Is Amway Like Gambling?

Let me make a disclaimer right off the top so Amway defenders don't try to discredit the post without actually reading it. The Amway opportunity is not a game of chance. But I will go on to explain how and why the opportunity can be compared to gambling and why the diamonds can be seen as a casino or the "house".   Its also sad if Amway is not a game of chance but produces results similar to a game of chance.  

In the Amway opportunity, the odds against someone going diamond are astronomical. Literally millions of people have attempted to build an Amway business in North America over the years and diamond club for North Anerican diamonds some years back had 160 diamond-ships represented. (I checked with an Amway source for that information). Certainly some north American diamonds may have turned down a free trip to Hawaii but I'm guessing that's not a big number. 

The odds are also stacked in favor of the diamonds. Casinos are not built by winners, but by the hoards of losers. Just as a diamond business is not built by having a foundation of winners, but layers and layers of IBOs who are losing. The Amway opportunity is simply set up that way. Look at your common 6-4-2 plan or whatever version your group uses. The newest or biggest layer of IBOs make very little and when you factor in expenses such as functions or standing orders, the losses can be staggering. 

A diamond, like a casino will attract many young dreamers who think they can conquer the world and will get rich. They use bright lights and profile former winners just as Diamonds show off fancy cars and testimonies to lure in recruits. The newness of the opportunity gets you excited, just as someone walking into a casino might feel the excitement with the sounds of the casino. All you need is some effort and little luck right? Sadly, that excitement is all too often replaced with the harsh reality that most must lose in order for there to be a few winners, both in casinos and the Amway business. 

Like casinos and diamond uplines, there is much caring for active IBOs and for players who are spending their money in casinos. But once you walk out of the casino, there is no special treatment, just as an IBO who stops building a business or stops being core quickly becomes forgotten and shunned. In Amway, people who said they were lifelong friends were never heard from again once an IBO missed a few meetings. If you re-emerge, you will find the love again, just as you will get free drinks when you start gambling again.

And yes, there are some exceptional people who can scratch out a nice living by gambling but they are few and far between, just as there are diamonds, but diamonds also have thousands of people who wanted diamond but could not achieve it. Those who can finally make it usually have an exceptional blend of skill and a bit of luck. Some even cheat/lie in order to gain a bigger edge, both in gambling and in Amway. 

Like a gambling "system", the Amway opportunity has "systems". In either opportunity, the system doesn't work for the masses. There are an exceptional few who can make it work. Except in gambling, most people understand that the odds are stacked against them. In Amway, many new IBOs are told that anyone and everyone can succeed when it simply is not true. 

Can you fulfill your dreams by gambling or with the Amway opportunity? The answer is yes, but the reality is that few will ever do so. Like casinos and Amway diamond-ships, both are built on the backs of those who lose, not on those who win.

CORE - Key To Success Or Failure?

Here is a breakdown of CORE and why it doesn’t work. Here are the CORE steps. Some groups may have variations of CORE, but this is generally what many groups use:

1 - Show the Plan (10-15 per month)
2 - Retail the Products (10 customers @10 PV each)
3 - Tapes/cds/audios 
4 - Books 
5- Functions (attend all)
6 - Accountability 
7 - Counsel with Upline (Be teachable!)
8 - Buy 100% of your own products 
9 – Communikate

Many upline will tell you that your success is nearly 100% guaranteed if you follow these steps for 2-5 years. Some Amway enthusiasts will tell you that 6 consistent months of this activity will nearly assure you of a platinum level business. Certain steps are within the IBO’s control, such as reading every day and listening to cds, and attending functions. It is also easy enough to be accountable, counsel with upline, buy your own products, and use KATE (voicemail), but many steps are not directly under the IBOs control.  

Here’s where an IBO’s efforts will break down. Showing the plan and retailing products. And remember, if you cannot do these steps consistently then you are not considered “CORE” and your upline will likely tell you that it is your own fault and that you simply haven’t been CORE, therefore you did not achieve success. There is some truth in this but let me expose the system in a different angle.

Amway has a spotty reputation in the US. I don’t think anyone can dispute this fact. Therefore, for the vast majority of people, being able to show the plan 10-15 times per month is a nearly impossible task. If you are able to do this, you are a really good salesman or a good liar. In this scenario, the IBO is already successful, but not because of CORE, but simply because the IBO has the gift of being able to convince people into seeing the plan. But for many IBOs, they may contact hundreds of people and not be able to get anyone to see the plan. Even IBOs who follow upline advice on how to contact will probably not be able to show 10-15 plans per month. Thus this IBO, who is doing the work, will not be able to succeed. The system will blame the IBO, but the reality is that the IBO has too big of a disadvantage to overcome.

