Mom bought one for the house in the '70s, the knife actually worked as advertised and was used to cut all manner of things in the household. Even though I had moved my parents into forged & handmade knives over time, my mom still kept that old ginsu around. I think that I finally snuck it out of their house around 2008 and tossed it without her knowledge. Even though part of the handle had melted and the serrations were bent, rolled and dulled from 30 years of use, it was probably still usable for another 30 years.
It was ugly, thin and cheap, but it performed as advertised and could handle pretty much everything an average user could throw at it. Respect!