CutCo Cutlery/ Vector Marketing

Parent Cafe
61

<p>No one is arguing that the knives are not expensive, and they never go on sale.<br>
Kind of like Tupperware, Pampered Chef, Avon, and the rest…
You can probably get a much better deal if you shop around.
Some people don’t mind paying full freight if it’s a good product and there’s no alternative. Some people just feel sorry for the salesman (hate to see those people at a timeshare!!!). </p>

<p>The people who do it, do it for the money. They also do it just for the experience, which you can’t beat if you want to become a better speaker and presenter.</p>

62

<p>Sure sounds like a great opportunity! <a href=“http://nc.indymedia.org/news/2004/10/12052_comment.php[/url]”>http://nc.indymedia.org/news/2004/10/12052_comment.php&lt;/a&gt;
" The Cutco kitchen knife sets sold by the company are priced between $200-$2000. Despite the expensive price of the knife sets, consumer reviews have stated them as having problems like rusting and low-quality handles.</p>

<p>The students that are hired to work for Vector Marketing are hired as independent contractors. Since the students are not considered to be employees of the company, they are unable to obtain employee rights such as minimum wage. They are also not paid for training or company meetings. Independent contractors are required to make or put down a $145 deposit to make demonstrations. They also are required to pay for optional conferences. A survey conducted on 940 Wisconsin Vector Marketing recruits in 1992 found that nearly 50% either earned no pay or lost money while working for the company.</p>

<p>“Workers in [Wisconsin] earned less than $3.00 a day on average selling cutlery for Vector,” David Tatar, a supervisor for the Wisconsin Consumer Protection Department said."</p>

63

<p>and a great knife: <a href=“http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f90/cutco-knives-1325.html[/url]”>http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f90/cutco-knives-1325.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>"My opinion is that Cutco is not worth their price and I’m sure most professionals would agree. In fact you would have great difficulty finding one culinary arts school, master chef, or knife expert that recommends this brand. Norman Weinstein, a nationally recognized knife skills instructor who’s taught since 1995 at the Institute of Culinary Education was quoted by the Baltimore Sun newspaper as saying “Why, why, would you buy such a knife?”</p>

<p>Cutco is able to sell their knives at such a high price because they are being sold to people by their sons, nephews, and granddaughters (basically people who care for them and trust them, or their friends, and know very little about knives)."</p>

64

<p>Holymomma-exactly the kids are being used-
Which one might argue -that is the basis of business. But again, I would rather my children not be involved nor involve our family, neighbors and friends i nthis exploitation.
If you are going to be used -get more satisfaction from it.</p>

65

<p>OK sorry if this sounds snarky but the recent comments have make me shake my head and finally decide to post again. If you don’t like the knives, don’t buy them. Honestly, I ignore the “name-brand” knives in my rack if any of the Cutco’s are clean: I VASTLY prefer them to any other knife I have, they are my equivalent of great knives, and I cook every day, all the time. Their handles are much better for me than the handles on the others, and even those I’ve had for almost 10 years are still sharp and shiny. I cried the day I realized I’d tossed one of them out with the turkey carcass. I have never heard of a single Cutco knife rusting or having handle problems. Not one.</p>

<p>I don’t really care what people at cooking schools recommend for their high-end chef kitchens. I’ve found something I like and I expect I’ll be sticking with it pretty much forever. That’s how long they’ll last and stay comfortable and sharp.</p>

<p>I’m not particularly fond of their marketing techniques using young folks, but once I bought some, I made the rest of my purchases online.</p>

<p>YMMV.
(Your Mileage May Vary.)</p>

66

<p>mootmom,</p>

<p>There are obviously many who do like the product. My issue is the way they try to market the “opportunity” (I have similar feelings toward Amway). Certainly a kid can learn a lot doing direct selling, but they should know what they’re signing on for upfront.</p>

