my summer $ blues/cutco knives?

[iplaybassguitar]

so im 19, back from my first year at college, which went well, and i am facing the challenge of saving up enough money to get me through another year of school, as well as trying to have some fun this summer.

i worked at target through high school, and started back there this past week, as a backup plan until i find something else, as target usually &$*$s me over, giving me an average of 15 hours a week at minimum wage, not nearly enough for what i need to do.

so today i check the "revised" schedule for next week, to make sure my hours hadn't changed. they did. they dropped a whole day off my schedule leaving me with ten hours.

after this kick in the balls, combined with the fact that target is full of douche/scum/b!+ch bags, i cannot work there any more.

my friend was just at my house the other night at an appointment with my parents to sell them cutco kitchen cutlery, and he was telling me a little about his job. he said he gets $15 per appointment, regardless of whether the people buy anything, if they do, he gets additional commission.

i feel like i could make a solid chunk of money doing something like this, and am very curious, my friend said he could set up an interview for me, and i might give it a go.

anyone in here ever do this? or anything similar? thoughts? opinions? is it a good job? good money? anything, just gimme what you got.

[ubado]

I've known a couple of folks who sold Cutco back in the day ... as long as you have a good area that you can get folks interested in seeing them... go for it (especially with men and the sporting knives).

Heck, it's worth a shot. The worst that can happen is you waste a bit of time.

BTW... great knives... rather pricey... not an easy sale nowadays (a bit out of date looking for todays foodies). However the sporting knives do sell rather well with fishermen.

[ADbassman]

Originally Posted by ubado

Heck, it's worth a shot. The worst that can happen is you waste a bit of time.

Thats not entirely true.

They make you either pay for the knives or put down a deposit on them. You won't get that deposit back.

Vector Marketing/Cutco are evil people. Stay away from them.

[tplyons]

Great knives, not necesarilly the best emplyoer.

[GeneralElectric]

Try Costco, thats where I work, you can apply online.

Starting pay is $11 an hour

[ahkiatt]

Are you good at sales?

[iplaybassguitar]

Originally Posted by GeneralElectric

Try Costco, thats where I work, you can apply online.

Starting pay is $11 an hour

thanks but i wasnt really looking for random ideas for employment, i was looking for opinions of cutco. plus theres no costco near me.

and to the boob who claimed that vector/cutco were evil people without explaining why...care to do so?

[FL Knifemaker]

Cutco knives are EXPENSIVE as hell. You can buy REALLY good name brand knives for less.

Unless you are in a really affluent area, count on the $15 sales calls.

[jady]

Cutco is a great product but the company's designed to make them money first, not the salesman. It is not as easy as it sounds to sell and make a profit from (a buddy of mine did Cutco for a summer and was not impressed with how the company works)

[dancehallclasher]

You certainly CAN make money selling Cutco if you're a good salesman, but it's pretty much a scam. They make you buy the product you're trying to sell and most people end up trying to sell to their friends, family, or family's friends or friends' family (as your buddy is doing!) rather than going door to door. This will make you feel like a heel if you have any integrity. I vote get a real job.

[TheXym]

I've had a few former students sell Cutco knives. While the knives are GREAT, they're very overpriced imho. In every case with the students, (late 90's time frame) they had to put in an initial deposit of between $300-$500 if I recall correctly to cover the cost of their demo knives and there was no refund of it.

[James Hart]

Originally Posted by dancehallclasher

You certainly CAN make money selling Cutco if you're a good salesman, but it's pretty much a scam. They make you buy the product you're trying to sell and most people end up trying to sell to their friends, family, or family's friends or friends' family (as your buddy is doing!) rather than going door to door. This will make you feel like a heel if you have any integrity. I vote get a real job.

+1 on all points. I interviewed and turned down a job with Cutco years ago. I went in blind... had I known the nature of the business prior, I wouldn't have went to the interview (it was kinda a sales demonstration for potential employees).

[FL Knifemaker]

Also remember, no knives are magic. ANY knife will dull when used on a cutting board.........or worse, a ceramic plate. Someone selling knives should focus on how easy they can be resharpened not how sharp they are out of the box. My Cutco paring knife dulled FAST while cutting cardboard and packing basses.

