Cutco
 

I just started with the company about 3 weeks ago, and I'm loving it!!! I can't believe I'm saying it, but: "I sell knives in people's homes, and it ROCKS!!!" Are there any former CUTCO sales reps out there, successful or disgruntled?

You sound like an infomercial ;) hehe.

Don't make me do the voice of the hyper Australian guy in suspenders!!! :). Seriously, it's pretty cool. They selectively recruit college students every summer to take part in the opportunity. There's so much cool stuff, it would take a while to tell ya all about it, PM me if you want.

Actually, both my high school sweetheart and my big sis were Cutco salespeople, and my grandma STILL has the pie server she bought off HSS (I think in 1993)...It's a great piece, but I have to admit that I cringe a little whenever I learn we're having pie at my grandma's 'cause she brings up his name. I cut him out of my life in 1996.

BTW, watch your blades during demonstrations...HSS almost bled on my parents' dining room table when he was first on the job. They let him test his sales skills on them, and although they said they would buy if they were in need of knives, it was kinda scary for a minute. He said the blade was so sharp he didn't even realize he'd cut himself until my dad (like me, a real wimp where blood is concerned) started to turn kinda pale.

I got accepted to that and it sounded like a hoax. The company was going on an on about how they had the sharpest knives in the country. How was I going to get people to just buy knives out of the blue?And the $14.00 per appointment wasn't as great of an idea as it sounded.

One of my best friends from high school did that last summer. After about a month of working with the company, she was only having a couple of appointments per week and her supervisor kept pushing her to get more appointments. The whole reason she took the job was because they told her that she could work around her daily schedule. She didn't need to work, she just did this on the side for extra spending money. She ended up quitting on them because of the pressure to "have more appointments."

The knives are great though. She came over and showed the knives to my parents who really liked the knives, but didn't need any at the time.

My folks have owned cutco knives since I can remember. They're great knives... Cutco does believe in that lifetime warranty thing though!

A friend of mine was a rep. Other than the sales kit (which is a great deal on cutco knives) he worked a lot on it and didn't have anything to show for it in the end. It's a multilevel marketing program as far as I understand it. You can recruit salespeople to sell under you and then you actually start to make $$

Yeah, I was "hired" by cutco but i didnt end up doing it. They told me I had to initially buy ALL of the items to show people. I was like riiiiight, i am a poor college student, I dont have the money for this! so, I didnt do it. but my mom has cutco knifes and the rock!

My younger sister did this for a few months...I really liked the knives, but DAMN they are expensive!

My mother bought a whole set...I think mainly to help my sister since she had to buy some to use in the demonstrations.

For those social butterflies that know a lot of people and CAN MAKE AND KEEP the appointments, it seems like a decent side job. But, alas, my sister had a habit of standing people up on their appointments and as a result lost a few "guarenteed" sales with family friends and neighbors.

It seemed to me that if the knives are so damn good (which they seem to be), why hasn't the company got a distribution deal with a major retail chain like Target, Walmart or Kmart?

Just my $.02.

It's actually a good thing that the knives are sold only through direct selling and not retail bcause there would be tons of markup on the knives. For example, the Henckels 5-Star set is sold usually for $1399. If the CUTCO Homemaker plus-8 set were sold in stores, it wouldn't be sold any cheaper than $2500, because of the forever guarantee, Double-D edge, thermo-resin handles, and other special features. But through direct selling, CUTCO lets it go for only $805.00.

I noticed that most people have positive things to say about CUTCO knives. Unfortunately, I don't. Now, I'm not trtying to be rude or anything - this is only my experience and opinion.
:)

My old roommate from my freshman and sophomore years worked for CUTCO. Frankly, the job seemed kinda dodgy to me. I just don't see myself buying a knife simply because it can cut through an aluminum can or a piece of rope.

Of course, she had to buy an expensive set of knives to show. After the initial mom, aunts, uncles, and neighbor appointments, my roommate ran out of people to show the knives to. She tried really hard but ended up quitting after a few weeks.

We used the knives in our apartment - I was thoroughly unimpressed. After a couple of weeks, I couldn't even cut a tomato. My sister, who is a professional chef (and I mean fine dining, not Denny's), came over one day and tried sharpening them for us but they dulled again very quickly. My sister examined the knives and said that they were not very good at all - or, at least, certainly not worth the price they were being sold for. No, she does not use Henckel's knives either - I guess we're just "foodies" at my house. :) I can't remember the name of the brand of knives she uses, but they are professional grade.

At any rate, I guess I'm just surprised to hear people saying "Yeah, CUTCO knives are great." The knives my roomate had weren't very good at all. I guess it's all a matter of perspective. :)

......Kelly :)