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From: ganns@hound.UUCP (R.GANNS)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: re AMWAY
Message-ID: <1353@hound.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 12-Sep-85 08:43:45 EDT
Article-I.D.: hound.1353
Posted: Thu Sep 12 08:43:45 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 13-Sep-85 04:15:02 EDT
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 43


  Several years ago, I was exposed to the entire AMWAY scam. If you
are considering getting involved, the FIRST thing you should do is
to get hold of a products price list and see how much more expensive
the AMWAY poducts are than comparable products available at the
supermarket--you will be told the the AMWAY products are "higher
quality" and "last longer", but these arguments don't hold much
water with potential customers, whose bottom line is basically
cost per application, which you'd better be able to PROVE is actually
cheaper that what's available in safeway or foodtown, or ACME, etc.

Once in, you will be under a lot of pressure to buy tapes, training
aids, etc., to revamp your wardrobe (conveniently, AMWAY also sells
clothing), and to basically eliminate any social life you may have
had in favor of meetings, seminars, conventions, etc.

AMWAY is oriented towards married couples, the role of the husband
is to dress up, give slick presentations, and generally be charming
and urbane, the wife's role is to run the business, manage inventory
and subordinates, etc. (i.e., most of the REAL work); I know of
one AMWAY disributor whose wife finally left him.

AMWAY also sponsors its own peculiar brand of religion, which I
call "AMWAY Christian", the basic principle of which is that if
you are a good, obedient, god-fearing, productive salesperson,
god will reward you by making you wealthy. Frequent massive
gatherings include a long sequence of testimonials from successful
distributors who proclaim the virtues of God and Amway. It is
genuinely creepy.

If you are just starting out, you will be told to stock up--buying
in quantity entitles you to discounts (wowee!); you will be advised
to take orders from customers, have them pay in advance, and then
you will face the mortification of weeks of waiting for your products
to be delivered to you from your "upline", who is giving priority
to his more productive subordinates; a customer who has graciously
given you 5$ for a bottle of dish detergent then has to wait a month
to get it; needless to say, that customer isn't interested in any
more orders.

My final remark is that, unless you are an incredibly gifted
natural salesman and jive artist, and have no need of a normal
social life, stay away from AMWAY.