{"id":7958,"date":"2005-07-12T14:37:16","date_gmt":"2005-07-12T21:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2005\/07\/12\/cut-like-a-knife.html"},"modified":"2005-07-12T14:37:16","modified_gmt":"2005-07-12T21:37:16","slug":"cut_like_a_knif","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/07\/12\/cut_like_a_knif.html","title":{"rendered":"Cut like a knife"},"content":{"rendered":"

An interesting article on the near-demise of the Swiss Army Knife market since 9\/11\/01<\/a> and the increase of airline security world-round.<\/p>\n

Over the past century, the Elsener family has transformed the Swiss army knife into an iconic global brand, beloved by American soldiers, small boys and stoical British campers struggling to open tins of baked beans. It became one of the 20th century’s most successful products – until 9\/11. Almost overnight, the business collapsed.<\/p>\n

“It was an absolute catastrophe for us,” Elsener says. “Until then our knives had sold very well both in duty free shops and on board planes. Most airlines sold them, including British Airways. Then suddenly this distribution was closed. It was zero. The merchandise came back to us. This was really very hard.” Under new airline regulations, passengers could no longer carry the Swiss army knife in their hand luggage. Those who didn’t comply had their knives confiscated – and they weren’t returned at the other end.<\/p>\n

The effects were sudden, and devastating. Sales of Swiss army knives dropped by 40% almost immediately. Finally, in April, Wenger SA – the only other Swiss firm allowed to produce Swiss army knives – went bust. Elsener’s company, Victorinox, named after the mother of the founding Elsener, decided to rescue its rival, buying it for an undisclosed sum.<\/p>\n

I used to carry a small SAK on my keychain, and, like everyone else, had to give it up. A pity. <\/p>\n

Victorinox has also introduced a host of new products – a kids’ Swiss army knife; a blade-free air-travel version; and – most successfully- one with a USB port that allows you to link your knife up to your computer. “We are not giving up,” says the firm’s spokesman Hans Schorno. “We are going to fight.”<\/p>\n

I would be interested in seeing more about the “blade-free” version. While the knife blades are damned handy, so are all the other widgets. Hmmm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An interesting article on the near-demise of the Swiss Army Knife market since 9\/11\/01 and the increase of airline security world-round. Over the past century, the Elsener family has transformed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homeland-security"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":599,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/09\/13\/ive_got_a_knife.html","url_meta":{"origin":7958,"position":0},"title":"I’ve got a knife","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 13-Sep-01 11:44am","format":false,"excerpt":"I've carried, on my keychain, a little penknife. Mini-\"Swiss Army\" style, a Directech give-away. A little 1.5\" blade, a matching fingernail file, little scissors, little tweazers. It's come in remarkably...","rel":"","context":"In "Homeland Security"","block_context":{"text":"Homeland Security","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/homeland-security"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24198,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/03\/on-the-presumption-that-these-are-not-all-terrorists-which-i-presume-because.html","url_meta":{"origin":7958,"position":1},"title":"On the presumption that these are not all terrorists —- which I presume because…","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 3-Dec-11 11:39am","format":false,"excerpt":"On the presumption that these are not all terrorists -- -- which I presume because that would probably catch some headlines -- then these people are idiots. I mean, I've railed at the, \"Really, my little Swiss Army Knife keychain fob with the 3\/4\" blade?\" kind of confiscation, and I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":136143,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/04\/23\/a-very-expensive-apple.html","url_meta":{"origin":7958,"position":2},"title":"A Very Expensive Apple","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 23-Apr-18 6:52am","format":false,"excerpt":"Honestly, I could see how this sort of thing could mentally slip past. When I read \"Are you bringing any food into the country?\" on the customs sheet, I'm thinking of stuff that I've intentionally bought to bring back -- Swiss chocolate, for example. But a snack from the plane?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/global-entry.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2562,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/06\/04\/just_when_you_t.html","url_meta":{"origin":7958,"position":3},"title":"Just when you thought it was safe to get back on airplanes again …","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 4-Jun-02 2:06pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been a while since we've heard goofy stories about airport security. They're still going on, though. Meet Lt. Greg Miller, US Army, special forces medic. Lt. Miller was shot...","rel":"","context":"In "Homeland Security"","block_context":{"text":"Homeland Security","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/homeland-security"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39992,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/12\/11\/the-swiss-guns-and-crime.html","url_meta":{"origin":7958,"position":4},"title":"The Swiss,\u00a0Guns, and Crime","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 11-Dec-13 9:56am","format":false,"excerpt":"Nice take-down of the use by American gun enthusiasts of statistics about Switzerland, gun ownership, and the crime rate.The meme in question can be found here:\u00a0http:\/\/www.anonymousartofrevolution.com\/2012\/10\/switzerland-1-in-2-citizens-has-guns.html \u00a0You can find similar images and statistic blocks all around the Internet.(h\/t +Kee Hinckley)Reshared post from +Andrew Pam+Syrus Drake posted this privately in response\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13138,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/07\/11\/potpourri_on_a_tgifriday.html","url_meta":{"origin":7958,"position":5},"title":"Potpourri on a TGIFriday","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 11-Jul-08 6:38pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A Citizen, but \u2018Natural Born\u2019? McCain\u2019s Eligibility...\u00a0-- I really don't want McCain's candidacy settled by\u00a0legal argument over his technical eligibility for office. I want it settled by an electoral...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging & Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging & Internet","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7958\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}