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Multi Level Marketing Schemes

the worst of them all are the health ones that are both pyramid schemes and snake oil products

Apparently rebranding snake oil as essential oils is smart business.

Is Rodan-Fields still a thing? Seems like almost white woman on my Facebook was into that a few years ago. About the same time Herbalife blew up with Black women.
 
My sister got roped into some juice/energy drink type of pyramid scheme in college. One of her friends a couple rungs above her ended up doing very well (trips to Vegas, Costa Rica, new car, etc). She barely made enough to cover the initial required purchase I'm pretty sure. I politely declined her sales pitch.
 
I have cousin who did really well with Amway - was a young engineer, got in 20+ years ago, quit his job, his wife quit her job, they made lots of money, etc. Roped me into a couple of presentations, etc. It was not our thing. I don't think they do it anymore, but I don't ask.
 
When I was in high school (early 80's) I got a letter asking if I wanted to earn money stuffing envelopes. The letter contained 2 letters, 2 envelopes and 2 address labels. It went on and on about the high cost of secretarial staff and if I stuffed the 2 envelopes I would receive $2. I had to buy the stamps (at the time about .20 each). I did so and about 2 weeks later I received (2) $1 bills in the mail thinking me for what I did along with a form to fill out if wanted to get serious about it. I think I bought into the $60 package where they sent me 200 labels, letters and envelopes. My stupidity at the time did not make the connection that the 200 envelopes I was stuffing was the same letter I originally received in the mail. After buying $40 worth of stamps I did as instructed. Still waiting for my cash cow of $200 to arrive. Maybe some day.
 
My wife has done a few of these over the years and has actually done pretty well at times. There are different "catches" in each one. I believe one of the issues with LuLa Roe was that a person had to purchase their own inventory and sell from there... good for the parent company, bad for the salesperson. Others are basically online stores and you basically narrate the catalog and have people submit online orders. The real issie that I see with my wife is that she puts a lot of time into these "projects" and while she earns money doing it, the hourly wage is less than if she would just work at Target. It's also very easy to not save your earnings for the upcoming taxes and then get a big tax bill at the end of the year.
 
I got approached at a Panera bread in WV by some rando dude who was just such a sleaze bag. Got roped into an amway meeting at a hotel. Bailed as soon as I recognized the products. There was certainly a lot of internal, "wait...no way did I fall for this" before I admitted to myself that it was an MLM pitch meeting the guy conned me into going to.

I think the real question here is why did you follow a weird dude from Panera to a hotel room? I'm assuming you wanted sex.
 
i sign up for every one of these because you get a chance to be your own boss and also you never know which is going to be the Next Big Thing !
 
the worst of them all are the health ones that are both pyramid schemes and snake oil products



...and marketed to Christians as a way Jesus has allegedly blessed to bless his flock, to empower them to to soooo much good!!!!


Yep, in my experience these are the worst.



And God help you if you recognize a clear pyramid scheme as such and try to alert folks to the scam.


Families have been torn apart by this shit.






A legitimate mlm rewards actual sales to folks outside of the scheme.




Illegitimate schemes reward “sales” that are merely purchases by “ distributors” in your “downline”.
 
Been a long time, but when our daughter was in pre-school (now a high school senior) parents of one of her friends tried to push Mona Vie on us. We declined.

In the weeks leading up to their sales pitch, they started talking a lot about a new “leadership group” they were involved in.
 
I used to have a neighbor who was pretty successful with Mary Kay products and even drove a pink cadillac . She used to clean up with the stay at home mommies in the neighborhood, but she never once bothered my wife who is an attorney. I always thought that was part of the process- don't bother with working women as they are more likely to recognize being played then stay at home moms. She moved away but I'm still facebook friends with her and she is a huge trump conspiracy believer and lately has been posting about how smart the demon semen Doctor is.
 
I think the real question here is why did you follow a weird dude from Panera to a hotel room? I'm assuming you wanted sex.

I mean, I'm always up for some dude cleanin' my pipes with his massive dong. However, this time was him telling me that the meeting was going to happen later that week in a hotel conference room. Probably 50ish people there.
 
I can't speak to the specific scams, but I feel like robo calls have increased exponentially in the last month or so. Bastards.
 
My bro in law sold Herbalife from about 1992-2003...just over 10 years. That was his only job. Made pretty good $$. He actually had a physical office space. He started when he was 19. If nothing else, he learned great sales skills. He spent more time the last 5 years with Herbalife doing sales trainings than he did selling. He has been a sales manager for a fairly big company the last 10 years.

That being said, I also know of several people who have tried various ones (Herbalife, the water filter one, Melaleuca, etc) who made nothing.
 
Got suckered into ordering oil-less cookware at a wedding convention show with the promise of free plane tickets to use on our honeymoon. Luckily we learned that the tickets were a scam in time to return the cookware, did our honeymoon in Charleston/Savannah instead
 
wife bought Rodan and Fields once after some sob story from a high school acquaintance. was so fucking hard to get refunded for the recurring purchases she got signed up for when she had in writing it was a one time thing.

My wife too. My cousin sells the stuff.

I worked in corporate for a pretty successful MLM in the triad for four long years. Interesting times...
 
what is oil-less cookware? nonstick?

They also call it waterless cookware, its by this company called Kitchencraft. Whenever you go to a festival or a fair you will often see cooking demonstrations in a tent with a few rows of chairs, and they are hawking that stuff. Its high pressure sales - If you place an order at the demonstration you will get some deal, and often get offers of free stuff (like flight vouchers or cruise tickets) that are bullshit
 
early in our marriage my wife and I learned that we're both susceptible to high pressure sales tactics, so now when we have to make a big purchase, we usually go in shifts to keep each other from getting screwed.
 
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