The one dollar Wal-Mart knife

[Keith Selbo]

Wal-Mart sells a $1 folding knife with one-hand opening, locking blade in it's camping supplies department. I've used it for two years with no complaints. The blade holds it's edge. I think the price comes from the handle which is plastic which presumably means it's less durable than other knives but it's also an hell of a lot lighter. Because of the bang-for-the-buck aspect, I think it's what Consumer Reports would call a best buy.

[David Olsen]

Photo or item number or link?

[Keith Selbo]

I don't have the original packaging, but I still see it in the local store. It's not sold on-line as far as I can tell, so photo is the best I can do. I just added a photo to my original post.

[Derek Cox]

Not sure if it was just a one time deal or not, but mine rusted within 24-48 hours of having it out in a moist environment.

[Luke Schmidt]

I bought a bunch of these when I worked at a summer camp for my boys to play with on camping trips. The problem is the handles break very easily and some that I bought came out of the package with a cracked handle. I eventually quit buying them the were just to junky for me.

[Keith Selbo]

"Not sure if it was just a one time deal or not, but mine rusted within 24-48 hours of having it out in a moist environment".

Probably a different knife. This one is stainless. Two years of numerous hikes rain or shine with no special treatment. No rust.

"The problem is the handles break very easily …"

I suspected this might be the case and I've been careful not to use mine for prying. For insurance, I bought three more and put them in a drawer. Still pretty cheap.

[jack hawksmore]

I've been using one of these for years, it has a sharp stainless steel blade that goes through packing materials like butter.
yes the handle is a little flimsy but it has stood up better then other knives I've owned which cost much more, weighed more and fell apart in a couple of months and for $1.00 it's an amazing zalue

[M B]

I have a couple I leave around my hunting camp .
They are cheap and flimsy and can be broken easily. But I dont cry if I lose it in the woods either.

I have a $4.99 knife I bought at walmart many yrs ago with Winchester brand on it, it is the same as one Cabelas was selling at the time for $30 with Cabelas name on it. It is a great well made knife that I carry all the time, and for $4.99 I wont cry if I lose it either, but I will miss it. I worry about losing a $50 kershaw knife clipped to my pocket, but not a $5 one.

[Paul Hood]

I thought the same… worth a try for $1. I picked up a couple, and it seems good and certainly worth the money. The back shows PM804 above the UPC, and below is a picture in the package… they had hundreds if not over a thousand in a big bin the other day.

[Richie S]

Is it me or does it just seem wrong that something like this can be available for $1?

The metals needed to be extracted, turned into steel, screws, plastic, other materials added, packaged, put on a ship, transported from China (I assume) to the US, taken to Walmart and sold for $1?

Perhaps I'm just being stupid, but is the price of manufactured goods getting to the point where it just encourages wasteful use of resources? Then we baulk at the cost of something hand-made with care by someone needing to make a real wage?

[Harald Hope]

Richard, thank you for stating reality. I refuse to buy anything from Walmart, period, they are destroying the fabric of the United States economy, not to mention being a major contributor to outsourcing and waste in the never ending quest to cut costs and price at the expense of everything else. I always feel pained when I see bpl talk about buying x or y at walmart as if there were no costs attached to these prices. In particular the notion of buying garbage so you can just throw it away seems particularly perverse and decadent, but it's a sign of our times, sad to say. This is why I really like the entire cottage gear maker thing, it's a total refusal to play a this cut costs and price game, and it's why I try to support them always when buying things if I can.

[Mike Oxford]

Even if it is "only a dollar" you're getting lost in the "1" aspect.

1 USD is 100 cents, which is relatively strong compared to many currencies (eg, 1 USD is ~6.5 Chinese yuan).

The average income in China is 10,220, according to Forbes [1], which works out to around 5.00 USD/hour. In many African countries we can see wages as low as ~100 (or less) per YEAR. What you discount as "one dollar" is relatively strong in the world economy, and couple that with the effects of mass production and machine efficiencies, prices plummet … just as we saw prices drop when the Model Ts rolled off Ford's assembly line.

Would it feel better to say "that knife cost me 109.42 ALL" [2] instead of 1 USD? Or "Sheesh! That knife was EXPENSIVE! I paid 600 RWF for that thing!" [3]

I'm just messing with you; I wouldn't buy one simply because I value quality over quantity and believe gear should be taken care of. However, that is not shared by billions of people in the world who just need a tool to get a job done … whether a Kershaw vs Walmart special, or a Craftsman screwdriver vs a cheap stamped Chinese version.

:)

-mox

1. http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybuilder/2010/06/24/one-big-difference-between-chinese-and-american-households-debt/

2. http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert/?Amount=1&From=USD&To=ALL

3. http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert/?Amount=1&From=USD&To=RWF

[John Almond]

I've been carrying one of these as my EDC knife for about a year now. The price is right; the craftsmanship is…passable. As long as you don't expect it to be a true bushcraft knife, it works just fine. Cutting line, opening boxes, spreading peanut butter, making feather sticks, things like that are just fine. Try to baton wood or skin an animal with it and you'll quickly wind up with an ER trip.