Secondly, with high prices (on average) and with a spotty reputation, most IBOs are unable to retail products. Thus most IBOs are unable to sell products, therefore they are not CORE, therefore upline will blame the IBO for failure.  IBOS are saddled with a handicap of trying to sell generic in nature products for a premium price.  A tough sell for the vast majority.  

What if an IBO contacts 1000 people and cannot get 10 people to see the plan? Upline will claim that IBO is not CORE and therefore it is personal failure of the IBO. IMO, the only reason why upline can claim that CORE works is because in order to do the CORE steps consistently, you have to already be at a certain level of success. The vast majority of IBOs cannot and will never be able to reach that level.

That is the myth and the deception that many uplines will use to attract recruits. That each IBO can do the CORE steps. When only a fraction of 1% ever reach the level of platinum or higher, the numbers strongly support what is written here. Apologists are welcome to try and prove me wrong, but they can't. :D

Same Old, Same Old?

A close friend of mine and former downline (when I was an IBO) told me that his daughter recently joined Amway and WWDB. Despite his informed warnings and objections, she joined anyway, and insists that things are different in Amway today. That gave me some food for thought. What is different between Amway of today and the Amway I was in? The products are basically the same, perhaps with some new packaging. The concepts are the same. Buy your own stuff and try to get others to do the same. And recruit like crazy.  That part of the business hasn't changed at all.

But what also hasn't changed is the same old Amway reputation that greatly hinders the ability to sell products and/or to recruit others and to show the plan. Seems as if people joining and quitting without doing much is still the same. There is still a strong emphasis on the consumption of tools and functions by the rank and file IBOs, and why not? The diamonds make nice profits from the sale of business support materials and unlike the Amway compensation plan, the rank and file IBOs get no compensation for the tools.  This is a no brainer for spline and the source of the reason for IBO failures, in most cases of IBOs who dedicate themselves to the "system".

It sure seems as if the same old - old diamonds are around. The Duncans, Puryear, Leslie Wolgamott (Divorced from Brad - WWDB saves marriages?). Harimoto, Tsuruda, Danzik. Where are the new diamonds?   There might be a new diamond here and there but I left Amway in the 1990s and I don't know of many new diamonds except one named Mandy Yamamoto.   (There might be a few others) It might also be significant to note that Amway revenues have declined significantly from 11.8 billion in 2013 to 8.6 billion in 2017, with further declines after that.   I believe Amway had a slight uptick in 2019 but then Covid 19 came and that couldn't have helped.  And that is while the US economy had been doing very well. Perhaps perhaps people are seeing Amway for what it is? A poor business opportunity where your chance of failure is nearly 100%. And it's not because of a lack of effort or motivation. The Amway system is just set up for failure.  

A quick look at the common 6-4-2 plan is 79 IBOs. One platinum and a whole bunch who aren't. And this plan doesn't factor in that many people join and quit without doing much of anything. Thus there can only mathematically be a small fraction of 1% who make anything with a whole bunch of wannabes who never make it. And that is what Amway is. The same old sorry ass Amway opportunity where the diamonds sell you false hopes and dreams while their dreams come true from your tools and function purchases.

Try Harder?

 I remember being an IBO sitting in emotional functions with poor saps who wanted to go diamond so bad that tears were flowing out of their eyes.  They were seemingly hard working good people who certainly did all they could to fulfill their upline’s advice to a “T” so they too could taste the good life.  

My observation as a former IBO is that most IBOs who gave an earnest effort were generally young, hard working and motivated.   They generally got sucked in by upline because they truly wanted to believe that there was a shortcut to retirement and that they’ll be retired at age 28 with more money than they ever dreamed of.  The upline wisely shows you toys and Dream houses and vacations so you can get a glimpse of the reward. 

That’s the beginning.   Then they tell you it can all be yours but you’ll need to become a student dedicated to the system tools and functions.  Do as you’re advised and you get  the same results as the diamonds!  And it’s simple!  Anyone who can copy someone else can do it!  No doubt about it!   1-2-3-4-5-6, I’m going diamond that’s it period!

Then when IBOs fail which they ultimately must, the upline narrative changes from simply copying upline to one of several outcomes.   Usually upline will say you never really tried hard enough.  That seems like a really common one.  Other upline excuses include you didn’t work the system exactly the way you were advised or you didn’t build it right. Has anyone ever heard an upline admit their advice didn’t work or that they were wrong?  

Upline will never hold themselves accountable because their advice overall is ineffective.   The number of actual successes looks like the outcome of a lottery.  Sure, once in a while an IBO will defy incredible odds and go diamond but they are far and few between.  It is my educated guess that very few IBOs who made an effort ever fail because they didn’t try hard enough.   That’s just a convenient upline excuse for their ineffective advice, which you paid for.  

Dinosaur Business Model Or Cutting Edge?

