tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39815199374515161542024-03-05T08:55:44.420-05:00MLM Business Opportunity FraudBe Wise--Not Victimized
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981519937451516154.post-39830626392356827002014-12-24T14:17:00.000-05:002014-12-24T14:17:42.030-05:00The Prison of Belief<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><i>Thoughts on Amway, Scientology, Herbalife and the cult of 'belief'</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>All ideas and</b> products are marketable goods, as long as there is a void of demand. It is the main precept of the system of capitalism. Under this banner, both the good and the bad take refuge. Believers in cult like ‘religion’ or ‘business’ paint themselves as entrepreneurs or messiahs.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Man invents his gods to fill voids. What he chooses to believe, like natural selection, determines what he is, or hopes to become, whether one will be followers or leaders in the open market of ideas and argument. People long for 'something to believe in'. Man seeks answers to the problems of life. It is in this void where the charlatans, the messiahs, the entrepreneurs, the preachers, the kingpins and dictators arise.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Movements come and go. Just as many businesses fail, ideas are subject to failure as well. How could man, for instance, have been so insane to believe that slavery was a good and natural thing? Mythology of religion taught that slaves were to obey their masters? Belief, therefore, heavily determines what is acceptable, whether these beliefs are founded in truth or falsity. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Where no man is an island, all are conditioned to become 'joiners.' It is what one chooses that can determine the outcome of the individual and ultimately of society.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">While it seems absurd that people would choose to join any totalitarian regime, the question becomes clouded by ignorance. Those with the best of intentions do not see the snare, or the mistake of belief. They believe they are the lucky ones, the insightful believers that have discovered some truth and now are willing not only to follow its precepts, but to proselytize, to move it forward.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cult like behavior is more the norm than the the exception. It is an offspring of the human experience. Rebellion and upheaval is the father of movements like the Third Reich. The void is filled by those who want the power to dictate and control a down-line pyramid of followers willing to believe the propaganda, the plan. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">All men have a cloud of belief hanging over their head, it colors their world. Sadly, black clouds will arise, threatening. The ‘prison of belief’ is the causation of war and ultimately threatens men on so many levels.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Predators fear the presence of a superior.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">L. Ron Hubbard feared the predator of the United States government and went into hiding for many of his final years to avoid being held to account for fraud. His cult followers continued to 'puff themselves' up in the face of their mounting taxation problems with the U.S. government, and the defection of heretics who were revealing the the absurdity of their supposed 'religion' by revealing the cult's secrets. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Other cult initiators operates very much in the open under the guise of being a successful businessman. They hide in the open under 'Orwellian banners' of 'patriotism' and 'charity.' They employ armies of lawyers to suppress the disaffected, and avoid being held to account in courts of law and of governmental regulation. The initiators of the Amway and Herbalife cults fall into this category.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It is with the hope that the present 'Herbalife' question will bring an end to an ever expanding number of MLM predators. How embarrassing to Amway Herbalife must be </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981519937451516154.post-27752614857258207212014-12-22T22:05:00.002-05:002014-12-22T22:05:50.209-05:00Amway Global Scam<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgemRksFAAsBzBt7LEp4lUOzOlhkROywRdXFuNoUdR-fkSCdDvQVw4yTx11bWEqPFM4cUO1pyYfuV8JJlN6YNYUSAg08rh7eeJ9U3AWEx86l_cKtW_Pgm6eE7gF3o6jdryRnoqeCRpxjEUF/s1600-h/Scamway_Global_Graphic.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276877627084571314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgemRksFAAsBzBt7LEp4lUOzOlhkROywRdXFuNoUdR-fkSCdDvQVw4yTx11bWEqPFM4cUO1pyYfuV8JJlN6YNYUSAg08rh7eeJ9U3AWEx86l_cKtW_Pgm6eE7gF3o6jdryRnoqeCRpxjEUF/s200/Scamway_Global_Graphic.png" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 138px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Actually, Amway is</span> like 'Doublemint' chewing gum. Amway is <span style="font-style: italic;">two scams in one.</span> First is the product based pyramid scheme, where Amway cult initiates basically are their own best customers, buying their own products in a self consumption relationship to the Ada, Michigan mother-ship. Secondly, there is the tool scam where all the Amway self-consumers are urged to purchase all the mundane training materials to include seminar and rally tickets. These purchases make a very, very small group of top of the pyramid distributors very wealthy. These folks are commonly referred to in court documents as <span style="font-style: italic;">'kingpins'.