Are MLMs necessarily exploitative?
May 18, 2018 7:11 AM Subscribe
I work for a multi-level marketing (MLM) company at corporate headquarters. I have been there a couple years, and it seemed like any other company to me -- essentially honest people making good products, that just happen to be sold this weird way. But now this MLM thread has me reading this [pdf] absolute page-turner and I'm thinking... well, I'm thinking that my employer could be just as evil as the MLM in the book. How would I know? I don't have anything to do with distributors. How can I find out if my employer is a "good" MLM or a "bad" one? Can an ethical person ever work for any MLM?
Thus far, I have slept at night by telling myself my job is like doing the catering in an honest casino. Spending time in any casino is a money-losing proposition for almost everybody, and some people will destroy their lives there, but most people get something out of the experience they think is worth it. I am therefore not necessarily a bad person for indirectly helping them have that experience. I could not work in a dishonest casino though.
I know the products my MLM sells are good-quality, because I am involved in making sure they are. I use them myself, but I might not if I had to pay full-price, because there are cheaper alternatives.
But reading about the relationship distributors can have with their all-powerful up-line -- something I know nothing about -- makes me wonder if the whole business model isn't rotten. Can a good person work for any MLM? If so, is there a way I can find out whether my employer is one of the good ones?
Thus far, I have slept at night by telling myself my job is like doing the catering in an honest casino. Spending time in any casino is a money-losing proposition for almost everybody, and some people will destroy their lives there, but most people get something out of the experience they think is worth it. I am therefore not necessarily a bad person for indirectly helping them have that experience. I could not work in a dishonest casino though.
I know the products my MLM sells are good-quality, because I am involved in making sure they are. I use them myself, but I might not if I had to pay full-price, because there are cheaper alternatives.
But reading about the relationship distributors can have with their all-powerful up-line -- something I know nothing about -- makes me wonder if the whole business model isn't rotten. Can a good person work for any MLM? If so, is there a way I can find out whether my employer is one of the good ones?
If so, is there a way I can find out whether my employer is one of the good ones?
OK well first off, there are no good MLMs.
But here's a thing you can do: search on facebook and instagram for your brand. Search the hashtags.
If you see a bunch of posts filled with emojis and #bossbabes and #ceoofme and a bunch of inspirational quotes, that's not a good sign. If you see a bunch of posts about "stop being a slave to 9-5 and make money to treat your kids! ask me how to make $$$ at home!" that's not a good sign. Look for facebook group "parties" and join them. See what it's like for the people actually selling the product. Is anyone actually buying anything or is it just a bunch of posts hawking the product and recruiting folks to join their team? Search for the name of your brand + goob (going out of business) to see people who want to leave the company and are desperately unloading their crap. Search on Ebay for your products to see the same.
You can also look for mentions of your brand on the r/antimlm subreddit, botwatch, and timeless vie.
Does your company publish an income disclosure sheet for its sellers? Does it look at all reasonable to you? (If they don't publish one...why not?)
posted by phunniemee at 7:29 AM on May 18, 2018 [29 favorites]
OK well first off, there are no good MLMs.
But here's a thing you can do: search on facebook and instagram for your brand. Search the hashtags.
If you see a bunch of posts filled with emojis and #bossbabes and #ceoofme and a bunch of inspirational quotes, that's not a good sign. If you see a bunch of posts about "stop being a slave to 9-5 and make money to treat your kids! ask me how to make $$$ at home!" that's not a good sign. Look for facebook group "parties" and join them. See what it's like for the people actually selling the product. Is anyone actually buying anything or is it just a bunch of posts hawking the product and recruiting folks to join their team? Search for the name of your brand + goob (going out of business) to see people who want to leave the company and are desperately unloading their crap. Search on Ebay for your products to see the same.
You can also look for mentions of your brand on the r/antimlm subreddit, botwatch, and timeless vie.