67

<p>The kids do know exactly what they are signing up for. I had my friend’s son show me the packet he was given and he told me about the paperwork he read and the forms he filled out. It’s all there in writing. An excellent learning opportunity. For those that are successful, the make money and learn to present themselves well. For those that are not, they learn that sales may not be for them or that they don’t have the discipline and perserverence that it takes. Perhaps the complaining kids didn’t read before signing. Another life lesson learned. That doesn’t mean the product or company are misleading the kids.</p>

68

<p>The wonderful thing about the internet is that so many things are now transparent. </p>

<p>From the prior articles linked:</p>

<p>Vector Marketing and Cutco have been sued several times — by the Arizona attorney general in 1990 and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in 1999. In 1994, a court in Wisconsin ordered Vector to not deceive recruits.</p>

<p>Puterbaugh, a manager aged 21, said that when she answered inquiry calls about the job, she was given a script to read, which provided little information about the job, emphasizing that it didn’t involve door-to-door sales or telemarketing.</p>

<p>If people insisted on more details, she said she was instructed to reply that she didn’t know any further information and urge callers to schedule an interview.</p>

<p>“It is a high-pressure job like any other sales job, but the thing with Vector is that they make it sound more flexible and easy than it actually is.”</p>

69

<p>I agree with mootmom. I really like these knives. I have an older set of another brand that I’ve kept, but I just realized I only use the paring knives from that set now. Given the choice, I always use the Cutco knives. It’s been years and they haven’t needed sharpening. The sales-student was delightful, not high-pressure and wasn’t at all pushy when I didn’t give her names of friends (I couln’t think of any who could spend this much on knives). If you don’t want to watch the pitch, don’t make an appointment. If you don’t want to buy something, just say no.</p>

70

<p>I have a Cutco knife so I feel qualified to weigh in. It’s been a good knife (if overpriced), but we bought it from young friends of ours mainly because we felt sorry for them. And when they called they assured us they would just be “practicing” their spiel on us! Feeling like suckers afterward, we bought a knife. Isn’t that sad?</p>

71

<p>“Expensive” is a relative term. There are knives out there more expensive than Cutco by a long way. We have some of them, and as far as our steak knives go, our favorite ones happen to be Cutco. Didn’t even realize it until after S started this and we became more knife-conscious.</p>

<p>This isn’t Scientology or Hare Krishna. I don’t think there are Cutco acolytes trying to lure our children away from their families. S came back from his interview knowing exactly what would be expected and clearly understood the concept of commission and how much he would have to sell to make any real money. </p>

<p>The research quoted is literally from the last century. 1994 and 1999? Perhaps the company learned a few things and made changes? I looked them up as soon as S told me what he was doing and saw they are headquartered in Canada. Maybe they had to make some cultural and business adjustments?</p>

<p>I don’t think these young people hold a gun to anyone’s head (or a knife to their throats). You can say “no”. Rejection is part of the deal, but really, it would be better to say “no” to the appointment to begin with if you are offended by the approach. Just say you’re opposed to direct sales, and be sure you’re not buying Mary Kay on the side.</p>

72

<p>I am 18 years old, and coincidentally this afternoon I submitted an application to Vector Marketing, and about an hour later I received a call. The young lady was very easy to talk to, and I was set to schedule an interview for later in the day, but needed to make sure I would be able to make it, so I said that I’d call back to confirm. A little while later I did a google search, and found out on Yahoo that it is door-to-door gig. So I called back and said that I was no longer interested.<br>
I have no idea how good the knives are, and no doubt I would get some valuable experience if I was to work for them (and yes, $16 base pay sounds great to me), but I do think that they intentionally withhold information from students while trying to lure them in. Their website is a bit vague as to what the actual job entails, and I just assumed that I would be working in an office environment. In fact, during the call, I asked, “I’m just wondering - if I get hired, would I be working at an office in Pasadena (location of prospective interview) or at an office in Alhambra (what the website listed after I typed in my zip code)?” And she replied, “You’ll be working in Alhambra.” I am pretty sure she heard “office,” so thinking back, that seems a bit shady to me. I didn’t ask any other questions, such as about the company, so I don’t know how much information she would have given me.<br>
All in all, the job just seems weird. Having young college students sell expensive cutlery seems a bit off to me.</p>