</span> Both Amway and the tool kingpins operate a money extracting scheme. Both hold a monopoly over the dream inspired believers which buy everything and sell very little. <br /><br /><br /><br />I realized that this is a simplified version of what the Amway Global Scam is all about. Suffice it to say that any type of pyramid scam is bad news for those participating in it. Generally they are the bamboozled believers in the scam who are expected to buy all the badly overpriced products and the endless chain of propaganda which masquerades as training materials. The Amway sellers of products and the kingpin sellers of tools operate their scam in an unholy alliance which basically feeds upon their own children. <br /><br /><br /><br />The nearly fifty year history of Amway can be described as the <span style="font-style: italic;">'financial holocaust'</span> because believers in the scam have a near 100% rolling failure rate. Those hoping to make money, end up generally losing theirs. Expenditures to sell the scam on others as well as buying the monthly quota of products in a the tool scammer's <span style="font-style: italic;">'pay to play'</span> game of deceit, generally make profit objectives merely a pipe dream. Folks believing in the Amway dream might as well try to chase down the Leprechaun at the end of a rainbow or waste their time and money buying Power Ball tickets. Most people strive senselessly in the scheme until they eventually re-enter reality, realize that success in the scam will always be just beyond their reach and quit. Oddly enough, many of those who quit seem to blame themselves for not working hard enough in the scheme which they were badly oversold on. <br /><br /><br /><br />If you have found this blog while researching the Amway Global <span style="font-style: italic;">'opportunity'</span>, you have come to the right place to find out what Amway Global really is; and, if you are wise, save your time and money from being extracted by this cult business which is designed from the top down to make you the loser in <span style="font-style: italic;">their plan.</span> I recommend that you read <a href="http://quixtarisacultintervention.blogspot.com/">Quixtar Cult Intervention</a> and <a href="http://amwayglobalcultintervention.blogspot.com/">Amway Global Cult Intervention</a>. There are countless articles of interest there which can help guide you through the treacherous Amway Global waters of deceit.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981519937451516154.post-63134589349235686132014-12-12T20:32:00.000-05:002014-12-12T20:47:35.841-05:00MLM Amway Secrets<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Have you ever</b> had an invite from a friend, associate, or a stranger
that left you in the lurch wondering just what the invite was all about?
Maybe, just out of the blue, an old acquaintance that you have not seen
since high school calls you up and invites you to see something that is
so important that you absolutely must do it! Your old friend is very
vague about just what this "something" is. Even if you become suspicious
and ask if it is "Amway? (Herbalife? Xango? Monavie? Nuskin? Mary Kay)"
Your friend might respond and say something like this: "I can't really
talk about it over the phone; you will just have to see this for
yourself." Your curiosity has been piqued. You most likely have just
been exposed to the "curiosity invite", one of the devilish recruitment
tactics of a multi-level business opportunity schemes.<br />
<br />
Amway
is the most well known, although there are other 'clones' that operate
basically using Amway's pyramid recruitment practices.
Amway claims to be the number #1 on line retailer of health and beauty
products in the US, although most of their sales are to their own
distributors. These distributors are basically the only real customers
for the products which are intentionally priced to be unsellable outside
of the distributor chain.<br />
<br />
Amway's reputation in the
United States has been tarnished by a series of scandals,
whistle-blowers, Dateline scrutiny, and bad word of mouth. Amway has run
advertising and commercials to help revive their negative image.
Amway distributors are called are called either 'Amway Business Owners'
(ABOs) or "Independent Business Owners (IBOs). for convenience. These
'distributors' are part of a 'pyramid'system that includes an "up-line"
and a "down-line." These 'distributors' receive a distributor discount
on the products they buy whether they are sold at retail or consumed at
home. The idea is that any product that they retail at full price
provides them with profit margin.. Buy at a discount and sell for full
retail price is a universally accepted method of making money in any
business, but realizing a profit in this business (or many of the other
MLM clones) can be very difficult to achieve.<br />
<br />
The
remainder of this blog post will describe the secrets of Amway.'
A very small number of Amway distributors are known collectively by US
courts as 'kingpins. These kingpins run a 'shadow' business monopoly
business selling motivational training materials to include seminar and
rally tickets which is known as the "tool and function" business. The
name 'kingpin' is also used to describe key high level 'capo' in the
mafia. Law Professor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._Robert_Blakey" target="_blank">G. Robert Blakey</a>, best known for his work drafting the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act" target="_blank">Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act</a>, produced a <a href="http://www.amquix.info/blakey.html" target="_blank">report</a> presented into evidence in <a href="http://www.startribune.com/business/11209336.html" target="_blank"><i>Procter &</i> </a><i><a href="http://www.startribune.com/business/11209336.html" target="_blank">Gamble Company, et al. v. Amway Corporation, et al</a> </i>which had been ordered 'sealed' but which was subsequently 'leaked.' Robert Blakey's report said:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue;"><i>"It is my opinion that the Amway business is
run in a manner that is parallel to that of major organized crime groups, in particular
the Mafia. The structure and function of major organized crime groups, generally
consisting of associated enterprises engaging in patterns of legal and illegal activity,
was the prototype forming the basis for federal and state racketeering legislation that I
have been involved in drafting. The same structure and function, with associated
enterprises engaging in patterns of legal and illegal activity, is found in the Amway
business."</i></span> </blockquote>
Amway kingpins are
introduced to new Amway recruits with exalted titles like "Ambassador."