[Busker]

My niece sold this brand of knives briefly.

I don't know how many total sales she made, but I do know of two sales she made. She sold a good-sized set to her mother, around 12 or 16 knives total, with the knife block. Around $600 for that set.

She tried to sell me and my wife a set too and we declined, but since it was our niece, we did buy a paring knife. I think they threw in a potato peeler on the deal. Cost us $40 or a bit more. For a paring knife and a potato peeler. They are good knives, but expensive.

As the poster above says, after you make all the sales to your friends and family, then you have to go to work. That's probably when the niece dropped out.

[Marcury]

Originally Posted by Busker

My niece sold this brand of knives briefly.

I don't know how many total sales she made, but I do know of two sales she made. She sold a good-sized set to her mother, around 12 or 16 knives total, with the knife block. Around $600 for that set.

She tried to sell me and my wife a set too and we declined, but since it was our niece, we did buy a paring knife. I think they threw in a potato peeler on the deal. Cost us $40 or a bit more. For a paring knife and a potato peeler. They are good knives, but expensive.

As the poster above says, after you make all the sales to your friends and family, then you have to go to work. That's probably when the niece dropped out.

A Big +1. My niece also sold them for a Summer, had about the same family sales experiences. It's not worth your time unless you are serioulsy motivated and can do it 5 or 6 days a week.

[MJ5150]

Originally Posted by iplaybassguitar

.....who claimed that vector/cutco were evil people without explaining why...care to do so?

Open your favorite internet search engine, and type in Vector Cutco. You'll see why the claim was made.

I'm not taking sides, just saying.

-Mike

[casualmadness]

Originally Posted by James Hart

+1 on all points. I interviewed and turned down a job with Cutco years ago. I went in blind... had I known the nature of the business prior, I wouldn't have went to the interview (it was kinda a sales demonstration for potential employees).

Same thing happened to me. I answered an ad in the paper, right out of high school that advertised a "golden opportunity to make lots of $$$." "Direct marketing" I think is what they called it. "Supplying people with something that they can't live without" or some such nonsense. So I called and made my appointment and went to the office with a lot fo other schmo's looking for work.
The guy came on like a late night infomercial. We had to sit through a presentation that was vaguely reminiscent of a time share presentation.
Twenty minutes or so into it, I discovered what it really was. I stuck around to the end, when the late night infomercial guy wanted to talk to everyone, one on one in his office.
I walked in when called. He said, very enthusiastically..."So Matt, what do you think of our product here? Are you ready to watch your wealth grow while these knives sell themselves?"

To which I replied..."Had I known what this was...that is, had you listed in the ad what this actually is, I would never have wasted my time by coming here today. Sorry, but no. I am not interested."

To which he replied, rather rudely, I might ad..."Well, I wasn't planning to offer you a position with our company anyhow. We seek people with positive, upbeat attitudes. And you have a very negative attitude and we feel that you would not be an asset to our company. So we are not prepared to extend an offer to you."

"Right on," I said as I was walking out.

To the OP, someone else said it best...get a real job. Dont' hassle your parents, and your friends parents, and your uncle and his family, and finally your grandparents with this. My sister got involved with Amway for a while and she constantly hit all of us up, trying to sell us crap. All she did was anger a lot of people.
Again...get a real job.

[James Hart]

Originally Posted by casualmadness

Same thing happened to me. I answered an ad in the paper, right out of high school that advertised a "golden opportunity to make lots of $$$." "Direct marketing" I think is what they called it. "Supplying people with something that they can't live without" or some such nonsense.

[snip]

Again...get a real job.

Yup! sounds like we both got the same spiel. FWIW: My run in was circa 1990... amazing how somethings never change.

and I'll +1 that last bit once more!!!!! Just get a real job... even minimum wage is a better deal than Vector/Cutco IMO/E

[NJL]

stay away from the cutco bs, i remember my friends doing that **** a long time ago and it was a complete joke.

[casualmadness]

Originally Posted by James Hart

My run in was circa 1990...

Yeah, same here. Finished high school in '91 and I think it was maybe a year or so later. So probably '91-'92 time frame.