73

<p>I find all this description of door-to-door sales interesting based on the sales call we got a couple of weeks ago. The young man who came to our house told me several times they are not allowed to make cold calls. Taking it even further, he said that he could not make the initial contact with any names I gave him, that I had to get permission from people first before he could call. Granted, all the names I gave him were people he already knew as acquaintenances through school groups. But if I had given him other names, he would not have called them unless I had made the initial contact and gotten their permission. This is a very different technique than door-to-door and complete cold calls.</p>

<p>Just our experience.</p>

74

<p>im a current employee, and i wont be like the normal i will talk alil bit about the facts that really bothered me when i started. </p>

<p>for those that do work and quit dont feel lazy or discouraged. not many people can book the appointments to even sell anything. and it isnt the employees fault. how many people do you know will just let a complete stranger into their house. Of course when you do your fast start you call up all the people you know and of course they will buy to be supportive. but if you cant even get the references after wards then ur pretty much skrewed</p>

<p>when i started it sounded like a good deal they are offering 16 dollars an appoint ment. and it sound like a lot but people dont take into account that all the team meetings and training for 3 days PLUS ADVANCE training, which they use to “help” give you more ways to sell your products, are NOT paid or compensated. they give you a list of times that they want you to come in as well… all of which are also not paid for. </p>

<p>I dont know about you but the ever increasing price of gas makes it really difficult for me or any struggling college student to drive to as many meetings as they require WITHOUT gas or compensation.</p>

<p>in all actuallity if you dont have money this is not the job to start,you are required to pay 145 bucks for your sample kit which you have the option to sell back, give back, or keep. i never understood why a company would offer to pay the full retail price for these knifes ( 517 ) when all you payed was 145 dollars? doesnt make sense right, why not just give you your 145?</p>

<p>but has anyone ever done the math on this? at my last job i got paid 8 dollars an hour, at this i get payed 16 per appoint ment. every appointment is about 30-40 min long. so it creates the illlusion that you recieve twice the pay for half the work.NO no NO. AT A REGULAR JOB YOU GET A SCHEDULE AT THIS YOU CREATE YOUR OWN. now from personal and from what people tell me. they are averageing at about 2 appointments a day. and they suggest at the very least about two as well. does anyone realize that thats only 4 hours worth of regular pay? 16+16=32 FOR THE DAY!!! of course they enphasize the selling of the product but for the price of the knives themselves, they normally fall out of the range of a middle class family. WHY WOULD U SPEND `1000+ ON KNIVES WHEN THAT IS THE COST OF A FAMILY VACATION!!!</p>

<p>escaping the point i was trying to make. on average you have to do about 20 appointments a week to make a regular paycheck. but in training they talk about 4 figure paychecks, a check that comes every week. yes your payd weekly. but you have to work almost 40 appoint ments a week. does anyone realize that 40 appointments a week, assuming you take your weekends off, is A WOOPING 8 appointments aday. </p>

<p>sounds like its not alot, doesnt sound like it but you dont get paid to call, follow up, or travel to these appointments. so in reality you spend more money then you make?</p>

<p>all i have to say is, one shouldnt work a job not only makes not enough money but requires you to spend more of your own!</p>

75

<p>Told my son not to take a job where: 1) he has to pay to begin, 2)use his car and/or gas (it isn’t worth it in my opinion, even if they pay for the gas, therefore no delivery jobs unless they provide the car), 3) gets paid strictly on commision 4) where training is 100% unpaid 5)He needs to invest a lot for things like clothes.</p>