Does your company publish an income disclosure sheet for its sellers? Does it look at all reasonable to you? (If they don't publish one...why not?)
posted by phunniemee at 7:29 AM on May 18, 2018 [29 favorites]
On one hand, there is no ethical consumption under capitalism - which is to say a great many of us have and/or had our rents paid by shitty companies exploiting people. On the other hand, some choices are worse than others.
A good way to figure out what is going on with your company is to google the name and scam together, look for facebook groups/message boards/etc.
As a former Mormon, I am suspicious that any MLM can be "good." Even the less crap ones destroy lives. They also overwhelmingly target populations, like Mormon women, who are less savvy and more desperate. It's a terrible combo that only benefits those at the top.
posted by I'm Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today! at 7:32 AM on May 18, 2018 [21 favorites]
A good way to figure out what is going on with your company is to google the name and scam together, look for facebook groups/message boards/etc.
As a former Mormon, I am suspicious that any MLM can be "good." Even the less crap ones destroy lives. They also overwhelmingly target populations, like Mormon women, who are less savvy and more desperate. It's a terrible combo that only benefits those at the top.
posted by I'm Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today! at 7:32 AM on May 18, 2018 [21 favorites]
Spending time in any casino is a money-losing proposition for almost everybody, and some people will destroy their lives there, but most people get something out of the experience they think is worth it. I am therefore not necessarily a bad person for indirectly helping them have that experience. I could not work in a dishonest casino though.
There's no such thing as an "honest" casino - casinos do not tell you what the take for any given machine or game is, which exploits people's natural inclination not to be statistically-oriented - i.e., people who sit at a machine that is "due." Casinos also do not include clocks, and generally do not include windows, because not having those things have been proven to increase the amount of time, and therefore the amount of money, people are going to lose at the casino.
Similarly - how is your company marketing its MLM to prospective levels? Is there any get-rich quick/quit your job type language involved that does not line up with the vast majority of people who get into it? Do they use one-off examples of people who made oodles of money and portray it as the "typical" experience? If so - you may have a quality product, but it's exploiting people through and through if they're being sold one experience and are getting another as a seller. The vast majority of the problems in MLM are not shoddy products for the consumer but the way they suck time, money, and relationships out of the sellers.
posted by notorious medium at 7:33 AM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
There's no such thing as an "honest" casino - casinos do not tell you what the take for any given machine or game is, which exploits people's natural inclination not to be statistically-oriented - i.e., people who sit at a machine that is "due." Casinos also do not include clocks, and generally do not include windows, because not having those things have been proven to increase the amount of time, and therefore the amount of money, people are going to lose at the casino.
Similarly - how is your company marketing its MLM to prospective levels? Is there any get-rich quick/quit your job type language involved that does not line up with the vast majority of people who get into it? Do they use one-off examples of people who made oodles of money and portray it as the "typical" experience? If so - you may have a quality product, but it's exploiting people through and through if they're being sold one experience and are getting another as a seller. The vast majority of the problems in MLM are not shoddy products for the consumer but the way they suck time, money, and relationships out of the sellers.
posted by notorious medium at 7:33 AM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
There are many businesses that use elements of MLM. I know someone who makes a living selling (reputable, medically-approved, science-based) weight-loss products, and there's an element of MLM in their business, in that they buy their products from the parent company, and if they recruit someone else into the business and help to get them set up in business, they get a monthly bonus based on that person's sales. BUT there isn't any great pressure to recruit other people into the business, and there's no element of hassling family and friends.
I think the critical question is: can a seller of your products make a reasonable living from just selling the products? Or can they only really succeed by recruiting people into a pyramid? In other words, what's the ratio of income from direct sales to income from the people under you in the pyramid? If it's, say, 5:1, then the business model is obviously more legit than when the ratio is the other way up.
The rotten businesses you hear about are those that fall substantially into the latter category. It's possible for a legitimate business with a niche product to use an element of MLM to help expand their sales base. The market eventually saturates in a particular geographical area, and so there's no benefit to recruiting people who will effectively become local competitors - the MLM element is self-limiting.
posted by pipeski at 7:34 AM on May 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
I think the critical question is: can a seller of your products make a reasonable living from just selling the products? Or can they only really succeed by recruiting people into a pyramid? In other words, what's the ratio of income from direct sales to income from the people under you in the pyramid? If it's, say, 5:1, then the business model is obviously more legit than when the ratio is the other way up.
