Again the reality, for me, is I don't take them in to be sharpened. One does not sharpen their own knives, one hones their own, and takes them to professionals to sharpen.
The reality is that most people have never even seen a sharp knife.
Unfortunately, sending them in to be sharpened is not likely to give you a sharp knife either, most sharpening services are crap. There is no way to really sharpen a knife for $5. A specialist who does hand sharpening is going to cost at least $30.
To reliably have truly sharp knives is best to sharpen them yourself. Start with a decent blade, eg an entry level Japanese gyuto something like a Fujiwara FKM, JCK Carbonext, Tojiro DP, or a Sugimoto cleaver. Sharpen with Japanese waterstones. Diamond is bad for the knife, oilstones and ceramics are way way too slow for modern hard knife steels. Get a medium (1000-2000) and a fine waterstone (5000-6000), the Bester 1200 and Suhiro Rika 5000 are excellent and not very expensive. Then learn how to sharpen. It takes a bit of study and practice and will feel awkward at first, but once you get it, it is not at all difficult or time consuming.
The difference is everything. For example, the reason you cry cutting onions is because your dull knife is crushing the cells and spraying onion juice aerosol everywhere. A sharp knife does not do this. Chives cut with a dull knife turn mushy right away because of the tissue damage but will keep hours if cut with a sharp knife.
Alternatively, get a $15 two sided whetstone and try sharpening whatever knives happen to be present.
Cheap knives even tend to be softer steels which are easier to sharpen.
This won't lead to the very sharpest knives, but for most people it will still produce a vast improvement in sharpness and it's only $15 gone if they decide they'd still like better stuff or to throw the stone in the trash.
It's takes a few multihour sessions and ~$200 in whetstones but you can become a good home sharpener.
Once you can get your own knives from "crushes tomato" to "I didn't even realize I'd take off the the tip of my thumb until I realized there was blood everywhere, doctor" in ~20 minutes of work on the stone you'll never want to go back.
Just don't fall down the straight razor hole. It will consume you and turn you into a shaving bigot.
Counter-example: Tojiro DP... Amazing knives for the price.