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Thousands of Women Say LuLaRoe’s Legging Empire Is a Scam

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Re: Thousands of Women Say LuLaRoe’s Legging Empire Is a Scam

#31

Post by Avshalom »

aaaaaaaaaaab wrote: post #5

Is it just me, or are women more prone to falling for MLM pyramid schemes?

Like others are saying, women are targeted way more, one example:

So one of the things is that MLMs have sort of succesfully branded themselves as not-a-job in a lot of cases. A large chunk of religious fundamentalists see women working outside the home as sort of against Gods will BUT single income houses are harder to maintain these days, especially if you have a bunch of kids. Enter MLMs telling these women A) it's not like a reeeaaalll job B) you can make money to support your family.

Re: Thousands of Women Say LuLaRoe’s Legging Empire Is a Scam

#32

Post by pionar »

Someone1234 wrote: post #24
trcollinson wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not defending multilevel marketing pyramid schemes but if you are signing up for one, you are not an employee. You do pay to run certain types of companies (franchises). But if the franchise isn't supporting you then you are being scammed.

The difference between a franchise and a pyramid scheme is that a franchisee only sells products to consumers/end-users, not the franchise/brand itself. It might sound like a subtle difference, but the incentives as a result of both business models are quite different. Franchise sellers for example WANT their franchisees to operate the franchised business well. It is a "if they make money, we make money" situation. A…

> The substantial difference between a franchise and an pyramid scheme is that a franchisee only sells products to consumers/end-users, not the franchise itself.

Not true. Most franchisors make a royalty from sales, but also make a profit from being the exclusive distributor of everything in the franchise - napkins, cups, food, etc.

Your general point is correct though.

Re: Thousands of Women Say LuLaRoe’s Legging Empire Is a Scam

#33

Post by Someone1234 »

pionar wrote: post #32
Someone1234 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference between a franchise and a pyramid scheme is that a franchisee only sells products to consumers/end-users, not the franchise/brand itself. It might sound like a subtle difference, but the incentives as a result of both business models are quite different. Franchise sellers for example WANT their franchisees to operate the franchised business well. It is a "if they make money, we make money" situation. A…

> The substantial difference between a franchise and an pyramid scheme is that a franchisee only sells products to consumers/end-users, not the franchise itself. Not true. Most franchisors make a royalty from sales, but also make a profit from being the exclusive distributor of everything in the franchise - napkins, cups, food, etc. Your general point is correct though.

I don't understand the "Not true" there.

I said the franchisee only sells products to consumers/end-users, not the franchise itself. It isn't a chain-sign up situation.

Your point seems to be that the franchise makes money from franchisee reselling, but I never said otherwise...

Re: Thousands of Women Say LuLaRoe’s Legging Empire Is a Scam

#34

Post by cooperadymas »

Someone1234 wrote: post #33
pionar wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The substantial difference between a franchise and an pyramid scheme is that a franchisee only sells products to consumers/end-users, not the franchise itself. Not true. Most franchisors make a royalty from sales, but also make a profit from being the exclusive distributor of everything in the franchise - napkins, cups, food, etc. Your general point is correct though.

I don't understand the "Not true" there. I said the franchisee only sells products to consumers/end-users, not the franchise itself. It isn't a chain-sign up situation. Your point seems to be that the franchise makes money from franchisee reselling, but I never said otherwise...

It looks like the GP possibly misread your comment and missed the extra 'e' on 'franchisee' in the first sentence.

Re: Thousands of Women Say LuLaRoe’s Legging Empire Is a Scam

#35

Post by cooperadymas »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #14
trcollinson wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not defending multilevel marketing pyramid schemes but if you are signing up for one, you are not an employee. You do pay to run certain types of companies (franchises). But if the franchise isn't supporting you then you are being scammed.

I'm not convinced franchises aren't far off from pyramid schemes and MLM as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franchise_fraud Math on a McDonald's franchise is here- https://www.mymoneyblog.com/mcdonalds-franchise-cost-vs-prof... "But if you spend 40 hours a week and only keep tabs on one location, it might really feel like you bought a job." It's looking like 5-6% net return is what you get which is worse than an…

How many individual people are buying new franchises these days?

I can't say with certainty, but my impression is that most McDonald's (and other fast food chains, possibly other franchises as well) locations are then owned by semi-regional operators that run a number of franchises. Around here, I know most of the McDonald's are run by 1 corporation. Same with the Burger Kings. It was the same way where I lived previously.

Re: Thousands of Women Say LuLaRoe’s Legging Empire Is a Scam

#36

Post by colejohnson66 »

taytus wrote: post #30
jchallis wrote: post #3

Google Autocomplete is very instructive here. Lularoe is a .... Lularoe is a cult Lularoe is a pyramid scheme Lularoe is a ripoff. That’s enough information for me.

https://imgur.com/a/gB585KX 🧐🧐🧐

How did you manage to use emojis on HN?

Re: Thousands of Women Say LuLaRoe’s Legging Empire Is a Scam

#37

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

aaaaaaaaaaab wrote: post #5

Is it just me, or are women more prone to falling for MLM pyramid schemes?

I know a bunch of ladies who did LuLa Roe.

It's not that they are more prone to falling for the business side of it, it's that they were attracted to the company for reasons besides the money they could make.

All of them were extremely happy LulaRoe customers BEFORE they became sales people.

I think if an MLM targeted the people on hacker news with a product that could make a solid side income through Programming meet-ups, mechanical keyboards, or video games, it would get a lot of us. Even if 2/3's of the people who attempted to make money the same way lost money on the MLM.

Re: Thousands of Women Say LuLaRoe’s Legging Empire Is a Scam

#39

Post by astura »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #14
trcollinson wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not defending multilevel marketing pyramid schemes but if you are signing up for one, you are not an employee. You do pay to run certain types of companies (franchises). But if the franchise isn't supporting you then you are being scammed.

I'm not convinced franchises aren't far off from pyramid schemes and MLM as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franchise_fraud Math on a McDonald's franchise is here- https://www.mymoneyblog.com/mcdonalds-franchise-cost-vs-prof... "But if you spend 40 hours a week and only keep tabs on one location, it might really feel like you bought a job." It's looking like 5-6% net return is what you get which is worse than an…

Franchises are nowhere near MLMs.

Franchisees don't make the majority of their income from recruiting other people to become franchisees.

Franchisees don't have "parties" where they utilize social pressure to get people to make sympathy purchases of things they don't want or need.

Re: Thousands of Women Say LuLaRoe’s Legging Empire Is a Scam

#40

Post by Digory »

cooperadymas wrote: post #35
JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not convinced franchises aren't far off from pyramid schemes and MLM as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franchise_fraud Math on a McDonald's franchise is here- https://www.mymoneyblog.com/mcdonalds-franchise-cost-vs-prof... "But if you spend 40 hours a week and only keep tabs on one location, it might really feel like you bought a job." It's looking like 5-6% net return is what you get which is worse than an…

How many individual people are buying new franchises these days? I can't say with certainty, but my impression is that most McDonald's (and other fast food chains, possibly other franchises as well) locations are then owned by semi-regional operators that run a number of franchises. Around here, I know most of the McDonald's are run by 1 corporation. Same with the Burger Kings. It was the same way where I lived previ…

My impression is that McDonalds' margins are shrinking, forcing franchisee consolidation.

Where margins are still fat, you'll find more one-off franchises. Chick-Fil-A, for example, used to limit "Operators" to one store. Real Estate agents are often franchises.

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