These names are called 'pin' levels that provide aspiring Amway
believers are taught to aspire to become and emulate. The majority of
'kingpins' were early adopters in the Amway pyramid system and reside
near the top of the organization. Their wealth and monetary success are
paraded in front of the distributors as proof that one can become
wealthy if the Amway 'system' is followed. The kingpins supposedly sell
the 'secrets' of success to their 'down-line'
Trappings of wealth serves as the "bait" for starry eyed 'newbie'
distributors who have been told that they can also rise to the top of
the Amway pyramid. Visions of money, palatial estates, and luxury
automobiles inspire the flock to 'slave' under Amway's totalitarian
system.
New distributors are taught that success in Quixtar comes from profits
generated in selling and recruiting a never ending chain of new
distributors who will share some of their profits with their 'upline.'
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>The dirty secret of the Amway is that the sale of product does not provide the spectacular
wealth of those at the top of the pyramid, but it is the sale of the
secrets of success: the Amway tools</b>. </blockquote>
Distributors
in the Amway business soon realize that the sale of Amway products is
difficult and realize that recruitment is the road to the promised
treasure. Therefore, they spend most of their time trying to recruit
new distributors into their business where an 'annoying' invite to
prospects is made and where the plan is 'sprung' on the prospects.
Believers are strongly urged on by the training materials and their
up-line superiors.<br />
<br />
Amway distributors strive to build a
down-line business and new recruits are encouraged to buy the tools and
attend every 'function' as the 'key' to become the next Amway success
story. The 'tool kingpins' smile all the way to the bank with their tool
profits.<br />
<br />
In times past, distributors were told that
the tools were sold at or near cost and that success in the business
came from Amway--not from tool sales. The 2004 Dateline expose on
Quixtar (Amway) corruption exposed the dirty little secret of the Amway
cult. Although Amway/Quixtar has denied these allegations ever since,
the truth has been an open secret. Not all distributors are fooled by
the Amway propaganda machine and have fostered some many a disgruntled,
angry distributor which lead to a revolt. <br />
<br />
The tool
kingpins operate a bait and switch operation; their tool sales benefit
by high distributor turn over that the high cost of following the Amway
'system' requires. New distributors represent a cash cow to the
kingpins, as the older distributors require less training. The hopeful
new distributors come into the business and are driven like cattle
through the "money making machine." Very quickly these treasure inspired
believers begin shelling out their own treasure and find themselves in a
catch 22. Like "Simple Simons" they buy the Secrets, attend seminars
and rallies and absorb all the 'over-head.' Eventually, expenditures,
unfulfilled expectations, and disillusionment bring their Amway dream to
an end. As proof of this, many of these Amway business failures put
their accumulated books, cds, videos, materials and unsold inventory up
for sale on web auction sites like Ebay at incredible discount . Many
times these tools receive no bids, go unsold and remain relatively
worthless!<br />
<br />
The up-line distributor, in anguish, must
now recruit more down-line to replace those that quit. Remember, his
goal is to retain new distributors who will help him become profitable
by buying products. An distributor constantly must struggle, expend more
time and money in search of replacements. He becomes like a man trying
to run up a down escalator: two steps up and one step down; one step up
and two steps down! His continued efforts hardly benefits him at all
while at the same time it produces a steady stream of new distributors
that will for a while buy tools from the kingpins.
