Gillette in a new light

If you are interested in an analytical article on the business and economic side of early safety razors, you may wish to read this piece from 1978 on Gillette and their business strategies that was printed in the University of Chicago Law Review.

http://lawreview.uchicago.edu/issues/backissues/v78/78_1/78-1-Razors-and-Blades Myth(s)-Picker.pdf

Thanks for the link! Are you sure it's from 1978? The article mentions "web entrepreneurs" and the Xbox!

Very interesting reading - thanks for posting it.

The razor and twenty blades sold for $5. That was, according to the ad, a supply of two years’ worth. Each blade offered two edges, and each edge was promised to be good for twenty to thirty shaves.

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Twelve double-edge, oil tampered, diamond ground, Damascus blades (equal to 24 ordinary blades)

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What kind of blades did he sell? 20 shaves from one blade? without re-sharpening?

The article is from June this year.

EDIT
Or from February..

Thanks for the link to a very interesting read. I was surprised to learn that Gillette did not expect his first razor handles to last much longer than 5 years and that a dozen blades was thought to be enough to last a year. Wow!

great link, I will post this on razor forums.

I don't know where I got the 1978 from(?), brain f**t, or maybe I saw a page number. However, the article is still a good read.

eliev said:

Thanks for the link! Are you sure it's from 1978? The article mentions "web entrepreneurs" and the Xbox!

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He referenced a best seller book from 2009 "Free, The future of a radical price" and a current best sellers dated on July 2010.

I am going to read it again , I want to make sure I get my facts and opinions right. I think that the Gillette Co. was really a pioneer in the razor and in the business model that implemented strangle hold technique, to prevent others from going somewhere else.

BlackBard said:

Thanks for the link to a very interesting read. I was surprised to learn that Gillette did not expect his first razor handles to last much longer than 5 years and that a dozen blades was thought to be enough to last a year. Wow!

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I like how Gem Cutlery Co. made the Gem Jr. with 7 blades as a direct competition to Gillette , then offered replacements for 25 cents, making it cheap as hell to shave. The exchange new blades for old blades business model was prominent in ads everywhere. Other competitors such as Ever Ready started making low cost handles as well.

darn great read...

anyone have any thoughts?

Bump from the grave!

I just read this document and searched the forum to see if it had been posted before. A fascinating read just for the Gillette facts. The economic analysis isn't that heavy and it explains why my Old Type and NEW don't have patent numbers.

-Dale

.......and now the page cannot be found. Anyone have the pdf or can link to it?

eliev said:

Thanks for the link! Are you sure it's from 1978? The article mentions "web entrepreneurs" and the Xbox!

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Maybe they were just THAT good.

GordyN said:

.......and now the page cannot be found. Anyone have the pdf or can link to it?

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The best link is probably http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1676444

Prior discussion:

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/167794-Draft-Paper-on-the-History-of-Razors-and-Blades

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...ad-and-link-quot-Razors-amp-blades-Myths-quot

The author also joined up to make a few posts: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/member.php/33399-rpicker

Much appreciated.