Made in America
 

Not so fast...

I think most of knew this information but this is the first time I have actually read objective data about it. So for anyone who is interested I am linking the article. We do a lot of flag waving when it comes to buying "American", and I support that, but things are not always what they seem.

What Is an American Car? These Days Its Hard to Tell, and That Could Snag the Push to Save Detroit Auto Makers

Could there be a more American vehicle than a "Jeep Patriot?" Nothing on four wheels says American more proudly than Jeep, the rugged brand that helped America win World War II, and has ferried millions into our wild, Western spaces since.

See if you know which vehicles were made in America with our quiz.
Yes, in fact, there could be a more American SUV than a Jeep Patriot. A Toyota Sequoia would be one of them. The Sequoia is 80% "domestic" according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, while the Jeep Patriot is only 66%.

"Buy American" is back on the agenda in Washington. Congress is debating proposals to require that contractors on projects financed by the economic-recovery package buy "American" steel.

The Treasury has pumped billions into two of the three American car makers with head offices in and around Detroit, hoping to avoid a collapse of what industry and political leaders call the U.S. auto industry. There's lots of talk about the government supporting American efforts to develop electric cars and batteries, and some federal programs already established to do this.

When it comes to the car business, however, consumers and Congress and the Obama administration are going to confront a tricky question: Just what is an "American" car, or for that matter, an "American" car company?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123265601944607285.html

Hell, if you buy Cutco knives you're buying American. We don't even subcontract the stainless components of our forks and spoons to Korea any more.

I don't think that most Americans are willing to work for the hours/wages it would take for the rest of us Americans to buy things at prices we think are fair.

Well, that's a free market.

Unfree markets make black markets... necessary. Then you get creepy shit.

I love my Cutco's. Sharpest hunting knife I have ever owned.

I don't buy anything from multi-level marketing companies.

Raaaaadar -- if you for one nanosecond believe Vector is a MLM, you know nothing about MLMs and can't tell the difference. We're about selling the product -- not selling dealerships, which is the essence of MLM.

Are you even smart enough to buy Cutco? So far, what you're saying is you aren't.

Do you generate your own leads?

Yep. Every independent contractor working in Vector Marketing (which is all of us in the sales force) does. Cutco makes 'em, Vector sells 'em, ALCAS owns both and Ka-Bar besides.

We all run our own businesses, but we still have the structure and knowledge of the big company to help and to back us up. The company's website also sells, but specials aside, which go to catalog customers, it's all at list price. The sales force comes in because essentially this product needs to be put in the customer's hand before they're likely to buy for the first time. It's a product that calls for a one-on-one demonstration rather than an infomercial or a fair-and-show kind of live-action infomercial demo. Particularly in view of safe knife handling. Cutco'll go right through a finger.

We don't like to hire former-MLM guys -- they have bad ethical habits that don't work in our culture.

Hey Merc, what's the item number on your hunting knife? Is it the Fifties-looking design with a hard handle or the Kraton-handled Outdoor Knife?

This one in a serrated edge.

http://www.cutco.com/products/produc...itemGroup=5718

Why not?

Do you get paid for recruiting other Cutco salespeople?

Well don't most foreign car companies have plants in the United States? At least some of them do, like Toyota and BMW. They employee American workers, so I would have no problem buying a Japanese/German car. Besides, they are just BETTER. :D

I have Henkel knives. The ones made in Germany, not the international brand. I think the Germans and the Japanese make the best knives, and I don't mind paying for them.

I try my best not to buy crap made in China, because it's crap. We might have really cheap products now, but we have sacrificed quality. And I refuse to shop at WalMart...

That's essentially how Cutco sales office managers get paid, according to a formula that is weighted towards encouraging managers not to quit recruiting -- because one fact of the managing part of the business is you have no idea on the first day of rep training just which ones you've hired will be consistent successes. This is not MLM, but sales management work, in an office that is your own.

However, you do not advance in the business by selling dealerships under your aegis to assorted wannabes. That isn't our corporate structure nor philosophy -- we've always been about selling product since Vector itself got going about 1971. Cutco Cutlery has been around since 1948, and tried several modes of marketing before arriving at Vector's method, which outcompeted everyone else's in the varied sales force.

Can a sales rep bring in another recruit and thereby get a bonus? Yes he can -- after the recruit he brought in starts to really succeed (it's determined by his recruit's sales amount and this amount is set company-wide; it's a standard). This is not the focus of the business or the effort; it is secondary or tertiary, unlike the case in MLM where you make the big money by hiring a network of guys to fill sales offices under you. It's not so much a compensation for getting some guy in the business as a bonus for bringing in somebody who's actually good at the business. And the rep that recruited him has to stay active in the business himself, so the bar's rather high. Cutco/Vector does its dangdest not to hire dopes, mooks, or shoegazers (though reformed shoegazers reinventing themselves get their shot with Vector Marketing). The rep's real money is in doing the demos, cutting manila rope and strips of leather during them, and taking the orders.

Selling stuff has its intricacies; this is one of them.

Always did like the drop-point. Seems easy to use well. My taste in field knives runs to the straight edge for ease of sharpening no matter where you are. It'd be different in an environment where I'm cutting a lot of rope and cordage, though -- ship or city, like. There I'd likely go with the fancy DD edge.