Tupperware parties used to be a blast.

The games were fun + the little prizes awarded were so unique.

Plus Tupperware had some great items - items you necessarily didn’t find at a Sears or Kmart back then.

Rubbermaid didn’t exist then so Tupperware was the only place to purchase quality, plastic storage and/or food preparation items.

And the children’s products became “classics.”
Who doesn’t remember the fun “Pop-A-Lot” or the red/blue plastic ball that came w/those yellow shape??

When I was a kid, my Mom sold Avon@.
I remember her buying extra products to use as demos which she apparently got at a discounted price.
Avon told her she would make better sales commission if she purchased these items.

She also had to pay for her Avon catalogues/free samples.
Then there would be the customers who didn’t have the funds when their products were delivered and my Mother would have to cover the cost.

She was even offered bonuses if she could recruit customers to sell Avon.
In the end, she wasted a large amount of personal time + effort as a rep for the company not to mention money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The John Oliver segment and The Dream podcast are definitive. Well over 98%, if not well over 99%, of all MLM participants in MLMs lose money. It’s all a lie. Full stop. Please don’t indulge the deluded and outright criminal maniacs who are here lying.

Look I know it doesn’t jive with your worldview, but some people actually DO make money. A minority, but they do. And most MLM sellers are just selling rather than preying on unsuspecting ignorants who should know better.

The Dream featured a couple of those people. The most successful ones were earning in the $40s, if I am remembering right.

I think the thing is that most people doing this work don't have other options - either because they live someplace without a robust job market, because they don't have the education or skills for other work, or because they are taking care of family (parents, kids) and need more flexibility than they can get from normal jobs. So you have whole masses of women who are essentially underemployed, and these MLMs take advantage of them. A few do ok with it, and most do not. I wish we had more focus on underemployed women in this country instead of underemployed men.

MLMs also have a huge following among women from groups where it is socially unacceptable to work "outside the home." I grew up in a nice, affluent community with a lot of Mormons. Even when the children were older and in school and sports all day, it was still not acceptable for women to work outside the home, even in a part time or "fun" job.

PP here...But MLMs are okay, especially the "Mormon Owned" ones like Lularoe. Second tier but still fine are the non-Mormon but still Christian-owned ones like Thirty-one.

Working from home for a legit employer is frowned upon, though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The John Oliver segment and The Dream podcast are definitive. Well over 98%, if not well over 99%, of all MLM participants in MLMs lose money. It’s all a lie. Full stop. Please don’t indulge the deluded and outright criminal maniacs who are here lying.

Look I know it doesn’t jive with your worldview, but some people actually DO make money. A minority, but they do. And most MLM sellers are just selling rather than preying on unsuspecting ignorants who should know better.

The Dream featured a couple of those people. The most successful ones were earning in the $40s, if I am remembering right.

I think the thing is that most people doing this work don't have other options - either because they live someplace without a robust job market, because they don't have the education or skills for other work, or because they are taking care of family (parents, kids) and need more flexibility than they can get from normal jobs. So you have whole masses of women who are essentially underemployed, and these MLMs take advantage of them. A few do ok with it, and most do not. I wish we had more focus on underemployed women in this country instead of underemployed men.

MLMs also have a huge following among women from groups where it is socially unacceptable to work "outside the home." I grew up in a nice, affluent community with a lot of Mormons. Even when the children were older and in school and sports all day, it was still not acceptable for women to work outside the home, even in a part time or "fun" job.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The John Oliver segment and The Dream podcast are definitive. Well over 98%, if not well over 99%, of all MLM participants in MLMs lose money. It’s all a lie. Full stop. Please don’t indulge the deluded and outright criminal maniacs who are here lying.

Look I know it doesn’t jive with your worldview, but some people actually DO make money. A minority, but they do. And most MLM sellers are just selling rather than preying on unsuspecting ignorants who should know better.

Look I know you’re a liar, but - that’s it. Stupid, stupid liar. Trash.

https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/public_comments/trade-regulation-rule-disclosure-requirements-and-prohibitions-concerning-business-opportunities-ftc.r511993-00008%C2%A0/00008-57281.pdf

Anonymous wrote:I know DCUM hates all MLM. But my question is - why? I understand the annoyance of the fake BS, pushy sellers, #momboss nonsense. But I have to say, some of the products are very good and if the sellers aren’t annoying or pushy, why would you categorically refuse to buy any of it? Honestly curious. You have to admit that not all MLM sellers are terrible, right? I know some who have never even mentioned their products to me, let alone tried to sell me anything.

When I graduated college in the early '90's and was struggling to set a path, a rich (so I thought) Harvard-educated relative offered to tell me about a very interesting business opportunity. Well, not tell me then, but at a special presentation his business partner would give. Etc. Nu Skin. I'd neither heard of it, nor of MLM, and I trusted him so I was a sitting duck.

The worst part about it is that it comes between you and your friends and family: the only thing standing between you and success is their refusal to sign up (or even listen to the pitch), so not only do you end up frustrated/angry with them, they feel the same way and avoid you.

