My brother - the dumbass

[Symarip]

Just got off the phone with my older brother back home in San Diego. He told me to check out a website. I did. Like a bad case of VD, I was caught off guard by the worst of all recurring nightmares that plagues us all: The Multi-Level Marketing plan. In this case, it was for an energy drink. Earn up to 4.5 percent commission. Yada yada yada.

Alright sports fans, I feel the need to spread the word on this complete and utter bullshit. I'm even thinking about starting a website, for reals. You know and I know people who have been suckered out of hard earned money to be part of these 'individual business plans', or you have been a victim yourself. I know I've been suckered at least 2 times. It's not fair these fuckers can pop up over night and fold some months or years later. By the way, there's a reason for that having nothing to do with the companies involved breaking the law. I'll explain as you read on.

I'm no financial genius but I have a clue about how these schemes work (and fail). First order, let's talk about the product these companies are required to sell. By order of the FTC you cannot just have a pyramid scheme anymore these days. You have to, in conjuction with your 'multi level' business, sell a product or service. In the real world, most companies work towards figuring out a saturation point of a given product (where a product in the market is so overdeveloped it no longer is profitable). The problem with MLM's is they don't care where that saturation point is. They just keep suckering people in to buy, buy, buying even if profitability is a thing of the past for whatever it is they're pushing. What company would knowingly do this? The reason is, the product they sell is merely a disguise for what the real goal is: signing people up to be in their matrix. But it's important to keep product saturation in mind, because it is the reason why all MLM's will fail. Regardless.

Notice, all MLM's require you to PAY to join their team of dipshittery. This is why these companies exist. The idea is one person pays and signs up. That person signs up all his buddies who pay, as well. Those buddies sign up all their buddies, who pay too. And so on. Eventually money flows upstream and everyone's rich. Plus they offer commissions for people who push out the products they signed up to sell (See above paragraph). Here's the problem, in order to make real money in the scheme, you have to be at the top of the chain. The top of the chain is usually the assholes who dreamed up the scheme to begin with, and below them is all their buddies, and so on. Truth is, by the time you heard about this particular MLM, the ship has sailed on any real profit for you because of the amount of people already involved, seperate from the products being sold. But since the company sells a product, you also have the distinct pleasure of paying in to push a product that's probably already oversaturated in the market. In order to get 3 or 4 levels up in the multi level scheme, you will have had to burn through THOUSANDS of people. You can't win. The people you sign up can't win. The people who signed you up can't win. No one wins except for the people who created this fiasco to begin with.

If anyone reading this takes away anything from this post, understand this: MLM's are pop or sink. Since MLM's have no regard for saturation, they grow so big they oversaturate and pop. Or their product sucks and you can't get anyone to touch it with a ten foot pole so they sink. There is no balance. Balance is what legitimate companies strive for. And no one, NO ONE, wins. By design, they can only exist for a few years at most for any given product. The big one's usually can adjust and change product while the smaller one's fold. All of them laughing to the bank with YOUR money.

[Kali]

1. if you are over 12 and fall for this kind of shit, you pretty much deserve what you get

although that Amway laundry detergent really did clean bongs well:P

[Symarip]

3. Though I agree

I think the deception they sell should be outright illegal. Most people don't understand business, but we depend on businesses every day. No company should be allowed to take advantage of people like MLM's do.

[Kali]

5. technically it IS illegal (pyramid schemes) but they always get around it

unfortunately with high unemployment and a rotten economy, this and all kinds of scams are tempting for people who feel a little desperate

[BarenakedLady]

2. Exactly.

My parents got suckered in once by a friend of theirs. I warned them, but they didn't listen. It took a bunch of shit to get out of it a couple years later when they realized their mistake.

[TZ]

4. Hmm a friend of mine

Dragged me into quixtar(amway online) a few years ago. Yeah, I spent way more money than I made. The only way to make money is by seeing motivational books/tapes although the products were decent. Yeah that stuff is all a scam. I'd make snark about being related to a dumbass but ...;)

[TrogL]

6. You don't make money on the product

You make it on the marketing materials, "conferences" and anything else you can do to soak money from your chain.

[Roon]

7. I almost got suckered into AMWAY by a dock Foreman when I was driving local

I saw this guy twice a week and he used to tell me all kinds of great stuff If I got involved. But he never told me specifically what the gimmick was. So I backed down...