IMA SOL MAN
Flashlight Enthusiast
You got me curious...what is the heartburn with Benchmade?
Self-checkout and receipt checks
- Thread starter idleprocess
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Started many years back. A little something everyone forgot about.
President of Benchmade back then, Les DeAsis, decided no more foreign-made Benchmade knives. All would now be Made in the USA. Sounds great! Except for one thing.... DeAsis publicly stated that the reason why Benchmade was doing this had NOTHING to do with patriotism! Absolutely nothing at all. He stopped short of saying America could go screw itself. But that was his basic attitude. Production was moved fully to America to tighten up Q.C. standards and be able to keep a closer eye on that to make sure it didn't slip. Which was B.S.
I owned a handful of foreign-made Benchmades at the time. Nothing wrong with them from a quality perspective. The Benchmade Benchmite II in particular was a fantastic little knife that fit easily in the watch-pocket of a pair of denim jeans.
I mean seriously, who does that? Your core customer base is made up of Americans. You move all the production to America. Move has nothing to do with patriotism. Why not just sit back, keep quiet, and enjoy the admiration of your core customer base. Enjoy the predictable short-term jump in sales. Literally no reason to admit that you don't give a crap about being patriotic.
Second reason happened about 4 years ago. The huge scandal involving a certain police department and an assist from Benchmade. But more than just an assist. It's no surprise that Benchmade has been Anti-2nd Amendment for the longest time. Even contributing to groups actively fighting to take away gun rights from law-abiding citizens. Nevermind the fact that a significant chunk of Benchmade's customers are gun owners. Benchmade doesn't care.
Here's a video that goes into more detail. Jeff used to be a CPFer decades ago, but left to concentrate on his channel. His decision was to ultimately keep buying and reviewing Benchmade knives. He's an admitted gun-owner by the way. With several firearms. He makes his living through his channel. I don't with mine. Not with my review channel, nor with my ASMR channel. Even if I did, I would never review products from a company that clearly despises America and the Constitution. And, has done so for decades. (Same goes for Nike, and a few other companies. I don't forget. I can't. I literally can't forget things like that. Just how I was hard-wired.)
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idleprocess
Flashaholic
As is Home Depot. Hurricane threatening the east or gulf coast? Good luck securing a generator several hundred miles outside of the disaster radius - FEMA will have snapped them up. Similar deal with PPE circa March 2020 - swiftly taken off the shelves to supplement the perilously thin federal emergency stock not to be seen again until ~2021.
If you project current trends into the future this is surely within the realm of possibilities. But there are some wrinkles:
- Walmart is getting into the local delivery game something fierce - I see Walmart+ vans making deliveries at about 20% the frequency that I see 'zon logistics. They're also pushing that dream that 'zon never could seem to manifest: in-residence restocking.
- The sellers that 'zon used to build up their platform are growing increasingly dissatisfied - something like 40% of the sale price goes to 'zon. Rebellion is likely.
- Regulatory and antitrust action is a looming - and always ongoing - possibility given their market dominance
IMA SOL MAN
Flashlight Enthusiast
I didn't know.
I stopped watching Cutlery Lover quite some years ago. I used to watch him fairly regularly, as well as Nutnfancy, for their revues. Once I decided on my system, and purchased my gear, I kind of stopped watching--also my life got complicated taking care of aging parents. I've never owned a Benchmade, not to say that I never wanted one, because I did, but I was turned off by the fact that the affordable ones were imports, and the USA made ones that I was interested in cost more than I could justify spending.
I am saddened and disappointed to hear this about Benchmade, but then many companies are going woke nowadays. I was really upset when I went to M&M/Mars's website, and discovered that they were all-in on climate change. I admit, I like some of their products, but I don't buy/consume their products anymore. Now just recently, I came across something woke about Hershey. Man, it just never stops. At least some of the firearm industry companies finally moved out of hostile states. Well, now I'm getting way off topic. Thanks for the video, it explained a lot.
IMA SOL MAN
Flashlight Enthusiast
Yeah, that's the bad thing about waiting until the last minute to buy necessary emergency preparedness stuff--when you realize you need it, it is too late to get it, in many instances. Ya gotta prep ahead!
I was unaware of the Walmart home delivery movement. Likely it is just in select large markets now, I don't think it is available in my area. Well, they better up their game, because Bezo, Bozo, whatever, is looking at drone home delivery. The competition is going to be fast and furious! Kind of like when the phone industry deregulated, and there was so much competition for the consumers.