Also bad:

- trying to convince people (and yourself) that there's something better/special/different about over-priced run-of-the-mill products.
- the motivational tapes made by people at the top of the pyramid telling you that you suck if you don't sell, and to avoid doubters because they were losers with "stinkin' thinkin'".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The John Oliver segment and The Dream podcast are definitive. Well over 98%, if not well over 99%, of all MLM participants in MLMs lose money. It’s all a lie. Full stop. Please don’t indulge the deluded and outright criminal maniacs who are here lying.

Look I know it doesn’t jive with your worldview, but some people actually DO make money. A minority, but they do. And most MLM sellers are just selling rather than preying on unsuspecting ignorants who should know better.

The Dream featured a couple of those people. The most successful ones were earning in the $40s, if I am remembering right.

I think the thing is that most people doing this work don't have other options - either because they live someplace without a robust job market, because they don't have the education or skills for other work, or because they are taking care of family (parents, kids) and need more flexibility than they can get from normal jobs. So you have whole masses of women who are essentially underemployed, and these MLMs take advantage of them. A few do ok with it, and most do not. I wish we had more focus on underemployed women in this country instead of underemployed men.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please Op, tell us what products are good. Waiting...

I have used my Pampered Chef round pizza stone for over 25 years. It is great.

+100
I HATE mlm, but damn if I don't love that pizza stone!
My mom got it at a party she was guilted into going to & then guilted into making a purchase, so she gave it to me & it's amazing.

What’s so great about it?

New poster. I also have the pizza stone that my aunt gave me when she sold pampered chef in the 90s. She was a home-ex teacher and excellent home cook so she really enjoyed showing off the products. I’m sure other pizza stones are just as good and easily available at Amazon or Bed Bath and Beyond but in the 90’s it was a new and exciting thing to own. I think pampered chef was also pushing veggie spiralizers before they were trendy. Before Amazon and stores like Sur La Table, it was a way to get cool kitchen gadgets when you lived in places like rural Ohio like I did at the time. Williams Sonoma might well have been Neiman Marcus - the nearest one was in another state.

I used to think PC had the best, sharpest potato peeler, but the best one by far is the set of 4 you can buy from the MoMA catalog.

Anonymous wrote:The John Oliver segment and The Dream podcast are definitive. Well over 98%, if not well over 99%, of all MLM participants in MLMs lose money. It’s all a lie. Full stop. Please don’t indulge the deluded and outright criminal maniacs who are here lying.

Look I know it doesn’t jive with your worldview, but some people actually DO make money. A minority, but they do. And most MLM sellers are just selling rather than preying on unsuspecting ignorants who should know better.

The John Oliver segment and The Dream podcast are definitive. Well over 98%, if not well over 99%, of all MLM participants in MLMs lose money. It’s all a lie. Full stop. Please don’t indulge the deluded and outright criminal maniacs who are here lying.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see how someone can criticize a poster who brought up Sha’nnan Watts as an example just because she was murdered.

The issue here is her apparent success w/direct sales + marketing.....
Not how she died.
Two separate issues.

Her Facebook videos are typically showing the viewer how the company that she represents has provided her w/certain benefits her previous jobs never did.
She stated that she & her husband could never afford to travel much before she started “Thriving.”
Yes, she and her husband did have money issues.

But she also had her Lexus covered by her 800 company points and she traveled often w/every expense completely covered by Le•Vel.
Those are excellent benefits that no one can argue that not many jobs offer.
Plus at Thrive, you get paid 100% commissions every Tuesday.

That’s Thrive’s marketing strategy. How they get other people to want to sign up under someone.

People say, “you drive a Lexus? I want to drive a Lexus!”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please Op, tell us what products are good. Waiting...

I have used my Pampered Chef round pizza stone for over 25 years. It is great.

+100
I HATE mlm, but damn if I don't love that pizza stone!
My mom got it at a party she was guilted into going to & then guilted into making a purchase, so she gave it to me & it's amazing.

What’s so great about it?

Anonymous wrote:I am less wealthy and less urban than most on DCUM but I have zero friends I know of selling MLM. I hate to use the word but it’s... trashy. I’m surprised that so many DCUM readers do have friends who do this

Do you and most of your circle work full-time?

Most of my MLM friends do not work full-time.

Anonymous wrote:MLMs prey on rural and suburban women with limited income options in the name of financial freedom. Many end up broke or worse off than they started. It's gross and exploitative.

Not always (rural/suburban). I know someone who is quite savvy who is knee deep in an MLM. She goes to conventions, does lectures, and implies she does very well. I have to admit, it’s all very mysterious. No one ever talks about how much money they’re making. I guess they have their reasons for being secretive, but it makes me suspicious.

I am less wealthy and less urban than most on DCUM but I have zero friends I know of selling MLM. I hate to use the word but it’s... trashy. I’m surprised that so many DCUM readers do have friends who do this