<p>I also told my kids that if their employer/manager does not treat them properly to look elsewhere, but not to burn bridges. Once they secure a new job, then they can quit. My older son found a job. He has managed to find paid employment for more than minimum wage every summer since he started working (this is his 4th summer).</p>

76

<p>my son “interviewed” with them–kind of sleazy operation–tell the kids they’ll make $10 per hour which is untrue–no salary–only sales commissions and who would want their 17 yr old driving around going to strangers homes with knives?? (which as others pointed out–they pay for) a red flag was when the “training” was going to be unpaid–</p>

77

<p>This company called my daughter last summer for “an interview” (a friend of hers gave them her number). She did not accept the job ,thank goodness. Sleazy…indeed!
A teenager can find a better job which does not entail selling cutlery to family and friends!</p>

78

<p>Just came across this:
[Cutco</a> Complaints](<a href=“http://cutcocomplaints.blogspot.com/]Cutco”>http://cutcocomplaints.blogspot.com/)</p>

79

<p>“If you don’t like the knives, don’t buy them.”</p>

<p>This is the problem I have with this system: it relies on people buying the product who don’t really want it. They do it because they know the kid or his parents, just like they’d buy popcorn from a Boy Scout. I don’t mind shelling out a few bucks for a candy bar to support the school band or something like that, even if I don’t want the candy, but this is a lot more money. Grandma and Aunt Tillie and the nextdoor neighbors are going to buy some knives. Their friends probably will, too. Now, I have no doubt that if the product is pretty good (and it sounds like it is), some kids with good sales abilities will be able to sell them even to total strangers–but even there, will they make a pitch that they are poor students trying to pay for tuition?</p>

80

<p>I worked there for a summer. The whole thing sucks. The manager calls you like every 6 hours asking if you’ve sold some knives/made appointments. If they try and get you to interview, don’t go. They’ll tell you that it’s 18.50/hour that you work wage, but that’s completely sugarcoating it. They say you don’t have to telemarket, but you pretty much have to (“it’s not telemarketing if you “know” the person, no matter how distant!!!”). You basically just call strangers and say, “Hi! [One of the person’s friends] recommended me to you! You’ve never seen me or met me in your life, but can I come over to your house with a bunch of knives and show them to you? Oh BTW!!! Have a penny on hand so I can show you my stupid little corkscrew trick when I get there! Ok bye!” You don’t get paid for training. You have to buy your own set of show knives (“on discount!”). There are so many weird little pep rallies and events you are supposed to go to that feel like some weird Maoist reeducation camp, where everyone claps along and sings stupid songs. They tell you to go through your cell phone lists and facebook and phone everyone that you know.</p>

<p>I felt really guilty for selling some of my best friends’ parents and neighbors all those overpriced knives. Think about how irrational this is- you are supposed to march into random people’s houses with a bag full of sharp knives, but Vector doesn’t even do background checks on their sales reps? Does that make an ounce of sense?</p>

<p>People will say that the people bashing Vector are just jealous and bitter that they didn’t have success. Not true. Many of us simply quit because it was the most sketchy little racket we’ve ever encountered. Many of us simply felt humiliated and embarrassed trying to push overpriced knives onto people who trusted us and loved us. Why are there no older people working in Vector? Why were all my managers college kids or recent college grads? Why is there such a high turnover rate? Because people wake up, get some common sense, and realize they’ve been screwing their best friends and family over for the last few months/years. In the end, I just stopped responding to the 4 voicemails my manager would leave every single day, and just went back to my old construction/landscaping job for an honest $10 an hour, where I worked hard, had fun with friends, and could actually feel good about what I was doing.</p>

<p>If I had the chance, I would personally apologize to each and every one of the customers who bought that expensive crap I was swindling. My mom bought a santoku knife from me. She doesn’t even use it. She prefers using her old wooden knives that she’s had since her late 20s and bought for $20 bucks at a yardsale.</p>