There are three distinct groups of people in the Amway/Quixtar business,
the company owners, the tool kingpins, and the body of every day
distributors. The first two groups benefit and prosper from the business
while the last group of distributors do all the recruiting, buy the
products, and also buy all the tools.<br />
<br />
People struggling
to succeed in Amway have little time to spend with their family and
suffer social stigma. Family and friends become 'disconnected'. Married
distributors are forced to place children in the care of relatives or
babysitters. Marital discourse may arise. Uplines constantly make
demands to buy product, tools and to 'show the plan.' Success in Amway
usually ends up not it fulfilled dreams, but in broken ones. They have
been taught that failure is caused by not working hard enough and for
not following the system. It is system that many times the cause of
their failure. 99% of those joining Amway never show a profit. <br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981519937451516154.post-46970368575749927622012-06-10T15:17:00.000-04:002014-12-13T20:25:44.878-05:00What Do I Have Against Amway? Reader Wants Top 5 Reasons<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Recently a reader left a comment under my <a href="http://amwaysoapbox.blogspot.com/2009/03/amways-perfect-water-scam.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FMrFb+%28Amway+Soap+Box%29&utm_content=Google+Reader">Perfect Water Blog post</a> on <a href="http://amwaysoapbox.blogspot.com/">Amway Soap Box</a> that I want to share with readers of this blog. JFI wrote:<br />
<blockquote>
What exactly do you have against Amway? Give me your top 5 reasons, one of which can't start with "well my friend...".</blockquote>
Here is the comment answer that I gave:<br />
<blockquote>
Thanks for visiting. You ask for five things. Hmmm?<br />
<br />
1. Amway Operates a <b><i>'closed market' swindle</i></b> that preys on their very own. (Can you say "pernicious cult?")<br />
<br />
2. <b><i>Tool Scam</i></b>. Yes, the secondary pyramid scheme, where all adherents to the cult buy a plethora of incredibly stupid 'how to screw your family, friends and co-workers' all while they are fleeced by both the tool kingpins and ol' Rich DeVos and his Ada Michigan Crime Family.<br />
<br />
3. <b><i>Nutrilite</i></b>. The original pyramid scam that DeVos and Van Andel acquired when the Federal authorities effectively shut down Mytinger and Casselberry for of all things: Running a Pyramid Scheme! The vitamins, nothing more than 'soups' compressed into capsules and priced as to be extortionate are pushed--not so much on potential retail customers--but onto the IBO cult adherents.<br />
<br />
4. <b><i>Kingpins</i></b>. Amway is organized and operated exactly like the mafia. These Kingpins head up a downline gang which control a secondary closed market swindle, the tool scam, basically fleecing the flock of recruits, who instead of prospering in the Amway business, lose all their investments of time and money.<br />
<br />
5. <b><i>Amway apologists</i></b>. Generally, these erstwhile people, promote Amway as an incredible business opportunity, although the actual history tells a horror story--a financial holocaust--for the people foolish enough to believe all the Amway lies. Knowing the truth and promoting the scheme/scam makes these people guilty of intent to defraud others.</blockquote>
Another reader, Katie W, left a comment following mine that describes what generally happens to Ambots, those joining the Amway Cult: <br />
<blockquote>
Everything the above poster said is TRUE! When I met my fiance, he was an Amway "cult" follower. Was completely hypnotized. Had been doing it for three years. I had to seriously sit down with him (after traveling to a few open meetings and a conference with him) and have a talk. He was $3000 in credit card debt with no savings. Why? The "tools" (books, cds, etc.), the pricey conferences, hotels, gas to get there, open meeting costs, PLUS buying MORE product than what he needed so his uplines could achieve certain thresholds! They convinced him to do it for the "good of the team". Not to mention, Amway products ARE MORE EXPENSIVE than comparable products. I am a financial analyst, I'm not an idiot. And I know this is a stupid investment. After my fiance got away, at least once a week he wonders how he would've been so stupid and gullible to fall for it. He kicks himself everyday for getting into so much debt because of Amway.</blockquote>
<b>If you arrived at this blog post because you have been asked to join the a MLM business opportunity and you are doing some research into the supposed '<i>Opportunity</i>' you can save yourself all the time, money, and social stigma that these business cults desire to take from you simply by declining their offer. </b></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981519937451516154.post-55829142288397775602011-08-24T20:34:00.005-04:002014-12-13T00:03:30.050-05:00Former Amway Kingpins Accuse Amway of Pyramid Scheme Allegations And Force Amway To Settle Out of Court For 100 Million Dollars<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Let me be blunt here. The top former distributors (Amway
whistle-blowers) said was operating a pyramid scheme in a lawsuit they brought against
Amway. (Aren't these former top distributors in a position to know?) The
former Quixtar kingpins, to include Orrin Woodward, managed to spring a <a href="http://www.pyramidschemealert.org/PSAMain/news/AmwayPyramidSuit.pdf">legalistic trap</a> on the Devos/Van Andel empire (I should I say pyramid). In the process they confirmed what Amway critics have long known about Amway: that they operates a product based pyramid scheme by offering products intentionally priced not to sell outside of the distribution network.<br />
<br />
These former 'kingpins' in their briefs have described
how the esoteric structure of Amway operates, and described in brutal
detail how Amway sheep are fleeced. Truth, this time, came from the
proverbial horse's mouth! The allegations made are really nothing new to Amway critics as
Amway does not have a stellar reputation.<br />
<br />
