Trapped into Selling Magazines Door-To-Door
theatlantic.com
Trapped into Selling Magazines Door-To-Door
1–10 of 22 posts
Re: Trapped into Selling Magazines Door-To-Door
#2[deleted]
Re: Trapped into Selling Magazines Door-To-Door
#3“It’s not illegal to change a business name,” said Lisa Dilg of the Detroit BBB. “I don’t know how it’s legal, because it’s like hiding. But because it’s not illegal, there is no way to find out if the companies have been changing names and popping up in BBBs across the U.S. looking like they have no affiliation to each other.”
This is a weak point in America's business culture, and there's an opportunity to engineer it away. Fictitious business name applications (and changes) take place on a county-by-county basis, and there are ~3000 counties in America, all with their own set of records and their own administrative systems. Varying rules by county and state make it really easy for businesses to hide from consumer scrutiny. Indeed, I think part of the reason that people feel 'government' sucks is not that we have too much government, but that we have too many governments and it's too easy for bad actors to work this system...or rather the >3000 slightly different systems that are very poorly integrated.
Re: Trapped into Selling Magazines Door-To-Door
#4[deleted]
The article points out that this business model has been operating in substantially the same fashion for 50 years, so I don't think much of your mutiny theory.
Also, if you are that scared of opening the door you are on the verge of being paranoid - and I live in an area of relatively high crime. Arming yourself is one solution, but has potential dangers. Another option to get a dog; although the barking might take some getting used to, the deterrent effect is well documented.
Re: Trapped into Selling Magazines Door-To-Door
#5[deleted]
I think the problem is that the great majority of people are convinced that everything sold door-to-doors is bad (and these operations reinforce that). Thus any sales operation needs to profit greatly, unconscionably, from each successful sale - as well as avoiding overhead by ruthlessly exploiting it's employees. The old saying is "bad business drives out good".
(no idea why the parent was down voted, I upvoted it, I might not agree with him but it's a coherent, well-argued point)
Re: Trapped into Selling Magazines Door-To-Door
#6[deleted]
The issue is that they aren't actually selling magazines. They are selling their story, and how they are trying to rise above poverty. But of course they aren't the ones profiting from their poverty and despair.
An entire industry based on boxing up impoverished young people, shipping them around the country, and selling their story for a profit.
Re: Trapped into Selling Magazines Door-To-Door
#7“I’ve been working on crews for three years, and I’ve been abandoned 11 times,” said Stephanie Dobbs, a mother of three who worked with another company, Young People Working, LLC, until being stranded in Cloverdale, Indiana, last month. “But I keep going back. I’ve got to do something to support my kids, and this is fast, easy cash if you’re a good seller.”
Ummm... After getting abandoned 10 times, wouldn't you nix the 11th trip? (If you're good enough for easy cash, you won't get left behind. If you're not good enough to get the easy cash, how is it profitable?)
It's pretty awful exploitation.
Re: Trapped into Selling Magazines Door-To-Door
#8“It’s not illegal to change a business name,” said Lisa Dilg of the Detroit BBB. “I don’t know how it’s legal, because it’s like hiding. But because it’s not illegal, there is no way to find out if the companies have been changing names and popping up in BBBs across the U.S. looking like they have no affiliation to each other.” This is a weak point in America's business culture, and there's an opportunity to engineer…
A joined up public database to track connections between company names and founders might be useful, but it certainly wouldn't stop corrupt organisations from marketing themselves as to ordinary people offering legitimate solutions. An organization with a reputation for being as laughably easy to buy off as the BBB isn't the answer either.
I actually assumed the article would be about the Southwestern company, an organization whose reputation for exploiting its self-employed staff is known on the other side of the Atlantic, but still recruits from the university campuses that haven't banned it. But they've been enlisting college-age kids to sell books on doorsteps under exactly the same name since just after the Civil War and they pay their BBB dues...
Some of these companies are dirtier, but the problem with "self-employed" remote salespeople whose lives are controlled by the company is deeper than knowing who the entities are, since neither the crews nor the people that actually persuaded to buy the merchandise are likely to do the research. That's the part where more protection is needed
And I say this as someone that did a self-employed remote door-to-door job in consecutive summers with the same company back at university whilst having other options.
Re: Trapped into Selling Magazines Door-To-Door
#9"Sharing" economy...
Re: Trapped into Selling Magazines Door-To-Door
#10This really sucks, in fact many low-end sales jobs suck.
And to cap it all off, some young smart-looking black kid actually interrupted me to sell stuff at my front-door whilst I was reading this article.
How do you address something like this? It's hard to imagine there's so much competition for jobs at McDs or Chick Filet or Aldi (reputedly $12/hour+benefits), that smart-looking, communicative people would rather go door to door selling magazine subscriptions.