 A recent comment prompted me to post this article.  The comment was about whether or not some groups still used voicemail and as far as I knew, they still use a voicemail system not because it’s so vital to the Amway business but because it was a big money maker for the diamonds.   Former higher up former pin I knew once told me that a diamond can make several to ten dollars per voicemail subscription.  And diamonds typically will have close to a thousand or more downline 

When I was an IBO, we actually had to call our upline weekly to order stuff then pick it up on another day.  Amway did upgrade to direct shipping but aside from that, the business appears to be the same as it was many years ago.  Recruiting in person or by social media is common but the concept that Amway eliminates the middle man is still the pitch.   But Amway actually creates middlemen.  If not, customers would order direct from Amway.  

With new technology like facebook live or Zoom, or Google meets, why in the world would anyone need an archaic voicemail system.  I did hear that some diamonds used Zoom or other means of holding functions but charged full price.  So stop and think.   If diamonds really succeeded by helping downline succeed, why would you need to pay full price for  a function that costs next to nothing to put in?   Why not give that information to down line and rake in the fruits of their success? 

The answer is obvious.  The upline diamonds success comes in part by schlepping useless archaic methods and systems on due line for handsome profits.  Even some methods such as buying from yourself have been employed for decades with little to no success to speak of.  Upline used to say look at the fruit on the tree.  In the 1990’s, there were some new diamonds and sone Amway momentum.  But Amway seems to have fallen on leaner times in the last 5-7 years.  

But overall, apparently, little has changed over the years.   I don’t know on many ground breaking new products.  I haven’t heard of any new innovations created by upline diamonds and there doesn’t appear to be any surge in new diamonds, at least in North America.   Amway looks like a dinosaur trying to compete in a cutting edge world.   I haven’t heard much about whether upline still pushes religious overtones and politics at functions but then again, leopards don’t change their spots right?  

Get Out Of Debt?

 One thing that Americans carry too much of is debt.  In particular, consumer debt.  One thing that upline used to teach was to get out of debt.  On the surface that seems like good advice until you peel back the layers of the insidious intentions of the upline who teach it.  If the upline goal was just to get people out of debt, it would be good, but it’s simply not the case 

Where this teaching falls apart is when upline says to get out of debt, with the exception being to buy tools and function tickets.  This is total BS.  If a small Amway business can’t generate enough profit to purchase tools and function tickets, it’s very likely that the IBO should not expend funds for tools and functions.   At the end of the day, the vast majority of IBOs don’t end up generating a net profit as a result of these tools and functions.  

I attended functions and I don’t recall any real and practical business advice being taught.  Instead it was more about recruiting more potential IBOs and never ever quitting and never giving up.  That you will succeed eventually if you just keep going.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In most cases, IBOs are just chasing their losses like a liquored up gambler.  The losses just keep mounting and getting worse.  I can compare it to buying more and more lottery tickets.  If you never quit and keep buying tickets, eventually you’re likely to win some prize, although striking it rich is highly unlikely.  

Amway defenders like to swoop in and argue that the Amway business is not a game of chance like the lottery.  While that may be true, the fact that the bottom like results are comparable to a lottery makes it a very sad case indeed.  You have a vast majority of losers and once in a while, someone will strike it rich, like going diamond. And in either case. The winner’s success comes at the expense of the other participants.  

If Amway leaders teach you to get out of debt, it’s very likely because they want to be sure that any disposable income you have can be spent on tools and functions.   Or if you reduce debt, then you have more income to spend on tools and functions.  We will never know but I wonder how many diamonds live in debt?  Living large and showing off wealth can be very expensive.  

Tools And Functions?

 When I was an IBO many years ago, I was told flat out that tools and functions were vital to Amway success.  Our upline diamonds absolutely swore by it.   Looking back it was just about the biggest lie our upline told the group.   Back in those days when the internet was fairly new, it was easy for diamonds to lie because fact checking was more difficult.  

The diamonds told us that nobody made a profit from the tools or functions which was a shameless lie.  They also told us that WWDB was a non profit organization which was also a shameless lie.   After the diamonds could no longer sustain these lies, they began to admit that there was profit in the tools and functions but the qualifications and compensation plan was shrouded in mystery. 

The fact is that diamonds make a significant income from tools and functions.  And f I had to estimate, I’d say 20 to 50 percent or more if a diamond’s income is from tools and functions.  It is for that reason the diamonds tell you to never miss a function.   The numbers attending and purchasing standing orders and books gives the diamonds a steady and predictable stream of income.  

It is also for that reason you’ll see diamonds breaking away from their lifelong friends and mentors to form their own groups.   If you google or search, you’ll also find lawsuits pitting diamonds against diamonds over tool money.   So much for the thought that diamonds make so much money that they barely give a thought about money.  It’s all part of the charade put on by your beloved diamonds.