In this stare down with the IBO Rebellion, Amway blinked and will have to pay off the whistle blowing
traitors and other aggrieved non rebellious distributors. Amway followed the <b>'out of court' </b>strategy (again) to settle the suit. <u>Amway gets to maintain they are not a pyramid scheme instead of taking the risk that a jury might decide otherwise.</u>
Amway will pay out one hundred million (with another part to be
returned in Amway products, an assortment of vitamins, cosmetics and
energy drinks).<br />
<br />
The IBO Rebellion-- 'traitors' of their former Amway cult--get to <b><span style="font-style: italic;">take the money and run</span></b>. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981519937451516154.post-42938496667495291882009-06-18T07:42:00.008-04:002014-12-13T20:48:56.986-05:00How Amway Went Wrong Way: the Quixtar Blunder<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Amway went the <i>wrong-way</i> by renaming themselves Quixtar (dropping the Amway name) and heralded a <i>'Quixtar Revolution.'</i> Distributors felt that the new changes would bring the Amway business fully into the computer age. They disregarded the fact that Amway has always been, and still remains, a face to face, invite the victim, and show the plan recruitment scam that is pushed on naive prospects. Recruits would fall for the promises of huge incomes and then be willing to 'pay to play' in the supposedly tried and true (yet new) Quixtar system. <br />
<br />
All distributors were encouraged to switch their 'businesses and become a Quixtar "Independent Business Owners." The old Amway ordering and delivery system was scrubbed. Distributors were forbidden to advertise on the web and were instead told that all orders would be processed through the Amway portal, that they would have to pay for the privilege of 'owning' a Quixtar page page on the Amway servers that could only be accessed via password. These web pages would be hidden from prospective customers. It just wouldn't be right to have thousands upon thousands of pages touting the Amway opportunity and the pricey products. <br />
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<i>The new 'Quixtar Powered Business'</i> was to remain the same old Amway a recruitment scheme that depended on the never ending recruitment of new distributors who buy all the bullshit. Amway continued 'fixing' the product prices. 'Quix-bots' were to buy from themselves and dream of promised wealth. They were to become slaves to their Quixtar 'totalitarian' masters. <br />
<blockquote>
<i>Devos and Van Andel, the Amway founders, had long since, grew wealthy by operating a <i>'dissimulated closed market '</i> scheme carefully crafted to extract considerable treasure from the cult-like, dream believing drones gullible enough to believe the myths.</i></blockquote>
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In the end, after failure to ever make it big in Amway, and then in Quixtar, many would quit. The drones had been 'conditioned' to believe that failure resulted from not following the system and/or failure to work hard enough in 'their' business. Most would awaken, from the dream, return to reality, and realize that the system was designed to fail them. Amway and the kingpin distributors would count their money, enjoy the lifestyle of flaunted wealth and remain the 'cheese' in the Quixtar rat trap. <br />
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After Dateline exposed Quixtar distributors making exorbitant income claims was aired by NBC, and the bad press resulting from a IBO Rebellion, along with the defection of whistle-blower Eric Scheibler, the Quixtar parent company--Alticor)--had had enought and pulled the plug, dumped the Quixtar name and renamed their totalitarian sate "Amway Global".<br />
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The Quixtar revolution was over. Amway had gone the wrong way--the Quixtar blunder. The Quixtar Fragments of the failed revolution can be seen all over the web. The 'revolution' couldn't outrun the bad smell of Amway. <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981519937451516154.post-59065189961960479662009-05-30T12:06:00.014-04:002014-12-13T22:11:06.341-05:00Who Really Needed an Exorcist--Amway or Proctor & Gamble?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_75T__VWLm5M/SiFzrF0ikGI/AAAAAAAABZM/_Ep4hAcyI5E/s1600-h/Linda+Blair+In+the+Exorcist.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_75T__VWLm5M/SiFzrF0ikGI/AAAAAAAABZM/_Ep4hAcyI5E/s400/Linda+Blair+In+the+Exorcist.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341677817172234338" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
I suppose the 1970's horror classic, <i>The Exorcist</i>, seems rather 'old school' today, but it was a disturbing story about a young girl who was possessed by Satan, or one of his direct 'downline' minions in his own pyramid scheme where the devil reigns as tyrant-in-chief over his own totalitarian state. How fitting then, that I must bring to readers attention to the <b>Amway and Proctor and Gamble scandal</b>, where P&;G accused Amway Kingpins of intentionally spreading the rumor that Proctor and Gamble was satanic. As proof, the rumor mongers pointed to a trade symbol that appeared on P & G's packaging. The spreading of these slanders would counter the argument that P & G's product line was superior to Amway.<br />
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Distributors in Amway are taught by their 'upline' to be 'core'--100% product loyal to Amway products and to never buy any competitor's 'negative' products. <i>(Proof by the way that Amway operates a 'closed market' swindle primarily focused at its own distributors.)</i><br />
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It should be pointed out that Amway's market share is miniscule compared to marketing giant Proctor and Gamble. Amway, irregardless of truth, claims to be the #1 online health and beauty retailer--a claim that is patently false. Even restricted to MLM competition, Mary Kay and Avon most likely move more cosmetics. <br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>The devil is in the details; Satan's minions had entered into the Amway Kingpins.</b> </blockquote>
