Some additional Pocket Clip Thoughts

[Grant Lamontagne]

With the recent pocket clip discussion I am a little more aware of the clips now, and while looking at the Skeletool pic on the main site I noticed that the Freestyle was missing the pocket clip.



I decided to look at the original and a few other pics I had taken and it appears there is a hole for the clip, but no clip is on it.  We saw several Freestyles and none had clips.  Here's the closeup of the three together- I'll let you figure out which one is which!



I wonder if this was a bizarre coincidence or whether or not the Freestyle will ship without a clip like the Kick or the Wave?

It seems odd to me really- I don't see the clips being a significant enough cost to have any noticable savings by not including them.  maybe the ones for the Wave/Charge models since there are some fairly precise bends and cuts, but the Skeletool and Kick clips don't seem nearly that involved.

Def

[ducktapehero]

It seems odd to me really- I don't see the clips being a significant enough cost to have any noticable savings by not including them.

It probably isn't, but I'd reckon selling them separately at $5 a clip brings in about $4.95 of profit.

[Grant Lamontagne]

At least!

Def

[jzmtl]

Don't forget the $10 shipping charge from leatherman.  that's $8 of profit right there.

[bobofish]

That's what it is. Why did the Charges sell with a clip and the Surge not? Some people will say that the surge won't be clipped as often as a charge. Nonsense; there will be plenty of people who won't clip a charge, and have no need for the clip, or for that matter the detachable lanyard ring. Why not sell those as an option on the charge series also?

Because the charge is the flagship model, and Leatherman wants you to buy that model. If you chose to buy another model, fine but pay for accessories to subsidize the bottom line a bit.

In my opinion it's only mildly distasteful, and even so it's common practice in all fields.

Also, the highest tier products in any company's lineup is usually the most profitable. Although the titanium scales on the charge may bring up the costs a bit in materials, the machining of the scales on the surge probablly cost more from a labor standpoint. The result is probablly relativley close to a wash, and either way the charge probablly has a higher profit margin than the surge. As a result, it costs Leatherman very little to throw in a couple of clips, especially when people will look at it as a cost advantage over other tools. The reality of course is that for Leatherman it's not a cost advantage, but a little bit of social engineering that enhances profits.

Never underestimate the impact of providing a cheap carry case, pocket clip or whizzbang doodad "FREE" on a consumer's purchasing choices.

An example of this was a recent study where people were offered Lindt Chocolate bars for 5cents and Hersheys for 3cents. Overwhelmingly, people chose the better Lindt bars. When the scientists reduced the cost of the Lindt bars to 1cent but offered the Hersheys for free, overwhelmingly people went for the Hershey bars over the previously superior Lindt bars, even though they were now even more dirt cheap.

Furthermore, it costs significantly less to "de-engineer" a product for cheaper lines than it does to develop a new flagship model. There's a formula for this in business that I completely forget. The bottom line however is that engineers don't set out to create a crappy product and then improve it; they usually have the assignment of designing a good product and then deengineering it to meet lower pricepoints. An example of this is the concept car, and the resulting boring production car that comes out on the market.

[jdailey4206966]

I just bought a clip for my wave. they are only $5 for the clip and lanyard ring, and the shipping was only $2 for standard shipping.