According to The Skeptic’s Dictionary entry on Amway,
So apparently, while Amway appears to be dishonest and deceptive on many levels. their basic business model is not actually illegal.
Amway was prosecuted back in the 1970’s, and might be again; currently it exists as a legal pyramid scheme. The difference between an illegal and legal pyramid is supposed to be the percentage of income from sales of products to the non-member public vs. income from the membership. I would love to see them shut down.
My ex-wife is involved in Primerica, which is an MLM owned by Citicorp. They sell insurance, work out mortgages, push mutual funds, etc. As far as I know their actual products are fine, and a lot of their literature actually makes sense, but for me it’s all negated by the fact that they rely on MLM recruitment.
Had a terrible fight with my ex when I had the gall to explain in simple mathematical terms why, given a finite human population, Primerica can only succeed as a company based on most of its recruits pumping money into the pyramid and then failing. She wouldn’t accept that, and screamed at me that I didn’t understand the products they were selling, that there would never be an end to the number of people who needed their services, etc. Pathetic. Oh, and she claims it’s not an MLM.
I totally agree with the “overpriced sex toys” comment. A friend of mine had a sex-toy birthday party last year, but I wasn’t able to attend, so I just glanced through the catalog later. Twenty bucks for a tube of cream that makes my twat more “tingly”, when a couple of beers could do the same thing? 
Oh. My. God. SHAKLEE! My brother used to sell this stuff. I might even have some old, unused Shaklee glop around. Maybe I should go get rid of it if it’s stale or expired. Thanks for the reminder! 
btw, his wife sells Avon now. She is her own best customer.
A friend of mine got invited to a Tupperware shower. On the invitation there was an RSVP envelope where you could conveniently enclose a check to go towards the bride’s Tupperware selection.
And when they arrived at the party, they were pressured into hostessing their own party, which would lead to the bride getting the “deluxe hostess gift set.”
Tacky, tacky, tacky.
Okay, I have to ask again – what’s “Shaklee”? I suppose I should be grateful I don’t even know what this stuff is.
Going strictly from memory…Shaklee made deodorant, a lot of vitamin supplements, and maybe other things I don’t recall. Their salespeople also listened to cassettes that were partly motivational and partly spiritual, as far as I could tell. I got stuck listening to the damn things if I was in Bro’s car and he wanted to play them.
That’s exactly what I did when I attended a FOAF’s party! I was really there for my friend’s sake. You do these things, you know. Nobody pressured me, and I got the impression that even the hostess was not that much into it.
A couple years ago, the Lancome department at the local Macy’s was having an event: spend X amount and get a makeover and a photo. Great, I thought. They made me up (in a way I don’t like, after I’d thought I might learn something from them), took six poses, and the photos would be ready on whatever day. They might have mentioned in passing that I had the option of buying prints of the photo(s), but they certainly didn’t say it was mandatory.
So the prints are in; I go and choose the vampiest shot. Is that all I want? Really? I can get a good price on all six shots. Really? Well, how about a smaller package? Really? Am I sure? This is a good deal? Really? I can’t afford any of it?
Did I know this when I came in for the photo session?
:rolleyes:
OMG, if not for the fact that… well, I’m not married to you and not male, I’d swear that I was Mr. S.!
Only I didn’t even get invited for lunch–just coffee. 
On the sex toy party idea, I hosted one on Saturday night - we had a blast. Pricy, yes, I looked at the lingerie and shook my head - did end up buying a stretch lace 2 piece set because I can wear the top with a tank underneath.
That Sexciting cream IS interesting stuff - I tried a bit and whoo boy. I believe it has some sort of mentholyptus in it - doubt it’s going to make you tighter but it did have me jittering in my seat for a while As you said, take it all with a grain of salt.
Picked up a few toys and I am somewhat worried about the quality of them - the ‘bullet’ has a jelli coating that doesn’t seem hugely sturdy. Hmm. Live and learn.
Where’s Poisyn? I am seriously interested in becoming a consultant for one of these companies to bring in extra money - hell, I talk about sex all the time anyways! Plus, living in a university town, there’s bound to be a lot of interest, even if it is the bible belt.
A man I worked for, and who was a close friend also, got into Amway. He sung it’s praises constantly. He kept pressuring me to sign up. Finally, I said 'Les, I love you, but if I hear you say ‘Amway’ one more time I’m going to kill you with this pen!"
You have to be firm with these folks.
I refuse to attend these parties anymore. The ones I’ve been to have been a) a dead bore b) over priced c) insulting to my intelligence to think that I would be so stupid to be duped. I have lost a few friends because of this.
I honestly think that society as we know it has really started to lose its ability to socialize.
My BIL has come up with an excellent idea. Call twenty of your friends up and invite them to not come over to a non-party. The cost to not be insulted or waste your time $30. do this once a month with your friends, each taking turns as a host. That way, once a month every so often, you get butt loads of money.
a knucklehead friend of mine tried to get me to buy a $2500 vacuum under the pretense that he “was practicing” his sales pitch.
i told him that if he weren’t a friend, i would physically throw him out of the house.
a month ago, this same guys wife throws a “pampered chef” party and she sends my wife an invite. (i do all the cooking in the house!) She avoids it like the plague, and the night of the party, my bud shows up at the house with the 3 monster-children. seems wifey didn’t want them around the house for her little party, so we ended up getting stuck with a lousy night anyway!
I have been to a tupperware party, and a “toys” party, this past year. The tupperware lady was really trying to sell me into holding a tupperware party, she damn near twisted my arm off.
Tupperwaer is amazingly expensive! But I DID NOT have a tupperware party.
I rather enjoyed seeing what was available at the toys party, i did not get anything, and i would probably go to another just for shits and giggles.
my solution:
oh, my best friend (or insert person of choice here) sells (insert product of choice! great stuff, huh!
That way they know you will only buy from best friend.
Funny thing is, my best friend really does sell Pampered chef and Tupperware… Except she lives pretty far away from me so I am excempt from the parties.
Pampered chef stuff is down right crappy or at best “eh”. I think a a better product name would be: “The Silly Cook”. No Chef would use that stuff. There’s nothing there you cant buy at Williams and Sonoma (or Target at a fraction of a price). A true chef supply is “Sur La Table”.
Tupperware (also sold at Target now) is indeed expensive, but I have found it to be worth every penny. Stuff in rubbermaid lasts a feew days. I left some tomatos in a tupperware container for two weeks. I was terrified to open it, fearing that the tomatos now had assumed a new life form. I was very surprised that they were still good due to air tight seal.