Tuesday, March 15, 2022

The Real Cost?

 One of the common things Amway leaders apparently do is to disparage people with jobs. Oh, they would say we needed people to wait on our tables and clean our toilets, but in general, jobs were put down and basically the group was told that Amway is their best chance at achieving financial freedom, giving them the ability to flush their jobs. Ironically, IBO's jobs are what funds their Amway businesses. Most IBOs would be out of business within weeks if not for their job income funding their Amway businesses.

The key selling point appears to be the 2-5 years of part time work rather than working a job for 30 - 40 years and then retiring on social security which may or may not be there when you retire. This plants a fear in people about the future and then the Amway opportunity is presented in a positive light because the Amway opportunity comes with a low startup cost. What uplines do not mention is how the opportunity can become a money pit as the monthly DeFacto 100 PV quota starts to add up. It is my guess that if people only bought items they truly needed, these IBOs would likely move 100 PV every three months, unless they are actively selling goods to non-IBO customers. With Amway products being so concentrated and efficient as IBOs claim, why would you need to replenish these products so often?

When an IBO finally agrees to register, it is then that the true, but hidden costs are revealed. Many uplines will introduce standing orders and functions and present these tools as vital to IBO success. Most new IBOs don't know better and feel subtle pressure to conform and give it a try. Some upline may loan some tools to downline in the beginning but eventually, the IBO will be encouraged to be a "serious" business owner who should be purchasing their own tools to loan to their downline and the cycle goes on. There is also the cost of additional cds, books, voicemail and other business-related costs that are not mentioned until later which the prospect doesn't necessarily know prior to start up.

If you examine some version of the Amway recruitment plan, you will see that most IBOs are at the 100 PV level, which will reward you with a monthly bonus of about $10 or so. If that same IBO subscribes to the tools system, than IBO will likely be losing over $100 to $250 a month not including the cost of the product purchases. And because many IBOs have been convinced that working a job is so horrible, that they can be convinced that this condition of losing money is temporary and that untold wealth is right around the corner. Sadly, for most, this condition is the norm and even the sponsorship of a few downline, the losses continue to mount. Yet many are convinced that this is better than a job. And this is just the financial cost, not the time and effort spent pursuing a false hope and dream that Amway IBOs and recruiters promote.

Ironically, a job allows people to pay their monthly bills, feed their families and many people enjoy their work and co workers. While upline leaders may convince you otherwise, it is this very same excuse upline leaders use when asked why they are still working instead of walking the beaches of the world collecting massive amounts of residual income. I would encourage IBOs to truly analyze their efforts in Amway and determine if it is beneficial to your finances. In most cases, your Amway efforts ONLY benefits your upline's finances. For most who get involved, the Amway opportunity is not better than a job.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The real truth about Amway is this: there are few or no retail customers for your Amway products, or at least not enough for you to make a genuine profit. That's what an Amway IBO finds out pretty quickly.

Here's the next truth that it takes more time to realize: the actual customers for Amway products are the IBOs themselves! All that 100 monthly PV is generated by an IBO's purchases, and therefore IBOs function as the missing retail customer base for their up-lines. Up-line gets rich from the monthly purchases made by you and anyone else that you have recruited below you. They also get rich by forcing you to purchase tools such as CDs and books and other printed materials. and miscellaneous fees for voicemail and meetings and annual functions.

Anonymous said...

Amway creates a false market. It isn't a market based on actual consumer demand, but a market based on compulsory purchases by signed-up IBOs. In order for an Amway IBO to remain in the business he must purchase a fixed amount of Amway products every month, whether he is able to sell any of it or not. It's usually $300 worth of products.

So Amway knows that as long as any IBO wants to stay in the business, he must shell out $300 every month. If he manages to recruit anyone else to do the same, so much the better. But even if he recruits no one, he is good for $3600 every year.

This is a completely illegal pyramid scheme, but the American government refuses to acknowledge the criminality.