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Amway is the author of the great reality inverting myth: Amway is a great business opportunity. This is truly the biggest myth which the Amway kingpins tell.<br />
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When Amway kingpin, Randy Haugen, was named in Proctor and Gamble's defamation suit, Amway attempted to distance themselves from the allegations by hiding behind a labyrinth of 'corporate entities.' Amway motivational organizations foster the lies that keep the pyramid churning forward. Recruitment of new victims must eclipse the number of victims which leave. <br />
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Below is the trade symbol which Amway Kingpins linked Proctor and Gamble to Satan: <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_75T__VWLm5M/SiFyfZuj08I/AAAAAAAABZE/FpJItj0PyL0/s1600-h/Symbol+With+Stars+Satanic+Amway+P%26G.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_75T__VWLm5M/SiFyfZuj08I/AAAAAAAABZE/FpJItj0PyL0/s400/Symbol+With+Stars+Satanic+Amway+P%26G.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341676516845802434" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 284px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 283px;" /></a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981519937451516154.post-56245310100748486342009-02-28T12:28:00.010-05:002009-03-01T18:57:09.809-05:00There is a Traveling Sales Crew Werewolf at the Door Jim!<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_75T__VWLm5M/Sal7WCsdtNI/AAAAAAAABT4/SyuEIGtXD2U/s1600-h/werewolves_traveling_sales_crew.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 187px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_75T__VWLm5M/Sal7WCsdtNI/AAAAAAAABT4/SyuEIGtXD2U/s200/werewolves_traveling_sales_crew.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307909254443545810" /></a><br />My wife and I were riding in the car when a rock classic from the 70s came on the radio, the <em>Werewolves of London</em>. I was chuckling about how funny this pop song seems in retrospect all these many years later, when I realized that one verse of the lyrics fit perfectly with the Traveling Magazine Sales Crews that fall upon neighborhoods in the United States throughout the warm months of the year, usually just as many colleges and universities take their summer breaks. Think of some of these folks as the <em>werewolves</em> in the Warren Zevon song: <br /><blockquote>If you hear him howling around your kitchen door,<br />better not let him in.<br />Little old lady got mutilated late last night;<br /><em>Werewolves</em> of London again<br />(Think traveling sales crew or Kirby salesman again)</blockquote><br />It was about <em>‘the little old lady getting mutilated last night' </em>verse that first made me chuckle, and then I became sober as a judge! I just happened to recall at that moment all of the <em>real</em> life <em>horror stories </em>reported involving the door to door selling industry, where real little old ladies do indeed get mutilated--raped, robbed and even murdered--a gruesome reality and a theme repeated over and over again in the door to door selling industry where even sweeper salesmen have carried out atrocious crime. So when you have these people ‘howling around your kitchen door, you better not let them in!’ All good advice from Warren Zevon in this classical rock song from <em>back in the day</em>. <br /><br />Not only are these door knocking youths possibly putting their own well being in danger; other 'down and outers' also recruited for the ride--usually with no background check--are free to prey on the vulnerable, those living alone, the elderly, and those physically or mentally impaired that are encountered along the way. <br /><br /><em>Werewolves, vampires, murderers in the rue morgue</em>, all horror films remembered from my youth, all of which seem rather <em>campy</em> when compared to the true stories of the traveling magazine sales crews as well and the dark side of the door to door selling industry, a topic that I have examined in past blog posts. These crews are usually a mixed bag of <em>‘down and outers’ </em>and the college aged youths all caught up in what I believe is a traveling circus, a veritable circus cage on wheels where youths travel like sardines in a tin can which can potentially be a one way a ride to <em>dusty death</em>.<br /><br />People in these traveling sales crews are all generally in the hands of unscrupulous types who take orders from some boiler room call centers which might be operating in your home town. Some of these boiler rooms actually might look like Hitler’s war room in the Wolf’s Lair Bunker during World War II. Managers move the crews around on what most likely is a computerized map where complexities of managing so many dispersed personnel are indeed complex. Instead of Adolf moving little tanks around in his imaginary war, these folks move van loads of youths from town to town in their war on the pocket books of mostly vulnerable women who most likely are doing laundry or preparing the evening dinner. These boiler room managers have been operating these shady ‘boiler rooms’ for so long, they are old hat at it. For those working in these settings, the work is most likely tedious and the pay most likely low--as it is for nearly all boiler room call center operators who process sales orders made by all the door knocking salespeople. <br /><br />Here in my home town, there exists a large complex of office suites, all of which are available for lease as call centers. A <em>smorgass board </em>of closely aligned tables and phone jacks. Many times one group of telemarketers move out and another unscrupulous bunch moves in. Local folk, many times displaced workers in other industries, line up for these boiler room jobs. Each of these operations I have noticed go by some sort of deceptive name, sometimes having little to do with what they are actually doing, this all to disguise from casual observers-- the town's people--what the real nature of their affairs is. These <em>fly by night </em>operations can in general involve any type of traveling sales/delivery operation. Some may seem