The rotten businesses you hear about are those that fall substantially into the latter category. It's possible for a legitimate business with a niche product to use an element of MLM to help expand their sales base. The market eventually saturates in a particular geographical area, and so there's no benefit to recruiting people who will effectively become local competitors - the MLM element is self-limiting.
posted by pipeski at 7:34 AM on May 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'd be more concerned, if I were you, about how working for an MLM affects your future business prospects. What are you learning and doing there that you can apply somewhere else? Will that next company, not an MLM, look on your experience as legitimate experience? If you are helping to develop products that the company sells, are your development skills analogous to other industries which do not develop products for MLM sales? I can think of ways that an MLM might develop products which could be very interesting to another employer or could be quite antithetical to their own business practices. What are you doing at that company and what are you learning during your time there that puts you on better footing for your next endeavor?
I mean, if you discover that it's a "bad MLM" then what is your next course of action? If it's to get another job with a non-MLM company then I'd turn your focus more directly on your own prospects and make sure that you are positioning yourself as well as possible for future work.
posted by amanda at 7:47 AM on May 18, 2018 [12 favorites]
I mean, if you discover that it's a "bad MLM" then what is your next course of action? If it's to get another job with a non-MLM company then I'd turn your focus more directly on your own prospects and make sure that you are positioning yourself as well as possible for future work.
posted by amanda at 7:47 AM on May 18, 2018 [12 favorites]
Others have pointed out that casinos aren't honest themselves, but I want to add something:
Spending time in any casino is a money-losing proposition for almost everybody, and some people will destroy their lives there, but most people get something out of the experience they think is worth it.
I think you're reaching here and that you can't compare MLMs and casinos in this way anyway.
People who go to a casino and get an experience that they think it worth it either (a) got lucky and made money, or (b) think the money they lost was worth the entertainment. No one goes into MLM schemes for the entertainment value; they all want to make money.
Also, while casinos do manipulate their customers in various ways, their customers are still aware that they're gambling and that there's no guarantee that they'll win money; most know going in that "the house always wins." They aren't told that they'll win money if they just do X, Y, and Z.
In these ways an MLM is worse than a casino.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 7:51 AM on May 18, 2018 [60 favorites]
Spending time in any casino is a money-losing proposition for almost everybody, and some people will destroy their lives there, but most people get something out of the experience they think is worth it.
I think you're reaching here and that you can't compare MLMs and casinos in this way anyway.
People who go to a casino and get an experience that they think it worth it either (a) got lucky and made money, or (b) think the money they lost was worth the entertainment. No one goes into MLM schemes for the entertainment value; they all want to make money.
Also, while casinos do manipulate their customers in various ways, their customers are still aware that they're gambling and that there's no guarantee that they'll win money; most know going in that "the house always wins." They aren't told that they'll win money if they just do X, Y, and Z.
In these ways an MLM is worse than a casino.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 7:51 AM on May 18, 2018 [60 favorites]
Kutsuwamushi, you hit the nail on the head. MLMs engage in a level of lying that casinos are legally prohibited from engaging in. And no one goes into business expecting that they are actually paying money for being entertained!
posted by Ahniya at 7:56 AM on May 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Ahniya at 7:56 AM on May 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
Don't base any impression of "most people's" experience off of Facebook or any social media. Many people are painting their experience in a very rosy light, to look good, to recruit people, or for various other reasons. Or they really think it's going well-- at first. I am a member of a couple of online communities where people have gotten into MLM for expensive health and cosmetics products. When it stops working out, people usually just go quiet and they may even keep the company in their profile. If it actually fails big-time for them, there is a lot of shame involved.
Also, some companies spam the internet with pages purporting to discuss whether or not they are a scam.
