<p>ppl on welfare even buy them. just cuz YOU cant afford them dont mean a regular family wit an avg income cant</p>
<p>I never said I couldnt afford them, I have the whole set actually, quality wise they're fine, but most people I approached about the idea laughed it off or said that they were turned off by the price, since typically, people don't invest in kitchen cutlery.</p>
<p>thats true. all u gotta do is build value</p>
<p>the Cutco division (or whatever) of Vector is just the training ground for hard-sals positions - meaning they'll train you to be an aggressive, hustling salesperson - dont be surprised if they ask you to telemarket after being with them for a bit. They expect you to hustle your own famliy and friends. They also make you pay for the knives you use to sell. The knives are good, but for $800 or more for a set anybody is way better off buying Global, Henckels or Whustof knives (what pro chefs use). </p>
<p>So in fact they're not just an unethical sales sweatshop, they also screw their own new employees by making them pay for the products they showcase.</p>
<p>Tell them all this on your interview, turn around and then walk away - you'll have fun.</p>
<p>Like your missing the point of it all. Maybe 1 percent of the US will buy Cutco, but how many millions is that?? Sure, most people today never cook at all, and like a guy driving a cheap car, why try to impress him on buying on that will last 20 years or more if maintained. Anyway, for those who enjoy cooking, those brands you mentioned are already in their kitchen and man they are worn out or in bad shape as no free replacement and they are mad about paying their high prices over and over which way exceeds the Cutco starting price. Those Cutco knives are replaced free by just turning in the old one, and does not matter how you got it. Try finding another company like that. Anyway, Vector is the Marketing company for Cutco and sure they go overboard, but that is the real world of sales and I been told it gets a lot worse when it is your full time job and if you cannot produce, they fire you and get some one who can do it. Vector holds your hands too much, but after you prove yourself, they offer you better programs that separate the go getters from the belly achers. Kids are dropping out every week as rather be playing their gameboy. Those knives you buy, the price is refunded when you quit or you can sell them for more on eBay as they love Cutco and go wild over it. One kid sold his $116 set for $160, real sweet.</p>
<p>Do these knives really cost $800? Ginsu are less than $50. You can buy a more than adequate set of real knives for about $3-400. </p>
<p>In college my roommate had a set of Cutco knives. I found them to be better suited for the shop than my kitchen. Although, I do have to admit that if you're looking for one tool to saw some dry wall or cut your shoe in half immediately before your food, Cutco may be the Rolls Royce of this market sector... </p>
<p>Since the original question was about taking a job selling these knives, I'd say take the job. Learning to sell an overpriced, inferior product will make you a heck of a sales person...</p>
<p>Go into any store with sales people paided by comminssion vs straight pay and see the difference. Commissioned sales are trainned to know their product line and promote the crap out of it. Straight, or hourly waged, those guys could careless about even being seen on the floor and you always seem to have to have some on page them and they have to look up the answer. Walk into a new car dealership and guess who is there? Commissioned sales are not just pushy, that is for the beginners. They make you feel guilty or dumb for not buying now and put on a crying show if you say "no". They get incentive pay by getting you to pay full price, rather than discount and buy junky extended warrantees and other crude based on statistics that put the company way ahead at our expense. If your going in sales, marketing, and promotions, it all pretty much works the same way and your butt is on the line with high pressure from your boss every day. High pressure tactic become an expectation put on you to get the big commissions and you begin to worry about having a job next month and paying the bills. Its all a big scam that rips off the average consumer and its called America. I have spoke about these problems to the old timers going back 50 years and they all said it was about the same back then. CUTCO COMES WITH THE FOREVER GUARANTEE. That is a big part of the cost of buying the product, because it can be passed down without any proof of ownership and they will always repair or replace it free if not abused and they take the word of the customer on making that decission. Who else offers that plan. I buy an iPod and have to pay $100 to send it in to have a tech replace the battery. Soon as I heard that, I am finding another brand that lets me change the battery myself.</p>
