Word: mousetrap
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Instead of trying to improve on what they call "the world's best mousetrap," the Knesses are now concentrating on making a smaller model more suited for residential use. Brick's trap, retailing for $8.95, is too large and expensive for a householder with a minor mouse problem. As a result, most traps go to nationwide exterminating companies and large distributors who market the traps to grain elevators and other food handlers. Professional mice catchers love the trap because it can be wound up and just left in a likely spot. With one full wind, it has been...
...1870s, before modern marketing and packaging had been developed, Ralph Waldo Emerson prophesied: "If a man write a better book, preach a better sermon or make a better mousetrap than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door...
There is no doubt that the Knesses make a better mousetrap. But ask a gathering of Knesses what makes it better, and you'll mostly get head scratching. Corn-belt born and bred, they are not given to long explanations. Eventually a young nephew says, "There's one unique thing that makes it special, and it would take an outsider years to figure out." Though no one is certain if a trade secret is involved, they decide not to discuss it further. Instead, a concise summary is offered: "There's mechanics there, good practical mechanics. But there...
...absolute lifetime guarantee, the Knesses, with no outside legal prodding, not only replaced the traps that broke but sent new ones with the traditional metal part to all 60,000 people who had bought a potentially defective product. This experience reinforced the already strong urge among the mousetrap makers to leave nothing for others to mess...
...unless someone asks for it," is balanced by "Every decision is unanimous." Each Monday at 9 a.m., the three meet to report their activities and make plans. "We keep each other in check by asking questions," Russ says. Keeping an eye on all three is Gerry Mosbey, 46, a mousetrap maker for 25 years who has an equal voice in the management. Mosbey will become part of the family soon. Kerry is engaged to his daughter Rhonda...