Who spends time thinking about a potato peeler? Well, this year that would be me.
The story starts about 15 years ago or so, when a client asked me to let a young gentleman practice his sales pitch on me. Of course I said yes, so we set an appointment and met in the break room at my office.
This young man was selling Cutco knives – which I had never heard of at the time.
He did a fine job and I ended up purchasing a couple of paring knives, a kitchen shears, and a potato peeler. Since then I've purchased more – some from the company, plus 6 assorted knives that I found for $5 each at an estate sale. (I felt like I'd found a gold mine!)
Nothing lasts forever, and by about Christmastime that peeler had gotten so dull that it was annoying. Had I realized it, I could have sent it back to Cutco for sharpening, but instead we tried to sharpen it. That made it worse, so we finally parted company.
A potato peeler is a potato peeler, right? I thought I could just go to the store and buy one - and I did.
The first one wasn't bad, but somehow it disappeared. I suppose it accidentally went in the trash, but there I was again with no potato peeler. So I went to the grocery store and bought another, which also disappeared. Next time I bought 2, so I'd have backup. It was becoming a household joke.
Buying a peeler for $3 made it seem kind of silly that I had spent about ten times that much for a Cutco. That is, until about the 3rd time I used it, when it simply fell apart.
Obviously, the grocery store peelers were not reliable, so the next time I was out of town shopping I bought another. This time I spent a bit more – maybe $6.
But… the shape and texture of the handle made it tough to hang onto with wet hands. Worse, the blade was nearly as dull as the old peeler that I had thrown away. I switched to that grocery store backup.
A few days later, that one fell apart too!
That night I went on line and ordered a new Cutco peeler.
So what did I learn?
1. Buying cheap tools costs too much – not just in money, but in wasted time and energy.
2. It really does pay to shop. Cutco offers peelers on their website for $38, but a vendor on eBay has the same item, new in the package, for $26.60, including shipping.
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