<p>I worked for Vector selling Cutco last summer for 3 months. Made a good amount of money, but the job was stupid. You start out by basically swindling you're family and friends into buying these overpriced knives, by going to their houses and making in-home presentations. Then you ask for recomendations and go to other peoples homes and try to weasel money out of them. Pay is based on number of presentations and commissions. I did alright for I lived/sold knives in a very posh community.</p>
<p>I'd rather work part time for a cell phone shop at a mall and make just as much if not more money- and not have to drive to peoples houses, have them feel awkward as I basically invade thier homes and try to manipulate them with "sales tactics" and almost force them to buy overpriced knives (who the fizzuck cares about "expert craftsmanship" for a kitchen knife? If you're buying a quality watch or an esteemed car, then yes, spurlge for the better quality. But for a pearing knife? Come on... Unless you're running a restaurant or something, normal $5 knives are just fine and dandy).</p>
<p>The hell with Cutco and Vector. If you're still brainwashed by thier projections, work there for more than 2 months and you'll see that the whole company and thier "selling technique" is as valued as the last shlt I took.</p>
<p>Sounds like a *****in experience, the blackjackjr guy here knows many who feel the same way. Take those cell phones at the mall, I do fine with the free ones or the really base model, but those clowns are always trying to con me to pay $300 or more to get their latest version. Ask them to show you how to do your 3 favorite functions that your phone can't and maybe they can do them all which they better. But who wants to buy a $300 plus phone and get a CD and book to read, because there are so many key functions to hit that a bud's dad who is an IT dude, said even he did not want to try to figure out how to use it. If your going to be selling stuff that is trendy meaning short self life, man you are going to have to shovel the BS on it with a front end loader. Sales is all about hype and lies and put downs. That is just the way it is, not just at Vector. Everyone makes their $$$$ off commisions including all the managers. If you feel better pushing a $300 cell phone on friends and stranger that you really know is crap or going out of production in 12 months with a newer model and its price drops in 2 months, but your manager is up your butt all day about moving the stock, then welcome to world. Vector doesn't care who you sell the Cutco knives too, but Cutco allows up to 6 months to return them and a case by case decision is made beyond 1 month. Find another company that offers that. The over price is on everything, and Cutco's included free replacements down the road. Each Vector office is independently run, so the personalities of the managers can be a problem. If you feel a law was broken, join the class action suite at the link the other guy gave where the writter said DD was same as serrated, yep, a real expert there.</p>
<p>I am working for them right now...and I really don't think it's that bad....of course, it's not made for people who are shy and stuff like that. It depends on what kind of person you are and what you make of the opportunity. But there are a lot of teens out there trying to make money for college, and it does offer very good money opportunities. Go for it, and if you don't like it, quit. It's simple</p>
<p>I interviewed it and got accepted. I never went to the training because a trading firm in NYC gave me an offer for equity research ( a real internship). I just wrote the vector guy I quit. I'm sure some people are really successful in it, but a lot more people suck at it.</p>
<p>How much do you exactly make an hour im haveing touble understanding what you make? Is it if you dont sell anything you dont make anything?</p>
<p>wow, you had to buy your own demo knives? i didn't know that. they sent me a letter too, and i was thinking of doing it.. but i was turned off by something about them. </p>
<p>we had a set of knives as house warming gifts about 10 years ago, and they're still pretty good. i mean, as long as it cuts, it's good right? (even though they did chip at the ends!)</p>
<p>
[quote]
we had a set of knives as house warming gifts about 10 years ago, and they're still pretty good. i mean, as long as it cuts, it's good right?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Use a knife that cuts beautifully (which the Cutcos I've used do, and continue to do so for a very long time) and compare it to a knife from Ikea that can cut stuff...well...sometimes.</p>
<p>Dull, weak knives are also much more dangerous than a good knife. I had a set of cheapies when I first started to learn to cook and developed some pretty bad habits. One of them wound up causing me to chop off about 1/8"-1/4" off the tip of my thumb.</p>
<p>I worked for Vector / Cutco for 2 years.</p>
<p>I was in the top 25 of my Region for several consecutive campaigns (3 or 4 - can't quite recall). I wound up being promoted to a management position.</p>