Funny, NOW will someday be "the good ole days". We'll be telling our grand-kids about life without drone delivery, and auto-driving cars, and auto-driving personal drones, etc. I need a modded DeLorean and some garbage, and take a spin at 88 mph into the future for a tour.
knucklegary
Flashlight Enthusiast
Look where Benchmade is located, need I say anymore /-:
IMA SOL MAN
Flashlight Enthusiast
Isn't Gerber Knives in OR or WA? Are they now woke? How about Kershaw?
Oh I'm legit going to be angry if those two companies jumped on the W. bandwagon.
IMA SOL MAN
Flashlight Enthusiast
I just remembered something. I lied, I do own a Benchmade product.
A few years ago, maybe 1999, seems like it was pre-COVID, I wandered into a military surplus store. The war in the sandbox was winding down, and they were getting a lot of surplus items in. At the time I had been filling out a trauma kit that I was putting together, and they had a bunch of those emergency rippers in stock. The lady that ran the place took a handful out and said that I could have my choice for cheap. So, seeing a Benchmade, I grabbed it at a bargain price. Now, it resides in its sheath on the outside of my trauma kit in the vehicle. No, I did not buy it through normal commercial channels, so Benchmade did not see a cent of my purchase. So I can sleep tonight.
A few years ago, maybe 1999, seems like it was pre-COVID, I wandered into a military surplus store. The war in the sandbox was winding down, and they were getting a lot of surplus items in. At the time I had been filling out a trauma kit that I was putting together, and they had a bunch of those emergency rippers in stock. The lady that ran the place took a handful out and said that I could have my choice for cheap. So, seeing a Benchmade, I grabbed it at a bargain price. Now, it resides in its sheath on the outside of my trauma kit in the vehicle. No, I did not buy it through normal commercial channels, so Benchmade did not see a cent of my purchase. So I can sleep tonight.
idleprocess
Flashaholic
idleprocess
Flashaholic
Also unsure of the availability, however the advertising I see as well as the chatter suggests it's in a number of metro areas. A local presence is obviously required but this could range from in-store order picking being put into a van to localized "dark" warehouse/distribution centers dedicated to delivery.
Drone delivery has been a slow roll. The technical aspects are generally sorted but the legal aspects are thornier things.
- What will the FAA allow?
- How much critical to lowering cost autonomy?
- What safety designs will be required?
- What regimens for VTOL (quads - more maneuverable) drones vs conventional fix-wing (standard airplane-looking designs - more range/payload) drones?
- What will localities allow?
- Localities have regulations governing use of air rights (generally 0-500' local elevation) over public property - how will drones be allowed to use it?
- What restrictions will localities place on use of non-public air rights for launch/recovery and delivery phases of a mission?
- Will there be protracted negotiations over procedures and licensing that render the concept impractical?
IMA SOL MAN
Flashlight Enthusiast
Thank you for making me/us aware of that, idleprocess, I appreciate your thoughtfulness.
However, we weren't really discussing knives, but rather, knife manufacturers, and their business practices.
Getting back on Walmart, I very seldom shop there anymore. I prefer to shop at the local Kroger affiliate. I got chaffed at how much PRC merchandise Walmart was carrying. I think they are carrying more domestic products now, vs then, but I don't know for sure, because I prefer not to patronize them. I also seldom shop through amazon, for several reasons I don't care to go into.
It was never about their knives.
Define split hairs. 😄
Business practices vs. Quality of products.
(You should see my knife collection. Numerous knives sharp enough to split a hair, literally.) 😉
Got Lumens?
Flashlight Enthusiast
I am not attacking anyone, but I think we are no longer discussing about the self checkout process and those who are involved with cashiering in this thread.
I think a new thread needs to be started to pursue the tangicies of what the discussion has evolved.
Anyone???
GL
I think a new thread needs to be started to pursue the tangicies of what the discussion has evolved.
Anyone???
GL
A robot like this could fold up in the back of a delivery truck. The truck could park in the middle of an area with several deliveries then the robot could jump out, grab packages from the truck, deliver them, then jump back into the truck to be taken to the next cluster of drop offs.
WOW that is pretty amazing!
+
from this morning
www.cnbc.com
from this morning
Retailers say organized theft is biting into profits, but internal issues may really be to blame
Target and Foot Locker may be using organized retail theft as a convenient excuse to cloak internal flaws, as others focus on internal theft and self checkout.
www.cnbc.com
