WR Case & Sons. Finally...

[XX Case XX]

After several years of stagnation, the "Case" website has finally been updated. You can even buy directly from the website. I don't know how many times I sent email's to them saying that their website needed to be updated. But now, finally...https://www.caseknives.com/

__________
Mike

[Mumbleypeg]

Looks like a big improvement. Appears the old site URL www.wrcase.com now links to the new one.

Ken

[Railsplitter]

Very nice to see this! Thanks for the heads up, Mike.

[Steve Warden]

Seems to still have issues.
I did a search for 6347. Page came up, "showing 3 results," but no pics or anything to cluck on from there.
Search "chestnut" and page says, "showing 21 results." Nothing's showing!

[Woodly]

Dealer prices are less and wheres the CASE College?

[rea1eye]

Why did they change the web address. I always liked the wrcase prefix-- gave Case

some old school class............

Bob

[XX Case XX]

Why did they change the web address.

I know what you mean Bob, I kind of wondered that myself...

_________
Mike

[Mumbleypeg]

Think of the Millenial generation. Never heard of W.R. Case, but maybe heard of Case Knives. So that's how they search the web.

Makes sense to me.

As for what happened to Case College and other features, I'm betting Case has stats regarding how many "hits" each feature of their site receives. I have no inside knowledge but speculating they dropped the less popular features.

Ken

[Mumbleypeg]

There is another new addition also. http://Www.casecollectorsclub.com. Previously access to the Collectors Club was via a link on the old wrcase.com site. Now it has its own separate URL.

Ken.

[treefarmer]

A friend of mine gifted me with a Case Collectors Club membership several years ago. It was interesting, the magazine and the offers but when I needed to know something about a Case knife I still turned to AAPK. I didn't renew the membership, needless to say. Nothing against the club, just wasn't for me.
Treefarmer

[knifeaholic]

A friend of mine gifted me with a Case Collectors Club membership several years ago. It was interesting, the magazine and the offers but when I needed to know something about a Case knife I still turned to AAPK. I didn't renew the membership, needless to say. Nothing against the club, just wasn't for me.
Treefarmer

The Case Collectors Club forums (CCC members only) are pretty good, but are oriented about 99% toward the new recent knives. An "older" knife on the CCC forums is one from 2010 or so.

[Mumbleypeg]

The Case Collectors Club forums (CCC members only) are pretty good, but are oriented about 99% toward the new recent knives. An "older" knife on the CCC forums is one from 2010 or so.

I agree. That's usually where I go to find info on newer Case knives, and some of the older threads there have good info on knives from the 1990s and 2000s. The topics of the day though are typically about the newer releases and Case promotions.

When a really nice one from XX, Tested or earlier era is posted, the typical reaction is "Nice oldie. What pattern is that?" You can occassionally get some good historical research from the Case employees who participate. There's some really nice friendly folks on the forum. Just like you'd expect from knife collectors.

Ken

[Meridian_Mike]

Not sure exactly what has happened over at Case but I do know one thing.....
I just made a request for a new shield for a little Case Peanut I just picked up at the antique store.
They replied to me the next day asking for a picture of the knife (this was yesterday) and today, they say they are getting a shield out to me in the mail.
WOW......

Last time I ask for a shield it took about 2 weeks for the first reply from the repair dept. and another week or 2 before I had the shield in my hands.

Things are looking up!!

Mike

[TwoFlowersLuggage]

Why would someone pay more to buy a knife directly from Case as opposed to an online dealer like Deadwood or SHC? If availability is better by buying direct, then they have something wrong with their distribution channel. And, if they follow this up with enforcing a Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policy on their dealers, then that means Case is competing directly against their own dealers - and in that case, if I was SHC, I would not be happy.

[Mumbleypeg]

This model is standard operating procedure for many companies. Check out Smith & Wesson, Buck Knives, etc. you'll see that you can buy on-line directly from their web sites.

You can buy at MSRP directly from their web site if you want, but they have no intention to match the pricing offered by their many retailers. So they're not really competing with them. I can think of many manufacturers that offer their products for sale at MSRP on their web site, but you can find their products at steep discounts on sites like Amazon. They don't really expect you to buy from them direct. In fact given the cost of warehousing, order entry, picking, packing and shipping a single item, I suspect they prefer you buy the item from one of their retailers. (As a former Operations Manager for a Fortune 500 manufacturing company I have some knowledge of this.)

Using your example if I'm Shepherd Hills Cutlery I see my competitors as other discounters like Smokey Mountain Knife Works, not Case. And if I look at the manufacturer's web site and see an item I want, at price X, and then find it somewhere else for X minus 25%, I'm thinking I'm a smart Shopper!

Ken

[TwoFlowersLuggage]

Correct! I only see them as competing against their dealers if they also implement the MAP policy, where everyone, including themselves, is forced to advertise at no lower than the price the Mfr sets. They can still run sales - but they can't advertise the sale prices. To know the sale price you would need to have asked to be on a marketing list, or you would need to call them. Some get around these policies by having you enter your email to get the "special price". The Mfr also needs to be careful how they write the MAP policy or they can get into trouble with the FTC for price fixing & restraint of trade.