sharpen their knives, then sending them in for resharpening or new ones may be the way to go. I don't remember if Cutco makes the customer pay for shipping. If that is the case, then it is probably less expensive to buy other than Cutco and pay someone locally to sharpen the knives.
 
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Heck, I sold these things when I was a kid around Detroit. Also sold Encyclopedia Britannica trying to get through school and feed myself. The jobs offered large commissions. Let's not go further. Lots of starving college kids hold these jobs for a while...so that part is a good thing.
I still have a Cutco paring knife after all these yrs. It's okay, certainly not great. It's just one that we still have, and have no reason to toss it.
 
I worked for them for a little bit in high school. It's basically a pyramid scheme unless you're INCREDIBLY self-motivated and an excellent salesman.

Their knives are pretty much garbage too. Their ice cream scooper is nice though, lol.
 
John Ratzenberger had a TV show, Made in America from 2003-2008 where he’d board his motorhome and travel around America visiting businesses like Harley Davidson, Hershey’s Chocolate Company, etc. touring the factories interviewing employees and being shown from beginning to end how the products were made. Once, I recall, he took his production cameras and crew to Cutco. It was a long time ago but I remember after watching that episode I was left with a great impression of Cutco. Not a lot of information can be packed in a segment of one episode which is edited to tell a cherry picked portion of the whole story, but it seemed like workers loved the company, took pride in workmanship and produced the best product that they could. I don’t recall any mention of the steel that was used. I don’t think I’d mention 440A as a selling point either. As far as pricing, value, or comparable products…that was not the shows purpose.
 
As for the knives,... I like them. Especially the steak knives,...best steak knife I ever tried. Even better than the fancy Shun steak knives they use at the MW steakhouse at the Wynn. They also have this cool pastry spatula/knife combo that's a killer bread knife and butter spreader in one.

As for being a Cutco salesperson,...that's a tall order. Precision Marketing I believe? They 'say' you don't have to make a sale, but they're in a business to be in business. They depend on the 'someone in your family and/or circle of friends needs this' marketing. You then get a reputation in your 'market base' (read:family) of someone trying to sell them something. Soon, you'll be a traveling vacuum salesperson making cold calls. Tough road, if you ask me. I'm not discouraging, just telling you, from experience, how it goes down. Sure, there's success stories,... But a tough road.

Fwiw, my $0.02. Good luck!
 
mk.ultra said:
I worked for them for a little bit in high school. It's basically a pyramid scheme unless you're INCREDIBLY self-motivated and an excellent salesman.

Their knives are pretty much garbage too. Their ice cream scooper is nice though, lol.
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Surely pyramid schemes are illegal. If it's multi-level marketing, then that's something altogether different.
 
I remember over 50 years ago my mother bought a set of CUTCO knives from a neighbor who was selling them.
I still have them today, and I have bought a few more of them and have received some as gifts. I like them a lot for kitchen use and even have a fish fillet knife and hunting knife made by the company.
Are they the best? No, but for the price point they are worth the money.
I sent the old knives back to the factory and had them re-sharpened for free, and they returned a few weeks later good as new.
 
Working for them is a huge scam unless you somehow manage to sell above and beyond every reasonable expectation. There's quite a bit of information about how they treat their "employees" on the web. I can't say about their knives, but the job isn't worth the money you'll lose.
 
jeffsenpai said:
Not a good job to be selling, have heard nothing but bad things from former employees. Not quite a scam, but not a real job either.
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Yup. My ex did pampered chef which is the same kind of thing. She didn't make any money at all. It's as close to a pyramid scheme as you can get and still be legal.

The knives are okay. I really like their serrated steak knives because they can take a lot of abuse and they have pretty good ergonomics. The steak knives are the only ones I would personally buy though.
 
Somewhat negative stuff here from a worker point of view. I am not familiar with the Cutco sales approach. One person said the "Avon of Knives". That means door to door sales. I wouldn't like it much myself. Maybe she could get into real estate. That is what a lot of people do especially for a part time kind of effort with good rewards... take the classes and get your license. Sell Sell Sell.
 
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