11–20 of 106 posts
I wonder why MLM's are so rampant in the mountain west. I know "mormons" and "sales experience from missionary work" but the analysis can go deeper. From personal, anecdotal experience, a lot of these MLM people I've seen are moms. Could it be that that area is so sales heavy that stay-at-home moms want to run their own thing so they get into MLM on the side?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Absolutely -- it's that promise of financial freedom and products that "basically sell themselves" except you're stuck with the inventory because 10 people are working on the same friends to get them to buy Younique mascara.
Actually, MLMs are required to repurchase unsold inventory: https://www.mlmlaw.com/library/cases/mlm/ftc/amway.htm
I'd love to be able to tell my friend whose wife still has a bunch of LuLuRo leggings.
I wonder why MLM's are so rampant in the mountain west. I know "mormons" and "sales experience from missionary work" but the analysis can go deeper. From personal, anecdotal experience, a lot of these MLM people I've seen are moms. Could it be that that area is so sales heavy that stay-at-home moms want to run their own thing so they get into MLM on the side?
Checkout this map of Red vs. Blue states: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/var/plain/storage/images/med...
There is a slight correlation with Red states and high MLM activity. Hmmm....
When I worked retail sales in the 90s there was an Amway cult meeting nearby. Every few weeks, they would drop in after a pep-rally type thing and try to waste your time looking at the most expensive thing and talk about their amazing business. Then they'd drop the pitch (at the time it was about their e-commerce business). Once you ran into them, you could spot them. It was a mix of desperate mid-life crisis guys lo…
That's really heartbreaking to hear. Usually MLMs sell to types that "really need to make money", when in fact it brings people further away from that.
A friend of mine (almost) fell for a cryptocurrency 'class' that "teaches" people about this "exciting new wealth-building opportunity". But it's instead trying to sell shitcoins.
This article doesn’t dig into the details, but these companies are really vicious. They aggressively recruit at my college and I’ve seen them to convince students to take what they would have spent on next semesters tuition and use it to buy “inventory” (i.e. more products than they’ll ever be able to resell) instead. These things ruin people’s lives
A fool and his money are easily parted. If those students didn't blow their tuition on MLM garbage, they'd have blown it on something else. I'm sure there's a kid somewhere who blew his tuition making ridiculous option trades based on something he read on r/wallstreetbets.
I wonder why MLM's are so rampant in the mountain west. I know "mormons" and "sales experience from missionary work" but the analysis can go deeper. From personal, anecdotal experience, a lot of these MLM people I've seen are moms. Could it be that that area is so sales heavy that stay-at-home moms want to run their own thing so they get into MLM on the side?
Mormons tend run the companies and seed the initial demand. Moms with built in communities are big markets. Wherever you have a big military, police/fire/prison presence you'll see these all over. Also certain church communities, certain freelancer type industries, (yoga contractors, photographers) etc.
Sadly the dividends that MLMs return are mostly negative (debt, friction of social bonds, etc).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually, MLMs are required to repurchase unsold inventory: https://www.mlmlaw.com/library/cases/mlm/ftc/amway.htm
That's a pretty long document. What section? I'd love to be able to tell my friend whose wife still has a bunch of LuLuRo leggings.
> 72. Amway, the Direct Distributor or the sponsoring distributor will buy back any unused marketable products from a distributor whose inventory is not moving or who wishes to leave the business. (RX 331, p. 17B to 18B; CX 847; CX 1076) The buyback rule has been in existence since Amway started. (CX 1041 J) Amway enforces the buyback rule. (CX 847; Brown, Tr. 501213; Bortnem, Tr. 686, 690; Soukup, Tr. 913)
In any case I would not be surprised in the least if your upstream told you to pound sand if you tried to return unsold product, regardless of legal precedent. You have to decide if it is worth your time and money to sue them.
I wonder why MLM's are so rampant in the mountain west. I know "mormons" and "sales experience from missionary work" but the analysis can go deeper. From personal, anecdotal experience, a lot of these MLM people I've seen are moms. Could it be that that area is so sales heavy that stay-at-home moms want to run their own thing so they get into MLM on the side?
These companies are active in areas of low education. They aren't present in coastal cities because that tends to be where smart, educated people congregate. Checkout this map of Red vs. Blue states: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/var/plain/storage/images/med... There is a slight correlation with Red states and high MLM activity. Hmmm....
I'm guessing the 13 companies here are the long tail of MLM compared to Amway and Herbalife, but I’m curious just how big the difference is.
