How I learned to not buy Gerber products (Story in Comments)

Here's the letter I just sent to Gerber. Though you folks might get a kick out of it:

To whom it may concern,

Recently on a long driving trip I had an urgent need for a screwdriver. Usually I have my Swiss Army Knife with me, or my Leatherman rebar. However on this day events had conspired to leave me bereft of either.

I proceeded to a Lowe's Home Improvement en route to my destination and perused their wares. Selecting a Gerber Clutch multitool, I reasoned that for the price point ($15) it couldn't be so bad. I might as well spend a little more to buy something that I'll use again, instead of just another darn screwdriver in my toolbox.

Now, I am not a novice knife owner. After a recent purging of my collection I own a dozen knives and multitools. Some were under twenty dollars, like a couple Kershaws I have. Some were several hundred, like my Spyderco Caly 3 Carbon Fiber. I know about steel composition and heat treatment. I say this to let you know that I am not an idiot, at least about knives.

Fatefully however, I did not heed the advice of many of my fellow knife collectors. "Don't buy Gerber," they said. "It's low quality imported stuff!"

I had never experienced it for myself, so I figured that maybe they could be wrong. There are a lot of snobs out there.

I paid my money and walked to the car and attempted to open the darn thing. Try as I might, I just couldn't get it out. Even utilizing my truly excellent and very sharp Spyderco Caly 3.5 I couldn't make a hole big enough in the plastic to get the little sucker out. As I cut and ripped and twisted, the edges of the split plastic bit into me and actually drew blood.

Yes. Your product's packaging actually drew my blood. See attached photograph.

To add insult, when I finally got the tool out, it snapped closed on my finger.

I'll probably throw it away so it can't hurt anyone ever again, and I'll certainly never buy a Gerber product again.

Hopefully you can forward this message to someone in your packaging design department so at least people who do want your product won't hurt themselves opening it.

Sincerely, /u/failbirdtown

/r/knifeclub Thread Link - imgur.com