more legitimate than others, but they all generally fall into the same loose fitting basket of telemarketing boiler room operators. Many of these people are subcontractors of magazine publishers, of traveling auditors, or traveling sales crews of one type or another, all offering any number of products or services door to door; some to organize the delivery of telephone directories. <br /><br />Magazine publishers contract--many times with unscrupulous subcontractors--to sell magazine subscriptions door to door. Product sellers, to include bibles, books and sundry cleaning supplies may operate their own door to door operation directly. One example of this is Southwestern Company whose home offices are located along the skyline of Nashville, Tennessee. Most likely they have their own version of the boiler room as well, where managers move sales crews around like ponds on a chess board. Possibly direct operators also sublet some of their door to door operations as well, being able to conveniently <em>lay these folks off </em>at the end of the selling season. <br /><br />Obviously the people operating traveling sales crews view their operations as sales generators where all expenses are closely evaluated and weighed so as to be a ‘penny pinching affair’ where the <em>‘take’ </em>or margin is of more concern than the sales people, who might be forced to sleep 6 to 8 or more persons to a room or be put up in questionable locations and circumstances. <br /><br />Indeed these operators set up what I would term to be <em>'safe houses' </em>not so different than the 'safe houses' terrorist organizations set up for traveling bomb makers. Most likely many of these waysides residences become party houses, where almost anything imaginable is possible. Where the local crack and meth dealers hang about. Youths traveling in these caravans will be exposed to all the pitfalls of modern society, alcohol, cigarettes, pot, and drugs of every imaginable sort. Worse even, they will be bedding down with those who may have sexual intentions that absolutely are not honorable. Young people, many experiencing sexuality for the first time should not be allowed to go out on these magazine sales crews period! I single out magazine sales crews, because they are the worst of the worst of the entire bad lot of subcontractors, all intent on squeezing every conceivable penny out of their contracts with the magazine publishers and who do the dirty work that the respectable magazines--like Vanity Fair, or Time--do not want to actually do themselves.. The only label I can put on these fly by night operators of boiler room and traveling sales crews is: <strong>disreputable!</strong> <br /><br />Not only are youths exposed to these potential vices and sexual experiences on the road, they are generally taught by others exactly how the traveling sales sub-cons works. I will not go into details here, but <em>check washing</em>, comes immediately to mind. I will put a link at the bottom of this post for anyone desiring to do a more intensive study of traveling sales crew horrors. <br /><blockquote><strong><em>No one reading through the traveling sales crew horrors will ever think the same way about door to door sellers and door knockers ever again!</em></strong></blockquote> <br />The Direct Selling Association (the DSA) oppose the proposed changes in Wisconsin law, which if enacted would prevent those who profit from these gypsy sellers to shield themselves from responsibility for crime committed against the dignity of the citizens. At present, the magazine publishers, and those they contract invoke a loop hole which makes these sellers 'independent contractors' solely responsible for their individual actions. Malinda's law would close this loop hole and hold those who stand to profit responsible for the actions of all their sales people. The DSA oppose all efforts to reign in the known abuses as proposed by <strong>'Malinda's Law'</strong> where hearings are to be held in March 2009 in the Wisconsin state legislature. <br /><br />The DSA trade organization is made up of some disreputable <em>'supposed'</em> direct sellers and multi-level marketers operating extremely <em>questionable</em> product pyramid schemes of every sort, known to prey upon their 'distributors' (heavy irony) for nearly all of their sales. Many of these companies, like Amway operate under the disguise of being door to door sellers. Retail sales to non distributor customers has been reported to be a dismal 4 to 5 percent of total sales. Amway distributors are therefore, <em>for all intents and purposes, </em>the company's <em>only</em> customers, where no practical door to door selling is actually encouraged or significantly carried out. Amway focuses primarily on recruitment of new distributor customers through social networking. <br /><br />New Amway distributors usually start out trying to recruit family and friends and then move onto those they meet in public places (like McDonalds) and possibly even coworkers in their day jobs. Door knocking is generally not taught as a primary sales strategy where recruitment of new buyers (self consuming <em>'distributors'</em>) is the primary method of operandi. Indeed, most distributors view direct selling as something which is unnecessary even though it is contractually required. Ironically, Amway and other DSA MLM member sellers operating <em>'join and buy from yourself'</em> schemes represent that their 'self consuming distributor customers' as 'door to door' sellers, an elaborate reality inverting hoax all cooked up to appease the Federal Trade Commission who at one time tried to roll Amway up as a pyramid scam. While retail sales are required by fine print in every contract an independent signs in order to be <em>eligible</em> to receive commissions/bonuses (which in actuality are a form of rebate in a self consumption type distributorship), <strong>nearly all distributors conveniently disregard this rule.