Cutco
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| Cutco | |
 |
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1949 |
| Headquarters | Olean, New York |
| Industry | Kitchen accessories |
| Products | Cutlery |
| Revenue | $178 million |
| Employees | over 800 |
| Slogan | The World's Finest Cutlery |
| Website | www.cutco.com |
CUTCO is a brand of cutlery and kitchen accessories directly marketed to customers through in-home consultations with sales representatives who are usually college-aged. The products cannot be purchased in stores. Cutco is owned by Alcas and has been in business since 1949. All its knives are produced in Olean, New York in the United States, although a few products (such as the ice cream scoop and the metal heads of the flatware) are partially made outside the US.[4] Some features include what Cutco calls a "Double-D" recessed edge, ergonomic handles, and a "forever guarantee" that promises that "Cutco is the last set of knives you will ever have to buy." The blades are made of a harder material than even most high-end kitchen knives, and hence less prone to dulling. Cutco is the largest manufacturer of kitchen cutlery in the United States, selling over $178 million worth of product in 2006.
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[edit] Facts and figures
- Cutco offers a Forever Guarantee to its customers, stating that the customer can send their knives to the company to have them sharpened, polished and returned to the customer for no charge, just the shipping fee. This can be repeated for an unlimited amount of times. It is also possible to have a Sales Representative visit the customer's home and sharpen the knives for them. This can save them the shipping fee.
- More than 100 kitchen cutlery products are sold under the Cutco name, as well as a variety of kitchen gadgets, utensils and flatware. The company also carries a line of low-moisture cookware, sporting and pocket knives and garden tools.
- Cutco has been purchased by more than 14 million customers.
- Cutco, through Vector Marketing, employs over 40,000 college students each year in sales.
[edit] Materials
- The blade is a high carbon stainless steel, type 440A instead of 154CM or ATS-34. Grade 440A steel can rust and stain without proper care, since the term 'stainless' means that it is stain resistant, not impervious to stains.
- Cutco blades are stamped blades. After this the steel undergoes a three-step heating and cooling process in order to improve performance. An article from Consumer's Digest magazine in June of 1998 states, "Forging was once thought to give knives advantages in edgeholding and other properties, but today's experts say that modern stamped steels can still perform as well as expensive forged blades if the heat-treating is performed correctly." This is the exact heating process that Cutco performs. This process was featured on an episode of the Travel Channel's "Made in America".[1]
- The Double-D Edge refers in part to the fact that the edge has an angular serration with three segments. The recessed edge is protected from dulling caused by cutting on an unsuitable surface such as a plate because the points are the only thing that touches a hard surface such as a cutting board while the blades do the actual cutting. This design allows for cutting even with a dull knife by sawing through the food. Like other serrated knives, Cutco knives with a recessed edge generally cannot be sharpened at home by owners and can either be mailed back to Cutco for professional resharpening or can be serviced in-home by a service rep.[2][3]
- Handles are made of Celcon (r), an acetyl copolymer injection-molded thermoplastic and are fastened to the blades using Nickel silver rivets which expand and contract less than the standard brass rivets used in most knives.
[edit] Sales Program
- Cutco is only sold through in-home demonstration and is a member of the Direct Selling Association. [5]
[edit] Vector Marketing
- Vector Marketing is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Alcas Coporation and does all of the marketing of the Cutco products.
- Vector's training seminar is mentioned in over nine college textbooks for their model marketing strategies, used at many prestigious universities throughout the nation, including Harvard Universty, University of Texas and Baylor University, among others.
- Purdue University and Illinois State University both offer marketing courses in which they require their students to work with Vector in order to pass the course. This is attributed to Vector's training, in which representateves gain the "Skills for Life" they will utilize for the rest of their professional careers. [6]
- Every employee of Vector Marketing began his or her career as a Sales Representative. Each manager (at every level - district, divisional, and regional) as well as the President of the company began in the same entry-level position that the company still offers today as a Sales Representative.
[edit] Controversies and criticisms
- Cutco and its marketing arm, Vector Marketing, have been the subject of varied controversy. Vector Marketing's employment tactics have been targeted for criticism, specifically for deceptive recruitment practices. This was due to an ambiguous explanation of the work in the job advertisements. [7]Vector was sued by the Arizona Attorney General in 1990, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in 1999, and was ordered by the state of Wisconsin not to deceive recruits in 1994. Each time their legal trouble revolved around allegedly fraudulent recruiting tactics, and each time Vector settled and promised not to mislead their recruits anymore. In the early 2000s, Vector made what they called "transparency" changes to become more upfront about what they offered representatives. Many of the people who were in upper-level positions with Vector 10 to 15 years ago when most of the criticism occurred no-longer work with the company.
[edit] Detailed Pay Structure
Most Cutco sales representatives are college students. Sales personnel set their own schedules while being encouraged to attend unpaid weekly meetings. They are paid weekly through a two-tiered pay scale. First, an sales representative's base pay is calculated by multiplying the number of presentations performed during that pay period by the dollar amount paid per presentation. Then, the commission from that week's sales is calculated; the sales representative is paid whichever amount is greater. A representative's commission increases as their career sales increase. For example, a new representative (called a "trainee") will earn a 10% commission on sales. Once they have sold $1,000 of merchandise, their commission is increased to 15% and they become a full-fledged sales representative. It is possible for experienced salespeople to make as much as 50% commission.
[edit] Trivia
- The cutlery brand and its sales tactics were parodied in the episode I Married Marge of The Simpsons where a young Homer tries selling "Slashco" knives. It is also mentioned when Homer is trying to come up with a name for his internet business, claiming he needs a clever name such as Cutco.
- Zig Ziglar started out in business by selling Cutco.
- Neil Armstrong sold Cutco while in college.
[edit] External links
- Cutco website
- Vector Marketing website
- [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/savecampaign/ Students Against Vector Exploitation (SAVE) - Yahoo group of currently disgrunted former "contractors"
