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Amway and other multi-level marketing/pyramid schemes

Posted on 6/12/14 at 12:59 pm
Posted by goldennugget
Hating Masks
Member since Jul 2013
24514 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 12:59 pm
Did anyone have parents who were into this Amway shite or other MLM/Pyramid schemes growing up, or have family members/friends try to recruit you in? Anyone have any good stories of your parents being in it or someone trying to recruit you in?

Just read a book about how big of a scam these are. I already knew that, but I wish I knew this when I was a kid and my parents were hardcore into it.

Here is my Amway story:

My dad had a pretty good sales manager job for a major radio station clearing over $200k per year when I was in elementary school... got fired because he was too aggressive with Amway. He got another chance and got fired again for the same reason. Him bringing Amway into the office clearly angered fellow employees and his bosses. And since my parents never really made it anywher e in Amway, my family was never the same after the 2nd firing, my dad never recovered financially, my mom had to work 2 jobs, and we struggled until I graduated high school.

My parents never actually told me that my dad was fired because of Amway, but as I got older I was able to put 2 and 2 together. Finally when I got into middle school my parents stopped Amway. I still remember they would go to the conventions/rallies/retreats a lot of weekends and be out of town, as well as the numerous motivational tapes. Even though thats what got my dad into trouble, when I call Amway a pyramid scheme to this day he still gets defensive about it and says it wasn't a pyramid and was legit.

My uncle is pretty successful at Amway though, mainly because he sponsored someone who has made it big in Amway, so my uncle gets a lot of passive income from that. My uncle still is big in Amway unfortunately, still goes around selling the stuff and XS energy drinks. I saw his tax return a couple years ago and he claimed $270k.

TL,DR: frick Amway and frick the people who try to push it on others. 99.7% of people who join it make zero money or lose money.
Posted by iAmBatman
The Batcave
Member since Mar 2011
12382 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 1:01 pm to
quote:

Posted by goldennugget


DNR
Posted by Clyde Tipton
Planet Earth
Member since Dec 2007
38857 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 1:01 pm to
quote:

anyone have parents who were into this Amway shite or other MLM/Pyramid schemes growing up


No. My parents are not sheep.
Posted by GrammarKnotsi
Member since Feb 2013
9437 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 1:02 pm to
quote:

my dad never recovered financially, my mom had to work 2 jobs, and we struggled until I graduated high school.




quote:

My uncle is pretty successful at Amway though, mainly because he sponsored someone who has made it big in Amway



Why would your uncle not help out his brother...
This post was edited on 6/12/14 at 1:03 pm
Posted by Croacka
Denham Springs
Member since Dec 2008
61441 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 1:02 pm to
quote:

Amway



wife's sister has been trying to get my wife to sign up for it but i nipped that shite early
Posted by LSUAfro
Baton Rouge
Member since Aug 2005
12775 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 1:03 pm to
Vitamins seems to be the new multi-level marketing craze.
Advocare
Genesis Pure

Big ol sales pitch from people who have no idea what they're selling except that they make lotsa money and can retire tomorrow.
Posted by FloridaMike
Member since Dec 2012
1524 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 1:03 pm to
quote:

Did anyone have parents who were into this Amway shite or other MLM/Pyramid schemes growing up
No because my family isn't poor or stupid.
Posted by CocomoLSU
Inside your dome.
Member since Feb 2004
151027 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 1:06 pm to
One of my best friends in HS/early college had parents who were HUGE into Amway. They always called it "the busienss." He got into it as well. But they were from Clinton and had access to a lot of, for lack of a better word, uneducated people who completely bought into the system. He always talked a big game about the money they mad, but from what I understand, his parents actually retired pretty early on with Amway's help.

No idea how successful at it they actually were, but IMO if you have access to a solid pool of gullbile people, you can prolly make some money from it. I do want to shake my head every time I see someone pimping Visalus or LIMU or any of the other pyramid bullshite things that come across my FB feed.
Posted by TheIndulger
Member since Sep 2011
19239 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 1:11 pm to
I met a guy once at a supermarket, who was very friendly. He asked for my number and I reluctantly gave it to him. He called me once talking about how he was looking for go-getters looking to make "passive income". Never really said what it was about; I figured either real estate or MLM. Either way I thought the guy was weird and said No.

Is "passive income" a term they use a lot in MLM?
Posted by Flipadelphia
Member since Dec 2009
667 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 1:12 pm to
Posted by teke184
Zachary, LA
Member since Jan 2007
96817 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 1:13 pm to
My wife had a coworker who was always pushing a MLM involving vacations who got fired over it.

She also has family who are involved with other schemes like beauty products (not Mary Kay or Avon) and "group buying" programs.


I bite my tongue and defer if I'm asked by any of these people if we want to get involved, saying we don't have the time for it (which is true).
Posted by The Third Leg
Idiot Out Wandering Around
Member since May 2014
10061 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 1:14 pm to
Cutco Cutlery, Vector Marketing.

Predator of college kids. I'll never forget the hilarity of that Interview
Posted by cgrand
HAMMOND
Member since Oct 2009
39158 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 1:23 pm to
melaleuca is another one
Posted by CroakaBait
Gulf Coast of the Land Mass
Member since Nov 2013
3978 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 1:27 pm to
My aunt sells JuicePlus supplements and has drank way too much of the company kool-aid. She gets pissed when my dad refers to it as "Juicy-Juice."
Posted by deNYEd
Houston
Member since Jul 2007
9689 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 1:29 pm to
moral of the story is your father is a dumbass....
Posted by SwatMitchell
Austin, TX
Member since Jan 2005
2314 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 1:42 pm to
MonaVie, an acai berry drink, has come through our neighborhood (West Austin). Anyone else familiar?

It actually seems to be a decent product, but super expensive per bottle.
Posted by purplengold4lyf
Member since May 2014
219 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 1:47 pm to
I'm not posting any stories, but my dad and stepmom have latched on to every single pyramid scheme in the last ten years. It's pathetic that they haven't figured out by now that they aren't going to become millionaires from them.

Also, a facebook friend will not quit about plexus slim. It's every other post from her.
Posted by That's BS
Smoothie King Center
Member since Jan 2012
1783 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 2:13 pm to
If only your dad had read the script...
Posted by Bmath
LA
Member since Aug 2010
18691 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 2:23 pm to
My brother tried to sell Cutco knives in high school.

He got laughed at a lot by the family friends he was supposed to try and sell to.
Posted by BowDownToLSU
Livingston louisiana
Member since Feb 2010
19317 posts
Posted on 6/12/14 at 2:42 pm to
Neighbor quit talking to me a couple years ago because I wouldn't sign up for scAMWAY. My wife tried doing that Visalis BS, I don't want no part of any of it
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