Now, there are MLMs for products I know little about and where my impression is that it's less destructive, that people host parties to sell the stuff, and everyone in the neighborhood is selling something different, and they all just go round and round buying each other's product mainly as a social thing, with little expectation of making money. But I don't know what the average experience is with those. I think working in one of those companies, you might be able to ferret it out pretty quickly.
posted by BibiRose at 8:19 AM on May 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
Also, some companies spam the internet with pages purporting to discuss whether or not they are a scam.
Now, there are MLMs for products I know little about and where my impression is that it's less destructive, that people host parties to sell the stuff, and everyone in the neighborhood is selling something different, and they all just go round and round buying each other's product mainly as a social thing, with little expectation of making money. But I don't know what the average experience is with those. I think working in one of those companies, you might be able to ferret it out pretty quickly.
posted by BibiRose at 8:19 AM on May 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
MLM's are bad for several reasons: 1) because the products are bad 2) they lie about what they sell and 3) you always have to keep lying to keep playing and 4) there is no mathematical way to success for the vast majority of people who play the game.
1) If the products were actually price/quality competitive with open market products, the MLM aspect of the business would be extra overhead that would quickly be shed. So why all the absurd complexity of the MLM stuff? Because...
2) Because the products are not what's on sale. The products are window dressing, distracting the rubes from what is really happening: their dreams for financial success are being exploited. The most successful of MLM scams make vastly more money selling the training materials about how to sell the products. Lectures, manuals, one-on-one consultations, videos, podcasts, "celebration" events, weekend retreats, etc, all of it. All designed to prolong, for as long as possible, the dream of financial independence. But it's all a lie, because...
3) MLM schemes always rely on finding new suckers to buy the product and -- more importantly -- pay the fees to become a distributor -- because there's a huge turnover of people who gradually wise up to the fact that the products are not what's being sold (and are not competitive with retail anyway) and drop out. And even if everyone stayed in...
4) There's no way to "financial success" for 99% of the people who start, because you have to have dozens to hundreds of downlines in order to be able to even think about going full time. So you have to keep hustling the dream -- "drawing the circles" -- to keep replacing the people who burn out. What if you signed up everyone on the planet? Only 1% of them would be financially self-supporting. 1%... hmm... where have I heard that before.
At the top of the heap are people who have made a lot of money both selling training shit to only partially disillusioned suckers trying to re-hook them, and have found a fresh vein of suckers to sign up. That's why there's always big news about getting into some foreign country, or a new big city in an old country, or maybe a new religious group. New suckers!
Anyway, IMO, no, you should not feel good about working for this company. Take your skills and go find somewhere that deals honestly with what they are actually selling.
posted by seanmpuckett at 8:59 AM on May 18, 2018 [11 favorites]
1) If the products were actually price/quality competitive with open market products, the MLM aspect of the business would be extra overhead that would quickly be shed. So why all the absurd complexity of the MLM stuff? Because...
2) Because the products are not what's on sale. The products are window dressing, distracting the rubes from what is really happening: their dreams for financial success are being exploited. The most successful of MLM scams make vastly more money selling the training materials about how to sell the products. Lectures, manuals, one-on-one consultations, videos, podcasts, "celebration" events, weekend retreats, etc, all of it. All designed to prolong, for as long as possible, the dream of financial independence. But it's all a lie, because...
3) MLM schemes always rely on finding new suckers to buy the product and -- more importantly -- pay the fees to become a distributor -- because there's a huge turnover of people who gradually wise up to the fact that the products are not what's being sold (and are not competitive with retail anyway) and drop out. And even if everyone stayed in...
4) There's no way to "financial success" for 99% of the people who start, because you have to have dozens to hundreds of downlines in order to be able to even think about going full time. So you have to keep hustling the dream -- "drawing the circles" -- to keep replacing the people who burn out. What if you signed up everyone on the planet? Only 1% of them would be financially self-supporting. 1%... hmm... where have I heard that before.