<p>Here's my perspective:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>If you have a lot of significant bills to pay, it's NOT a great opportunity. As with all sales jobs, your income will flux from week to week. One week you might make $20 because no one will sit down with you; the next week you might make $500 because everyone sets up appointments with you and everyone buys something. It's chance. I DO NOT subscribe to the belief that "if you're not successful it's because you don't work hard." It's SALES. Trust me, entry-level reps, you're not good at sales yet. You're good at reading from a manual. lol. Some people don't succeed because of chance; some aren't cut out for sales; some are much too shy; some people hate talking on the phone. It's not because they're lazy.</p></li>
<li><p>If you need experience and SOME spending money, it's fantastic (which is why they go for college kids -- most adults have serious bills and don't need experience).</p></li>
<li><p>Re. the pay question above - basically, you get paid whichever is GREATER, base pay or incentives. So, if you're at 10% incentives, and you sell $1,000, that's $100. However, if you did 10 presentations at $16 each to get that $1,000 in sales, that's $160 base pay, so you'd get the $160 instead. On the other hand, if you're at 15% incentives, and you sell $1,000, but it only took you 6 presentations to do it, you'd earn $150 off of the incentives and $96 off the base pay, so you'd get the $150 incentive pay.</p></li>
<li><p>Paying for samples - managers are NOT allowed to give out sample kits without taking a deposit. The deposit is 25% of the kit price and if a manager accidentally OR purposefully gives away a kit without taking a deposit, the company will charge them. I think right now the samples cost $130 plus tax. It IS fully refundable - I know there are horror stories about offices closing down (usually at the end of the summer - summer branches are only open through August) and reps are "stuck" with their kits - but were those individuals resourceful enough to find the corporate number (by going to vectormarketing.com) they could simply call the corporate office and get a full refund, and not even pay for shipping (co. usually sends them a shipping label).</p></li>
<li><p>I DO NOT like or endorse the company. I'm not gonna lie. I eventually figured out how the company makes so much money (ever notice that they give away trips like it's their job? wonder where that funding comes from?) - the managers and reps earn a combined 35% of the commission with the managers fronting most of the costs; the corporations (yes, plural - Vector Marketing Corporation and Cutco Cutlery) earn the other 65%. So that 65% is used to pay for manufacturing the knives (in all fairness they pay their factory workers exceptionally well), paying the PR, legal, and accounting people, the CEOs' salaries, and the rent for the two corporate offices.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>That doesn't really make sense, because the managers have to use their portion of the 35% to cover costs of office rent, Internet, receptionist pay, base pay (25% of each base pay payout is covered by the manager), office furniture, accouting fees, advertising costs (I spent $4,000 per month on adverts and was "conservative"), and phone bills.</p>
<p>In my opinion, most of the company's problems could be solved if the managers were paid more. All of the co's problems come from individual managers being deceptive to save a buck because they're in such a precarious financial situation.</p>
<p>Oh, and about Cutco knives -- honestly, they're great. I no longer work there but recently purchased a full set for my grandfather because his hands are so badly arthritic - the handle is great for folks with arthritis, plus, because they're so sharp he doesn't have to spent much time cutting.</p>
<p>The Forever Guarantee is absolutely fantastic and the customer service is truly great. They are expensive, but my advice is to take advantage of the sales rep system: each rep is allowed to give you $20 of free stuff per $100 that you buy. So if you get the full set you can get $160 of free stuff - so you can get the big set and then get a smallish set for a friend. OR if you know a sales rep and think they may quit, tell them that rather than returning their kit, they can give it to you and you'll reimburse them for the deposit. That way you get a kit worth $600 but you only pay $150 at the most, AND the rep doesn't have to report that reimbursement to the government as "earnings" to offset the "expense" of placing the deposit. ;)</p>
<p>Any questions, ask me. I'm pretty much a Cutco/Vector expert, lol.</p>
<p>WHEW. Sorry that was so long. Hope ya'll got through the whole thing; there's some good insight there (not to toot my own horn. :))</p>
<p>I recently got a job with Cutco and I've also quit. The job simply isn't right for me. My managers were unwilling to accept that and immediately tried to assure me that I shouldn't quit because of a bad experience. They then immediately began pressuring me into trying to find more appointments. When I informed my manager that the people around where I live and work (I was forced to sell closer to where I live, which is about an hour from where I accepted the job, because I'm told to sell to people I already know) were truly feeling the economic pinch as of late, I was told, and I quote "(my name), the economy is ********, alright? Now you're just making excuses!"</p>