</strong> I invite concerned readers to more fully understand how these deceptions work by reading <a href="http://quixtarisacultintervention.blogspot.com/2008/08/continued-exploitation-of-traveling.html">Continued Exploitation of Traveling Sales Crews Supported by the Direct Selling Association</a>. <br /><br />I have advocated my support for the adoption of <strong>Malinda’s Law </strong>in the state of Wisconsin, even though I live in a different state. If passed, other states may seek to implement change designed to protect young adults from unscrupulous greedy types seeking to take undue advantage of those just getting started on their journey through life. <em>A journey through the horrors of the traveling sales crew shouldn’t be included.</em> My heart goes out to Phil Ellenbecker, who lost his daughter in a traveling sales crew disaster that <strong>WAS NOT </strong>an accident but a negligent act. It didn’t have to happen! The elected representatives of the citizens of Wisconsin will have a chance to save the lives of those traveling through their state and set a precedent that other states should follow. The independent contractor loophole being the fine print that has shielded the magazine executives and their subcontractors from blame for way too long. Significantly, independent subcontractor fine print also has helped Amway avoid the misrepresentation their independents many times make about potential wealth (lifestyles of the rich) in the independent’s recruitment ‘dream selling’ scheme that I‘ve also blogged extensively about. <br /><br />For more information click <a href="http://quixtarisacultintervention.blogspot.com/2008/08/continued-exploitation-of-traveling.html">here</a> and <a href="http://www.travelingsalescrews.info/">here</a> and <a href="http://www.dedicatedmemorial.org/">here</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981519937451516154.post-13932620102190030502009-02-18T09:14:00.007-05:002014-12-13T22:27:05.288-05:00Alcoholic Acquaintance Finds Work Driving Door to Door Salespeople Around<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_75T__VWLm5M/SZwd6q_Km4I/AAAAAAAABQI/Bkopzwg0yro/s1600-h/Malinda.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_75T__VWLm5M/SZwd6q_Km4I/AAAAAAAABQI/Bkopzwg0yro/s200/Malinda.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304147354944445314" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 138px;" /></a><br />
<b>It has been </b>some weeks back, but my wife told me that her drunken male friend for some years had called her<b> <i>'from the road'</i>. </b>He had managed finally to find some part time employment, that of driving some door to door knocking youths from town to town while they performed some undisclosed task. As some readers of QCI might recall, I have previously written some blog posts about traveling sales crews, so news that this fellow has found work <i>behind the wheel </i>of one of these traveling vans made me think, how appropriate <i>and frightening</i>! <br />
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My wife's friend, which I will call Denny (not his real name), had been hired by me and my wife to paint our house. My wife felt sorry for him, as he had told her he needed money to make his child support payments or they would toss him into the county jail. I was dead set against hiring him to do the work, preferring to do the painting myself. From experience, there has rarely been an occasion when I've seen Denny without a beer in his hand and a 30 pack of Busch close by. Anyway, the house only got partially painted, as Denny never stayed sober long enough to navigate the ladders for more than an hour or two a day before drunkenness made it impossible to work at height. It did not surprise me that he didn't manage to complete the work, and I have since had to finish the painting myself, all after my wife mistakenly, and without my knowledge paid him in advance for the work. I was so mad about the entire affair that I told my wife I never wanted to see this Denny fellow here at the house again. <br />
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So, when Denny called my wife from the road recently to tell her he was working ferrying around youths door to door while they were performing sales or <i>'deliveries'</i>, I thought: how appropriate--a fellow who has had more than a hand full of <i>driving under the influence </i>charges against him (but somehow miraculously still has a drivers license and is the town drunk) can find employment behind the wheel of a traveling crew van full of youths? <br />
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I guess a simple background check might have revealed the past drunk driving red flags and prevented another potential traveling sales crew disaster much like that which happened near Janeseville Wisconsin ten years ago. <br />
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To Denny's credit, he hasn't wrecked the van, yet? Support the passage of Malinda's Law in the State of Wisconsin, potentially the state leader in protecting its own citizens; the life you save may very well be <i>your own!</i><br />
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Many people are asleep to the danger that lurks in their own state. Word up friends, and follow this link to discover a <b><a href="http://www.travelingsalescrews.info/southwestern%20company.html">dirty little secret of their little traveling sales crew.</a></b> <br />
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As an update to this story, my wife told me that this Denny called to tell her he had been let go--basically fired--while he was in New Jersey, hundreds of miles from where Denny usually calls home? Seems these drunken desperadoes like Denny, who in the end are left somehow <i>in the lurch</i>, possibly without all their pay, and then just dropped like so much trash by the side of the road, all because there always are more willing <i>desperados </i>ready to take Denny's place behind the wheel on these van rides, all which potentially could result in additional rides, that in long black limousines on the way to the eternal rest.<br />
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***About the picture near the title of post above, <a href="http://www.dedicatedmemorial.org/">click here</a>. You do not have to be from Wisconsin to understand that this disaster did not have to happen!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0