At the top of the heap are people who have made a lot of money both selling training shit to only partially disillusioned suckers trying to re-hook them, and have found a fresh vein of suckers to sign up. That's why there's always big news about getting into some foreign country, or a new big city in an old country, or maybe a new religious group. New suckers!
Anyway, IMO, no, you should not feel good about working for this company. Take your skills and go find somewhere that deals honestly with what they are actually selling.
posted by seanmpuckett at 8:59 AM on May 18, 2018 [11 favorites]
I'm probably a little biased because I've worked at some pretty exploitative companies (commercial cleaning franchising, force-placed insurance) and I still consider myself a good person, but yeah, I think it's possible. Jobs are hard to come by in this economy. It's always hard to turn down a good job offer, or leave a job you otherwise like, regardless of ethical concerns, because there's no guarantee another offer comes along. Sometimes, desperation wins out. Wanting to be able to pay your bills and not live in your parents' basement doesn't make you a bad person. Neither does wanting a job with an easy commute, friendly co-workers, etc. There's a line between taking care of yourself and looking out for other people, but it's murky, and you don't want to care so much about others that you neglect yourself.
All that said, this is probably not a good situation for your long-term ethical development, and you should probably be looking for a new job if ethics are that important for you.
There are some things you can do to mitigate your guilt here. One of the most insidious things about MLM companies is the way they're so rah-rah about themselves. Don't participate in that. Don't tell others how great "the lifestyle" is, don't pump up your company on social media, don't wear company-branded clothing, etc.
And of course, if you ever get a chance to talk to individual sellers, make sure you play devil's advocate. When someone talks about how much money they can make, remind them that most people don't actually make money.
It's probably not a bad idea to get involved in some volunteering as a kind of penance.
Without knowing your actual job, it's hard to say whether you're doing the equivalent of catering at a casino. But if you care about ethics, the MLM industry is generally not a good place for you to be.
posted by kevinbelt at 9:12 AM on May 18, 2018 [5 favorites]
All that said, this is probably not a good situation for your long-term ethical development, and you should probably be looking for a new job if ethics are that important for you.
There are some things you can do to mitigate your guilt here. One of the most insidious things about MLM companies is the way they're so rah-rah about themselves. Don't participate in that. Don't tell others how great "the lifestyle" is, don't pump up your company on social media, don't wear company-branded clothing, etc.
And of course, if you ever get a chance to talk to individual sellers, make sure you play devil's advocate. When someone talks about how much money they can make, remind them that most people don't actually make money.
It's probably not a bad idea to get involved in some volunteering as a kind of penance.
Without knowing your actual job, it's hard to say whether you're doing the equivalent of catering at a casino. But if you care about ethics, the MLM industry is generally not a good place for you to be.
posted by kevinbelt at 9:12 AM on May 18, 2018 [5 favorites]
If the products were actually price/quality competitive with open market products, the MLM aspect of the business would be extra overhead that would quickly be shed. So why all the absurd complexity of the MLM stuff?
THIS. Some form of this response has always been my go-to when asked to buy anything or participate in any MLM venture in any way. MLMs position themselves as the saviors of this whole class of people who for whatever reason can't get a "real" job, or want a part-time job. But it's 100% a flawed premise. They have created the "problem" just so they can be the solution for it.
If the products are so great, why don't they just offer them in stores? Why do they make people hassle their friends and family? If you want to make it possible for stay-at-home moms to work, build a big MLM store to sell the products, and stick a fully staffed 24/7 daycare in the back. Let the moms work whenever they can. There's an idea.
EVERY PERSON I ever knew who got suckered into an MLM ended up quitting in despair, disgust and disillusionment. If they had simply looked for a real job, driven an Uber for a while, took in medical transcription, remoted in to an office, or any of the truly legit ways to make money on the side, they would have been better off. Instead, they sell crap at garage sales to make pennies on the dollar once they've quit the MLM, alienated their friends and family, and lost a lot of self-esteem.
