One of the things my upline always taught was how the business was fair. That it's a level playing field for everyone. Everyone starts at zero, we were told. Everyone does start at zero, but it is hardly fair when you break down the compensation and the layers of people between you and your uplines. I will also speak about how the sponsoring is somewhat cloudy as well. Despite the claim that you will be paid if you "do the work", it is not necessarily true. These are catch phrases that upline uses to make it seem fair.
The sponsoring system that Amway uses is a hit or miss. You could have tons of business acumen and insight on running a business, but your sponsor and others upline will always be your upline and will always profit on your efforts - simply because they were there first. In many cases, a sponsor has nothing to offer a downline. They are in no way shape or form able to advise or give sound business advice. But as long as they are in the business, they get to profit from your efforts. Does that sound fair to you? In some cases, a sponsor might be younger than you but somehow they are upline so they will help shape your life and business decisions? Where else but in Amway or other MLMs do you hear such nonsense?Also, let's take a new Amway IBO for example. If that new IBO sells and consumes 100 PV, that new IBO will receive a 3% bonus. Amway pays roughly 32% to 33% of their take in bonuses. Thus the new IBO who "did the work" gets 3% and somewhere in the layers of upline, 29% to 30% gets split up among the upline. Some of the upline don't know that the new IBO exists, but they get a portion of the bonus, simply because they were there first. The new IBO has done the work and some of the uplines have done nothing to help this new IBO, but they enjoy a percentage of that IBO's bonus. Does that sound fair?
Tenured upline may also sell business support materials such as voicemail, websites, books, cds, and seminars. None of these materials have been proven to be effective in assisting IBOs in building a business. In fact, some of the biggest crown ambassador types built their Amway businesses before these materials existed. But because they were there first, they now claim to have the expertise on how to build a successful Amway business. Based on some numbers that Amway has provided, we can conclude that less than 1 in about 400 IBOs ever reach platinum and out of those who reach platinum, less than 1% ever reach diamond. Not much evidence that the system works. Yes, I acknowledge that some people don't follow the system, but out of these ones who do follow the system, the success rate is still miserably low. If the system is so difficult to follow and succeed, is it fair for IBOs to have to keep paying for a system that will not help them?
All of the above are reasons a new IBO has the deck stacked unfairly against them. Yes, some IBOs can overcome overwhelming challenges and succeed, but they are few and far between. Is this business set up in a fair manner? Is this your level playing field?
2 comments:
Every MLM is like this. The pyramidal structure guarantees that those on the lowest level of the pyramid receive the least money. This is why recruitment of new members is crucial -- if you want to make money, you have to get people below you to sign up so that you can profit from their labors, and the labors of those recruited by them.
I recall my cousin telling me back in 1970: "The best way to sell Amway products is to show the Amway plan." That's when I immediately sensed that something was fishy.
Agreed @Anonymous 28July.
The difference between an Amway group and a corporation where people work, which Amway (and other MLM) defenders would say is also "pyramid shaped" and where superiors also usually earn more than subordinates, is whether the structure can deliver to most people what they signed up for. In both structures, the people at the bottom (with no-one under them, let alone those with very few under them) will always outnumber the rest. Mathematical fact. In both structures those higher up generally earn more than those under them, but in both structures it is not always the case. (Sales people can sometimes out earn their bosses even in employment).
But there is an important difference, which is why Amway is a pyramid, and a hierarchical corporation isn't. See, in a corporation, for many job roles, it is okay if nobody is reporting to you. You still get what you signed up for. So the fact that the structure is hierarchical, that many employees won't be bosses, is fine. Some like to manage others, some don't, some are somewhere in the middle. I had nobody reporting to me in a job I've had for years, yet I got what I signed up for, and then some. I got a good salary, good commissions and bonusses, eventually got increases, and travelled the world. I eventually coached many newbies, but never had a team, and it wasn't a precondition for earning what I signed up for. Ironically, this job actually set me up well for my own business, the very thing Amway claims it has over a job. It wasn't only me, in that company, everyone got what they signed up for, from the tea lady, to team leaders, to sales people, accounts people. We all, 100% of us, got, at the very least, exactly what we signed up for, sometimes more.
In an Amway group people sign up for handy extra income. Yes defenders would say some do to "buy good products at a discount", but let's face it, nobody ever tried to sign me up for that reason, nobody ever say they sign up for that reason - instead they sign up to make money, and most will tell you, handsome stashes of it, and when it gets going, so the promise goes, without working that many hours. Yet is mathematically impossible for most to get it, simply because most will not, can not, have people under them. Realistically there isn't much in it at all when selling directly (much better sales opportunities in there). Everybody join to have others under them, hopefully quite a few, and that is mathematically impossible. Amway groups and other MLMs, where people join to sell others to be business opportunity marketers like themselves, are mathematically guaranteed to fail the vast majority of those who try, the majority just can't have downline, can't sell business opportunities to others. No matter how hard they work, if they get downline, the new downline will constitute the new majority. It can go on and on, but those without their own downline will always be the majority. Actually it can't go on and on, because the number of people is finite, which is why it is called an unsustainable pyramid.
Some defenders confuse the Amway corporation, with the group they are in. They'd say Amway existed since who knows when, it's founders are so and so, they make millions, pay taxes and give to charity. Who are we to call it an illegal pyramid? Ironically it is just here that they forgot that it's supposed to be about their "own" business. Most of those "own businesses" fail dismally. And they have since 1959.
Post a Comment