MLM = morons losing money

[hot_pastrami]

Originally Posted by Guyute

Whether you pay a buck a pill, or a buck a box, you pay a buck for whatever you think is worth that buck. So if thousands of people worldwide buy products from MLM's, at what point is the assertion that they don't work become a glaring fallicy?

You're missing part of the point here... nobody is saying that MLMs don't sell anything, or even that they don't sell a lot. The point is that MLMs make their money by A) Selling "starter kits" to suckers, and B) Aforementioned suckers alienating their friends and family by strenuously and unapologetically peddling WAY overpriced stuff to them. Amway has sold lots of product of varying quality, but much of it was sales to the sellers' friends and family who were too polite to say No.

Obviously some MLMs DO work... they just work in an unethical way that takes advantage of people who are too nice or too trusting.

Originally Posted by Guyute

So this drivel about upline reaming downline is just another case of the "outside" world distorting facts to denegrate something they themselves co-operate in every day.

Your "parallel" isn't. The owner of a body shop makes more money than his/her workers because he/she made the initial investment, and took the risk that came with it. My manager makes more money than me because he demonstrated good management skills and a strong sense of responsiblity, and was promoted. He is paid more because his skills are more valuable to the company than mine, because he can increase the productivity of may other people by doing his job well. He will be fired or demoted if he is discovered to be a fraud. But some managers make less money then those who work for them, if the more valuable skills are possessed by the workers.

Some managers are slimy bastards who manipulate people for their own gain, but they are the exception, and the system tries to squeeze them out. But MLMs encourage that sort of behavior. Will an MLM replace a financially successful individual if he/she isn't very supportive of their "downline?"

To be like an MLM, the body shop owner would have to require employees to pay an overinflated fee for their starter materials, offer a wage of exactly $0, require the employee to find their own customers, and expect them to work for nothing but a very small commission.

If ever again I'm approached by a friend or family trying to sell me MLM products, I'll whip out a $20 and tell them "If you're so desperate for cash that you'll stoop to trying to sell me overpriced junk, just ask for the cash and save us both a lot of effort."