<p>All and all this was not a positive experience for me by any means. I asked the other employees who started in the same training class as me, and some of them had similar experiences, while others made some great sales within their first weekend. Personally, I am not a salesman by nature, and I never have been. While I have been told I could argue a porkchop out of a dog's mouth when I believe in something, the extra work is really what got me down with this job. Whenever I booked appointments and called in to confirm them, I was immediately told afterwords, "Great, now try and see if you can book any more!" If I wanted to work for someone who would never truly be satisfied, I would work for my father. As srk2009 illustrated, it is because the managers are commissioned and are under a high amount of pressure to get sales reps out and selling. My manager would always say "Let's ship some blades!" which made me cringe every time I heard it, lol.</p>
<p>If you're a good salesman or plan on being a salesman down the road, this is a good job for you. It will give you valuable sales experience and is a job that is readily available to college students. However, if you're not, this job has a lot of extra work involved, and if you're either busy with classes or simply unmotivated, this job will wind up being a hassle more than anything. I hope this helps!</p>
<p>I worked for Vector for 2002, I only lasted the full year. The 2 day of unopaid training was a little bit of a downer. I agreet that as we were all indipendant contractors why did he have to go to mandatory meetings other than to restock supplies and do a quick check in. Thankfully I was intelligent enough to listen to my gf to look for another job. I'm currently in the top 35 sales reps in the country for selling home security equipment. Howver I will tilt my hat to the process that was taught by cutco to anyone that had a desire to enter sales or try something compleatly different. Anyone that came on board has read the contract and most of stated that the only way for peopel to but cutco is through cutco reps. If you look online you can find various websites seling cutco. I would like to ask srk2009</p>
<p>sorry part 2
ask srk2009 how to create such a site that will not be taking donw and will become profitable so it could me a more efficient work form home base</p>
<p>The primary reason anyone speaks poorly about Cutco/Vector is because he/she is uneducated about the company. I could type pages about how most Cutco related topics are misunderstood, but that would just be another opinion. I would encourage all of you reading this to follow threw with just checking it out for yourself. It is a great opportunity and a fun job. Any questions that you have just discuss them with whoever you were trained by and tell them all of your fears. Even though their answers would be bias because they work with the company, their answer would also be the most accurate because of the same reason. If you want to make a lot of money, who would you ask? Some random guy on the street, or a wealthy person who you know? You would ask the person who is already successful because that is where you want to be. In the same respect, it doesn’t make sense to ask random people their opinions when they don’t have a lot of experience with the topic that you are curious about. Anytime anyone has a bad experience it is for one of two reasons. 1) They are lazy and/or 2) They don’t follow instructions. In most cases people are lazy and they don’t work hard so therefore they have a bad outlook on the job. In essence that really does make sense, if you get kicked off the baseball team you might talk poorly about your coach. Then again when you really analyze your situation you probably didn’t work hard enough to keep playing on the team. In that same way if you are a hard worker you’ll stick with Cutco. If your a “nay-sayer” than of course your going to speak poorly about it. Why?? Because it didn’t work out for you.</p>
<p>If Cutco were a ‘SCAM’
- how would we be approved by the Better Business Bureau?
- why would President Carter buy a set of Cutco several years ago?</p>
<p>Just a couple questions to think about 
Don’t take my advise check it out for yourself.
Let me know what you think.</p>
<p>wow why revive a year old topic?</p>
<p>seriously though, if you have like 70-80 people out of 100 saying something sucks. then it probably sucks. </p>
<p>And people gotta stop making brand new accounts with 1 posts to defend something. Unfortunately most people on these forums aren’t dumb.</p>
<p>Also, “if Cutco was a scam, how would we be approved by the BBB”? the BBB and SEC approved of billion dollar ponzi schemes. Just because you are “approved” doesn’t mean the company isn’t using a underhanded pyramid scheme to make money. Also, you don’t need to be a genius to be president. Your making it sound like its a great accomplishment when a below average president purchases something. </p>
<p>If you need to know about Cutco/Vector, just read srk2009’s post. His post is the most accurate depiction of the company.</p>