I would never tell you what to do. But I will tell you that MLMs are a sucker's game, they crush people, and they can ruin lives and relationships.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 9:32 AM on May 18, 2018 [5 favorites]
THIS. Some form of this response has always been my go-to when asked to buy anything or participate in any MLM venture in any way. MLMs position themselves as the saviors of this whole class of people who for whatever reason can't get a "real" job, or want a part-time job. But it's 100% a flawed premise. They have created the "problem" just so they can be the solution for it.
If the products are so great, why don't they just offer them in stores? Why do they make people hassle their friends and family? If you want to make it possible for stay-at-home moms to work, build a big MLM store to sell the products, and stick a fully staffed 24/7 daycare in the back. Let the moms work whenever they can. There's an idea.
EVERY PERSON I ever knew who got suckered into an MLM ended up quitting in despair, disgust and disillusionment. If they had simply looked for a real job, driven an Uber for a while, took in medical transcription, remoted in to an office, or any of the truly legit ways to make money on the side, they would have been better off. Instead, they sell crap at garage sales to make pennies on the dollar once they've quit the MLM, alienated their friends and family, and lost a lot of self-esteem.
I would never tell you what to do. But I will tell you that MLMs are a sucker's game, they crush people, and they can ruin lives and relationships.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 9:32 AM on May 18, 2018 [5 favorites]
I would suggest, too, that the catering analogy doesn't hold up unless you are cleaning the building this company operates out of, or something like that, where you are not directly involved in the main product or marketing.
posted by BibiRose at 9:35 AM on May 18, 2018
posted by BibiRose at 9:35 AM on May 18, 2018
If the products are good, why wouldn’t I just buy them in a store like a civilized person rather than have to pay like 5 levels of sellers and intermediate referrers? How is that better for anyone other than some middlemen that I couldn’t care less about?
posted by Huffy Puffy at 9:35 AM on May 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Huffy Puffy at 9:35 AM on May 18, 2018 [2 favorites]
The problem with MLMs isn't exactly their structure; it's whether the structure is more important than the products.
Avon and Tupperware both had MLM aspects - they worked because people loved the products, which had too much niche focus to support opening stores that had to keep everything on the shelves. You could make a living selling the products, because people wanted to buy them. You could also recruit people, especially if they lived far enough away that you weren't competing for customers, but you weren't counting on that to bring in income.
If the products are worth buying on their own, the next question is, why should customers buy them from an agent instead of a website? Avon was built around personal connections in your community and allowed the agent to do all the orders at once, instead of each customer paying shipping for a single lipstick or novelty perfume bottle; Tupperware parties let you see how the bowls fit into a stack in your personal shelves.
Another way casinos are evil: they'll kick out anyone who wins too often. They consider having a good memory to be cheating. They're not just rigged against you and won't tell you the odds--they literally will not let people beat the odds, even if they figure out how. The worst of the MLMs are like this - anyone who figures out how to bypass some of the grifting gets punished.
What does your company do about people who "beat the odds," whatever that means in its context?
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:09 AM on May 18, 2018 [9 favorites]
Avon and Tupperware both had MLM aspects - they worked because people loved the products, which had too much niche focus to support opening stores that had to keep everything on the shelves. You could make a living selling the products, because people wanted to buy them. You could also recruit people, especially if they lived far enough away that you weren't competing for customers, but you weren't counting on that to bring in income.
If the products are worth buying on their own, the next question is, why should customers buy them from an agent instead of a website? Avon was built around personal connections in your community and allowed the agent to do all the orders at once, instead of each customer paying shipping for a single lipstick or novelty perfume bottle; Tupperware parties let you see how the bowls fit into a stack in your personal shelves.
Another way casinos are evil: they'll kick out anyone who wins too often. They consider having a good memory to be cheating. They're not just rigged against you and won't tell you the odds--they literally will not let people beat the odds, even if they figure out how. The worst of the MLMs are like this - anyone who figures out how to bypass some of the grifting gets punished.
What does your company do about people who "beat the odds," whatever that means in its context?
