Also people say they ruin lives, how?
In: Economics
In some cases, the products are snake oil – for example, an expensive medical device that claims circulation benefits. Another is an expensive filter that “enhances” your ordinary tap water, promising benefits from consuming it, post-treatment.
In other cases, the products are legit, like Amway cleaning products, but way more expensive, even at wholesale, than they should be.
One of the problems with MLM schemes is that after your “buy in” they often coerce you into buying “motivational” products – books, courses, etc and threaten to “cut you off” if you don’t purchase them. Attending expensive “conferences” and “seminars” which you pay for, all out of pocket, is often pushed, too.
Then there’s the social cost – it simply “makes sense” to hit up family and friends first and hopefully get referrals from them, but more often than not you just annoy them, and even push them away completely. I know someone who is so desperate to sell that medical device that she attempted to do some lead generation at a wake. I’m in a legitimate business for myself, and I know she wants my client list because most of them are affluent and well-connected. But if I ever made this person privy to these hard won contacts, I’d probably never hear from those people again. Their time is too valuable to be bothered with MLM poison.
There are LOTS of anti-MLM sites out there (although supposedly some have been bought out by MLM companies or some of the few successful distributors and had their message subtly re-crafted), but it might be worthwhile to check out the docu, “Betting On Zero” – originally on Netflix, it can be rented for about two bucks on Amazon.
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