Does anyone have knowledge or experience of a company called Southwestern, that recruits college

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

students to sell books door to door during their summers? I was curious if anyone had stories to relate.

I learned about this through an interesting thread on another forum:

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2503040&perpage=40&pagenumber=1


Here's their website:

http://www.southwestern.com/


Apparently students are recruited as "independent contractors" (i.e. no salary or benefits), buy the books from the company (company assumes no risk and profits as soon as the "contractor" is enrolled) and spends long hour days trying to sell the stuff, and the student only collects their payment at the end of the summer.

It sounds like a multilevel marketing scheme, where the company primarily profits from enrolling drones, and the actual quality and sales of the product to end users is secondary. Students are apparently lured with a sales pitch that initially says little or nothing about the actual activity (selling books door to door) but paints it as a prestigious internship of some type, and hypes extreme big sales figures numbers that maybe a few people ever attain.

The concern in the forum I read was that the company seemed to, in the case of the poster's girlfriend, to employ cult like tactics of peer pressure, sleep deprivation and long hours, constant indoctrination, and isolation from support and family with their "contractors". The problem in this case is acute since she was recruited from the U.K. to come to the U.S. to sell this stuff, parents were duped into signing a contract saying they owed the company a thousand bucks if she quit early (not sure how enforceable that would be if push came to shove), and I would imagine a poor student with no money and no means of getting any aside from selling this stuff to buy a plane ticket back would feel pretty vulnerable and isolated and beholden to the company.

Here's a USA Today article about it, of note is that Republicans Ken Starr and Gov Rick Perry of TX have pimped their wares as summer students:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/2006-07-19-college-work-usat_x.htm

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. Wow. They're still doing that?

I did that one summer - rather, part of one summer - 35 years ago. Went to a three day training, then got dumped on a country road in central Illinois. I must have walked 20 miles a day. After 2 weeks I'd made 3 sales.

I was told that after that first 2 weeks I'd get moved out of the rural route into a suburban one, but I'd had it by then. Turned my sales book in to my team leader and hitched out to NY to visit my sister and work on the play I was writing.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

2. Apparently the company is 150 yrs. old, started out selling Bibles. Also known

as "Great American" company, which sounds awfully familiar.

[low_phreaq]

3. I just ordered a set of books from one of these students

Now I feel bad for supporting this company, but I would also feel bad for the student if I canceled my order. I wrote a check out for half the order amount, payable to him. He did say that was because they were learning to be independent contractors. I'm not sure what I should do now that I have this info about the company.

This kid said he had hoped to get a different type of internship. He wants to go to law school someday.

I also came across this site "Dedicated to presenting the violent, destructive, greedy and criminal acts that have turned the Traveling Sales Industry into a National Tragedy":
http://www.travelingsalescrews.info

They have tons of info, and I also read there that Southwestern is lobbying against passage of a Traveling Sales Crew Protection Act in Wisconsin.

I don't know what to do about my order or the student working our neighborhood. The books look very high-quality though.

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. The bible set I was selling was very high quality --

tho I think the quality was not quite enough to overcome the fact that the salesman was an atheist. Might explain why I only got 3 sales in two weeks.

[low_phreaq]

5. Heh

I could see that being a problem!

This kid seemed sincere and believed in what he was selling, though.