Are there any 100% legitimate business that are similar to well-known scams?

[Crafter_Man]

@skylyn12

The problem is that is likely untrue. There is absolutely no evidence that duct cleaning actually does anything. Testing of air quality before and after cleaning has shown no differences. You paid $40 to have someone wave a magic wand over your ducts.

I agree. Even then, how can someone make money doing this at only $40 a visit?

[Amateur_Barbarian]

@Crafter_Man

I agree. Even then, how can someone make money doing this at only $40 a visit?

Because for every $40 visit that barely covers gas and minimum wage, they get one that’s upsold into $500 worth of unnecessary cleaning and magic repairs.

[Amateur_Barbarian]

@ralph124c

I could never understand why public schools allowed these firms to solicit at public schools.

Yeah, these days it’s just photographers. Now THERE’S a scam.

[robert_columbia]

@kunilou

Avon, Tupperware and Mary Kay, to name three. In a general, business-model sense, multi-level marketing can make sense in lieu of building a traditional brick and mortar network of distributors, wholesalers and retailers. These days, the Internet makes it much easier to buy practically anything from anywhere and has just about taken over the niche that legitimate MLM once occupied.

I think the days when the common person could make a good living off of MLM died with the rise of the Internet and the ability to comparison-shop all across the world in a few minutes.

MLM made a lot of sense in small-town America in the days when a long-distance call cost big money and the mail took weeks. Live in Podunk, WV circa 1925 and want to buy a sewing machine? Buy from Joe’s General Store and pay whatever he is asking or else spend hours at the library looking up catalog merchandisers, send letters away asking for their current catalog, then three of them come back “return to sender” because the company moved or went out of business, then wait six weeks for three or four catalogs, make your choice, then wait another six weeks for your package. Having two or three neighbors who work a day job at the foundry and have a household equipment catalog on the side could save you a lot of time and maybe some money, and time is money anyway, and you can get those dresses sewn before winter comes in and your kids freeze to death.

[SpeedwayRyan]

@Jophiel

I’m not sure what to make of the “I’m selling these magazines to win a scholarship” kids who comes to my door. I’m not buying any magazines from them anyway but my vague understanding is that you’re legitimately subscribing to People or buying a Dr Seuss collection but the kids themselves are paid peanuts and are shipped around to live in dorm-style conditions, roused at 5am to hit the streets and hustle their products.

Google “mag crew” sometime. That’s what they are called (and call themselves), and you can read some terrible stories of their experiences. If living in dorm-style conditions and getting up at 5am was their biggest problem, they’d be a lot happier. A lot of them are basically runaways, and their stories seem to often feature beatings, sexual abuse/rape, staying 10 to a crappy hotel room, not being given enough money to eat, being cut off from their families, plenty of drug and alcohol use & abuse, you name it. It’s closer to slavery than it is to just “underpaid and overworked.”

I’ve talked to some of these kids. Even if you think their magazine sales are scammy (you’ll probably get your magazine), consider giving them a bottle of water and maybe ask if they want to use your phone to call their parents and say hi…or give them five bucks so they can eat a reasonable fast food meal. Some of these kids are in REALLY bad situations.