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:09 AM on May 18, 2018 [9 favorites]
People gamble whether it is legal or not, and legalised and regulated gambling is generally safer than illegal gambling. I kind of rank casinos and betting shops with tobacco manufacture and distribution. MLM is only the same as casinos if people are getting something out of the experience - so eg tupperware parties are still parties, Avon products are good enough and at a genuinely competitive price point, I can imagine Ann Summers parties fulfil a real market gap. I think that's how you tell whether your organisation is 'ok'. And if it's not and that bothers you, then take their money for now and look for a new job if you can.
posted by plonkee at 11:27 AM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by plonkee at 11:27 AM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
I work for an MLM company. IMO, it’s a cult. I don’t have an ethical issue working there because I’m doing a job, not selling the product. It’s a paycheck, that’s all. Having said that, I’ve seen these cookie-cutter, brainwashed women from all over the country literally whipped into a frenzy over the products and the management themselves - which is so, so sad knowing it’s all smoke and mirrors. If they knew the truth about what goes on behind the scenes, they’d be mortified.
posted by twin_A at 1:23 PM on May 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by twin_A at 1:23 PM on May 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
I worked in oil and gas accounting for seven years, and I can say that lots of my coworkers were decent people just making a living, and some were full-on drinking the light sweet crude. But it did affect all of us, and I’m glad circumstance finally forced me out.
I live in the heart of the MLM “belt” and I like to think I wouldn’t take a job with one. My best advice is this: if you find yourself scrambling for explanations why your company is “one of the good ones,” it is getting to you and you should look (as able) for a more ethical employer. If you aren’t yet at that point, just watch for signs of it.
The other thing to consider is, just like extractive industries, every MLM will eventually collapse anyway under its own lack of sustainability/shortsightedness/greed/general lawlessness. So: Keep your skills sharp, and stay in touch with your human side so you can stay afloat when the ship hits the inevitable iceberg.
posted by armeowda at 5:04 PM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
I live in the heart of the MLM “belt” and I like to think I wouldn’t take a job with one. My best advice is this: if you find yourself scrambling for explanations why your company is “one of the good ones,” it is getting to you and you should look (as able) for a more ethical employer. If you aren’t yet at that point, just watch for signs of it.
The other thing to consider is, just like extractive industries, every MLM will eventually collapse anyway under its own lack of sustainability/shortsightedness/greed/general lawlessness. So: Keep your skills sharp, and stay in touch with your human side so you can stay afloat when the ship hits the inevitable iceberg.
posted by armeowda at 5:04 PM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
I asked this question years ago; it may give you some insight.
posted by samthemander at 5:39 PM on May 18, 2018
posted by samthemander at 5:39 PM on May 18, 2018
Look for "(name of your company) scam" on Google.
On the one hand, I'm glad that if you work for an MLM where you get a paycheck like a normal person rather than getting scammed, you're getting actual money. On the other hand, I'd keep an eye out for other jobs.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:55 PM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
On the one hand, I'm glad that if you work for an MLM where you get a paycheck like a normal person rather than getting scammed, you're getting actual money. On the other hand, I'd keep an eye out for other jobs.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:55 PM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
Yes, the MLM business model is rotten, as is the casino business model - they both depend on sucking in vulnerable people and getting them to make choices that will harm them. The MLM model includes things like providing bonuses for signing people up underneath the recruiter - the pyramid is an essential part of making money vs selling stuff is how people make money - and requiring people to pay the company $$$ upfront for products/forms/necessary business items vs fulfilling orders as they come in.
It's possible for a company to engage in some person-to-person marketing and not be wholly evil, but I've literally only ever seen 1 and I've brushed up against a lot of MLMs. And that one was a 'if you like this product here's a referral link to get credit' deal, not 'we give bonuses for signing up people to market our stuff' setup.
It is not possible for a business model to depend on people making large initial investments into the companies products, to put monetary emphasis on recruiting people under them, etc, and be not-evil. That business model depends on suckering in desperate or emotionally vulnerable people and wringing cash out of them.
posted by Ahniya at 7:24 AM on May 18, 2018 [15 favorites]