The only issue I had with it is that the lockback device on it started to give about ten months after I bought it. Which is better than I'd expected, considering the price. My scale claims that it weighs just about 1 ounce.

Anyway, the price is right for those of us who make less than 30k a year…

[Jen Churchward]

I also refuse to buy anything at Walmart. I find their business practices harmful and the way they treat their employees (particularly women) shameful. This is a personal choice, but I also encourage others to think for a moment about what they are buying and the reason for it. I would rather save up and buy one good quality item that has a good warranty then 10 inferior ones that I will throw away when they break. IMO Walmart is just a massive enabler of the throwaway society we have become.

[Chris Arnold]

No offense but cheap crap is never a good deal. I understand being frugal but IMO a good knife should be part of everyones emergency equipment. Do yourselves a favor and drop 20 bucks on a swiss army knife. One that says "Victorinox" or "Wenger" on it. If that's too rich for you, 8-10 bucks will get you an Opinel.

I'm curious to know what "sharp" is to the average user. I have yet to encounter someone with a sharp knife. Even among "knife people." YMMV

[Mobile Calculator]

…

[Valerie E]

I know it's very fashionable to blame Walmart for all the ills of the retail industry (conveniently overlooking all the other Big-box stores' part in our wasteful culture!), but we need to be more honest with ourselves in order to have any hope of changing things… I realize how subversive this is, but we need to face facts, and stop blaming one "boogieman" for everything.

For example, how about Amazon? I've NEVER seen a negative remark about them on BPL…

Read, "The Amazon Effect" in The Nation: http://www.thenation.com/article/168125/amazon-effect#. Amazon has driven (and continues to drive) whole retail sectors out of business.

A few highlights:

"The bookstore wars are over. Independents are battered, Borders is dead, Barnes & Noble weakened but still standing and Amazon triumphant."

"As Wired put it, when you buy the Kindle Fire, “you’re not buying a gadget—you’re filing citizen papers for the digital duchy of Amazonia.” For his part, Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame recently renounced his “citizenship,” pulling the plug on his Amazon Prime membership and calling for a boycott of Amazon after he discovered that the company had buckled under pressure from Washington and scrubbed WikiLeaks from its Web servers. Not unlike small independent bookstores, bricks-and-mortar retailers such as Walmart, Home Depot and Best Buy are feeling the ground give way beneath them. Target is fighting back, declaring that it will no longer sell Kindles, clearly dismayed by Amazon’s brazen promotion of a price-checking app as a means of competing with many of the goods that Target sells."

"Amazon is now an online Walmart, and while 50 percent of its revenues are derived from music, TV shows, movies and, yes, books, another 50 percent comes from a diverse array of products and services."

"Last fall, the Morning Call investigated their plight in one of Amazon’s main fulfillment warehouses in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It found that some employees risked stroke and heat exhaustion while running themselves ragged trying to fulfill quotas that resemble the onerous conditions so indelibly satirized by Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times. Ambulances were routinely stationed in the facility’s giant parking lot to rush stricken workers to nearby hospitals."

Sure, ragging on Walmart is easy and makes people feel like they're doing something great, but maybe we need to think more deeply…

(Edited to add one more quote)

[John S.]

Walmart rules.

[James holden]

thats the way the intrawebs is … a bit selective in their criticisms … walmart is a "bad company" … amazon is a "good" one …

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/amazon/10472094/Amazon-workers-face-increased-risk-of-mental-and-physical-illness.html

Amazon workers could face an increased risk of “mental and physical illness”, experts have claimed after seeing undercover recordings of working conditions.
Night shifts at the retail giant’s warehouse can involve up to 11 miles of walking as staff are expected to collect orders every 33 seconds, it was alleged as the company prepare to take on 15,000 extra staff for Christmas.
Professor Michael Marmot, one of Britain's leading experts on stress at work, was shown the secret films made for the BBC’s Panorama programme and said that the shifts combined "all the bad stuff at once".
Professor Marmot said: "The characteristics of this type of job, the evidence shows increased risk of mental illness and physical illness

His job involved fetching orders from the 800,000 square foot storage room, guided by a handset with allowed him a set number of seconds to collect each item and counted down – bleeping if he made a mistake.

The scanner also tracked the worker’s picking rate and informed bosses of his performance, leaving them open to disciplinary action.

The scanner tracked Mr Littler's picking rate and sent his performance to managers. If it was too low, he was told he could face disciplinary action.

Mr Littler, whose night shift rate rose from the daily rate of £6.50 per hour to £8.25 per hour, said that ten-and-a-half hour shift left him “shattered” with aching feet..

i think if we go off about wallymart, we should boycott amazon as well

;)

[michael levi]

I've used one and the hinges are loose and looks like it's ready to rattle apart.

[Mobile Calculator]

…

[Author]

Posts