What is a Benchmade knife? What makes these Benchmade knives so expensive? Where are Benchmade knives made? Benchmade is an American-based company that produces knives and is also involved in rescue and military operations. One of the critical factors that make up the price of a knife is the materials used to make them.
But is it worth that much? Benchmade knives are state-of-the-art and enter the market as top-notch. So what’s the difference between a Benchmade knife and any other knife on the market? Are there knives better than Benchmade knives that are less expensive?
Are Benchmade knives good? If not, why are Benchmade knives so expensive? Why are Balisongs so expensive from Benchmade? Well, we’re going to dive into some key factors that affect the price compared to other knives in the industry. Let’s have a look at some of the price-determining factors.
Business Location?
One of the biggest obstacles in knife making or general industrial production is the place where the business is located. This will determine how high the production costs will be. If the business is located in a highly affluent place like the United States of America, production costs would be much higher than in a place like China.
Many production facilities these days use highly computerized technology to facilitate all of their production. It is expensive to install these, but once they’re installed, they are pretty low maintenance. One of the benefits is that you will likely spend less money on labor costs because fewer people work in the factories due to more computerized equipment.
Construction via computerized equipment is a highly effective method of production. In modern times, it is highly expensive. The cost of production is increased, and therefore the product price has to be increased to compensate for the production costs. These companies often produce high volumes and have to produce them as quickly as possible to meet demand.
Benchmade knives originally paved the way for highly computerized equipment like laser machines and many other industry technological advancements. Unfortunately, for Benchmade knives, their factories are located in very affluent areas, making their labor costs still relatively high, even though they’re using computerized technology. So this drives the price even higher.
Efficiency
Here we’re referring to how the knife functions. Whether it be opening, closing, or slicing, when a manufacturer develops a knife, he wants it to be perfect. And he will go through many tests to prove that the knife functions well. They go through multiple tests to make sure that the finished product is worth selling to customers.
Benchmade makes an effort to produce new versions of knives to give customers new and more exciting products. Knives nowadays have extra safety features, easy to open features, and single-handed use features. There are five types of knives in the general marketplace: Folding blades, assisted blades, automatic blades, fixed blades, and Balisong knives.
When a customer buys something that is highly-priced, then it has to be worth the salt. Who wants to buy something that doesn’t work? So this is where Benchmade knives flourish, and they will continue to flourish in this nature because of their highly efficient products.
Their knives and their manufacturing facilities are efficient due to the immense amount of goods they have to produce daily, and therefore the prices stream up and up. The highly efficient working system sends the prices sky-high.
Quality of Materials
One of the significant factors that drive up the price of any product is the materials used in manufacturing. Companies take pride in the quality of materials they use because this ensures that the customers will be happy. Some companies, usually the ones based in Asia, are the ones that produce lower-quality goods.
Benchmade knives are based in the USA, which usually means that they will use higher quality materials. However, this means the price will increase as well. The materials that are used to make the products will affect the performance of the items. Toughness and durability are the most significant characteristics that are affected. The knives need to be able to last long and withstand high amounts of force.
Edge retention is another critical factor because the blades need to stay sharp for long without being sharpened. High-quality steel is used in making Benchmade knives and unsurprisingly has a high price attached to it. Steel also has to go through processes that get the blade to the ultimate hardness rating, making the blades formidably sharp and robust.
Branding
One of the ways that significant companies solidify their monopoly over the market is via brand recognition. This means that they want their brand to be known by everyone in the way that everyone knows what a Ferrari is. If people associate their brand with a high-quality popular niche, they will be able to charge whatever they want for their products because the brand’s name is worth a lot more than the piece of equipment.
This is a standard marketing strategy that high-profile businesses use and works every time. What knives are better than Benchmade? The funny thing is that there many knife brands that are much better than Benchmade. But because they have the most significant brand and most popular name, their knives will always be viewed as better.
The bigger the brand, the more leeway they have to play around with prices. So you’ll find that they will have done many tests over the years playing with prices and seeing how much they can get from a customer without negatively affecting their revenue in the long run.
If you were to have a choice between two knives lying on a table, looking much the same and possessing the same set of functions (but you didn’t know what materials they were made from); one has a nice logo and branding, while the other is just plain without any brand; which would you choose?
The one with the logo could be made of the lowest quality materials whereas the other with the best. Yet, most of us would choose the one with a name attached to it because it appears more authentic.
Final Thoughts
There are so many factors that affect how we view something. And depending on how we view the items, prices will change accordingly. Unfortunately, nowadays, the value of the items is mainly based on the name of the brand and the appearance instead of the nitty-gritty effectiveness and performance of the equipment because no one is asking, “why are Benchmade knives so expensive?”
One way to identify this trend in a business is to look at their lower-priced goods and then compare the quality of materials to the higher-priced goods. You might find that the lower-priced goods are mostly the same in terms of quality, meaning that the higher-priced items are well over-priced. In the end, you’ll probably find that you can buy a Benchmade kitchen knife without a brand logo from a local dealer in a tiny shop for one-fifth of the price – that’s just how it is.
