T-Shirt FAIL

If you were going to make a t-shirt with images of knives on them, why oh why would you make your knife silhouettes of Cutco knives?

http://www.cafepress.com/mf/32477843/knives_tshirt?productId=690615896

 

Epic Fail.
At least it isn't a tattoo.

 

2i saw a guy commenting on a chefs instagram telling him to throw away his wustof knives and buy cutcos. this guy was obviously drunk while instagramming

 

Out of curiosity, what's wrong with Cutco? Other than the marketing crap, I don't know much about them.

 

Mr. Drinky, As a practicing dirty old man I was expecting more from you with a thread marked "T Shirt Fail",

 

Yep, I had something other in mind than knives... not sure what, but something else.

 

Was this what you had in mind?

k.

 

to my mother and my grandmother CutCo's were the ticket. I grew up with them. they sharpened them on this roller type device that had a v in the middle. they put the knife edge in the vee and rolled it back and forth. I think they were guaranteed forever as I recall them being replaced for free a few times. springy stainless steel with a rudimentary stab (hehe) at ergonomics. I Never really liked them.

 

Hmmm, how to proceed?

I actually don't have a problem with Cutco knives per se -- if only they were priced in the range of their value and they marketed it without the BS. There will always be a market for lower priced, lower quality goods in this world. But their use of pressure marketing with sales people who know nothing about knives is pretty bad and preys on consumers. Their 'knives don't dull' line with their double-D edge is crap. Their 'sharpening for life' offer is a gimmick they know people who buy their knives will rarely take advantage of. And just stupid marketing things like claiming their 'handles won't melt' make me roll my eyes -- like that is a huge problem with knives. I often leave my blade handle propped up on my fry pan, don't you? Oh, but they are selling these overpriced knives to people who use cheap plastic utensils from Walmart who have had them melt in the past, so persuading them that having a handle that won't melt is a positive trait that can help prop up that perceived value.

But in the end, they are scamming people IMO, especially with their door-to-door tactics. Their knives are probably worth a fourth or less of the price they charge and a good chunk of that markup goes as commissions to their multi-level sales/marketing -- and then they hide behind this 'buy American' sh!t. Because that is the American way: convince people to way over pay for an inferior product, give the money out in pyramid-like commissions, and don't worry about product quality or development. I'm so proud right now, I got a tear in my eye. USA! USA!

With that said, they have done their value curve and have decided their route for profit won't focus on product quality, but marketing to create perceived value, and then follow that up with a strong emphasis on pressure marketing and sales tactics. Usually the phrase "You get what you pay for" is fairly accurate in our economy, but with Cutco knives you definitely don't get what you pay for. This is just like Kirby Vacuums and Saladmaster cookware. Inferior products at a premium price.

k.

 

Well put K. I love seeing their set ups at food shows and listening to the uneducated B.S. they spout.

 

That's more like it!

 

We actually went along to a Saladmaster demonstration at a friends house last year, we only went to see how they would try and justify the extreme price they charge.
The rep set about chopping some chicken and apple and threw it in one of their 'special' pans, making the point over and over than you don't need oil or butter to cook with them, so it went on for about 2+ hours if I remember correctly , then he asked who was interested and out of curiosity I asked the cost, the basic 3 pan set came in at around £2000!!!!! I politely declined whilst trying really hard not to laugh in his face, to my shock our hosts other friends actually went ahead and bought a mid priced 5 pan set for over £3500 and paid a deposit and did the rest on a credit agreement. I actually spoke up at that point as they were throwing £3500 down the drain, the rep got a little angry and asked us to leave, I took a deep breath and told him very politely what I though of his pans, we heard later that they still bought the set though!!

 

Alas, as is the case so many times, they are buying an experience not a product. Unfortunately, they are buying an experience that those products will not provide them.

Now, my DeBuyer OTOH....

 

I just can't get my head around someone being happy to pay around £650/$1000 for one pan! I'm all for trying to get the best you can afford but a higher price doesn't always mean higher quality, at least do some research, it's not like we are talking pre-google/internet here, it took me 2 minutes online to find out what Saladmaster were all about. Pretty sad really.

 

The thing that Saladmaster capitalizes on is health fears (at worst) and health consciousness (at best), and once you do that the demand curve becomes more inelastic -- meaning that demand for their good/product doesn't change much with price. Even at high price points. They essentially set themselves up as necessary and the only cookware that is healthy and good for you and your family. They also refer to titanium being expensive to support the high price and mislead people that these pans are a good part titanium (and everyone knows that titanium is the magical best metal ever right?), but in reality titanium is a very minute component of the steel -- less than 1%. And before they started using the titanium stainless steel, they still made the same claims, so their claims seem a bit inconsistent.

With this magical cookware, you can cook without salt, oil, butter, water etc, retain nutrients, and make everyone in your family healthier with food that tastes better. Then they add that soda water test where they mix baking soda in water and boil it in their pan versus the pans that they encourage people to bring to their cookware party. The baking soda reacts with the cookware and the water tastes bitter and metallic in the other pans, but the water from the Saladmaster tastes much better. This is the smoking gun and clearly shows that any cookware (other than Saladmaster) is BAD for you and your family. They've set you up, and convince you that EVERY TIME you cook this 'bad taste' is the leeching of metals/toxins into your food. Essentially, now you are an idiot if you do not buy their cookware. Do you want toxins seeping into your food every time you cook? Do you want to be healthier AND not poison your family? This is the only cookware that will achieve this. Period.

Of course, they are instigating a reaction with the baking soda. We in the knife world know all too well about food reacting with steel and producing a metallic taste, and they are essentially simulating a similar reaction. Also they are using a new Saladmaster pan versus older used pans that have been scratched and scoured many times by the partygoers. The surface of those pans is likely more compromised and very well may lead to more leeching or reaction to the baking soda. Who knows. Plus, some of those pans are probably cheap aluminum ones that are ripe for reacting.

And even if their claim about their stainless steel with titanium being more 'stable' and less reactive is true, the irony is that if the buyers of these pans are using non-organic foods -- or god forbid -- canned goods that have BPA, then they are just negating any minute advantage of less 'metal leeching' by adding food with many times more man-made contaminates that are even more unhealthy. If you want to take the health argument to the extreme. And strangely enough, the Saladmaster method that supposedly retains nutrients is also probably retaining more of the contaminants.

I would love for these people to grapple with this idea.

So I say this and hope the Saladmaster army doesn't read this thread. Their salespeople often find these negative posts and the trolls usually sweep in at some point. The criticism of Saladmonster often pops up on food blogs and cooking forums, and the inevitable trolls descend. Often the moderators or blog owners have to shut down the comments and delete them. It'll be interesting to see if this happens. You can't let bad PR stand when you have 8 levels of multilevel marketing commissions that need to be paid out

k.