Yeah, but he doesn’t know the territory.
Anyone else here do a stint as a Tom Watt (sp?) salesman? I loved those faux wood cases, the tons of crap you had to pack just right to get the thing to close…
Also in popular culture. . .John Candy sold shower curtain rings in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
There are certainly still a lot of traveling salesmen who go to say, Nordstrom, or some other department store, and sell new product lines, or new products. There are drug company reps who go to doctor’s offices. There are salesmen who go to companies to sell computers/software/servers etc.
In a different vein, a lot of “travelling salesmen” nowadays also do a lot of selling at conventions (trade shows) or arts & crafts shows.
But, there are still plenty of “door to door” salesmen. The aforementioned vacuum cleaner salesmen, but I have friends who have done knives, and steaks.
The ones I tend to get most are some kind of environmental causes. They want a $25 donation, or something. They pay (idealistic) college kids who go door to door money (like a buck or two) for each donation they bring in. That’s the kind of job that no one does for more than one day. I’m sure that these are some kind of “scam” where the owners registers as a non-profit, and might kick some money to charity after paying himself. It’s not like a set of knives, but it’s still door to door selling.
Aren’t there still many people who do this?
Sure. It’s the same reason rent-a-center stores thrive in poor neighborhoods, when just saving up whatever the payment would be, then paying cash elsewhere, would be so much cheaper. It allows low-income people to have “nice” (that being a relative word) stuff immediately, without having to take the time to save for it. Of course, it also almost practically guarantees that the people will stay low-income, but that’s not a concern of theirs.
Ah, an obscure movie reference that I get.
Actually, it’s Schwan’s, not Schwan. Growing up in rural SD, it was the ONLY way to get ice cream (my family never bought ice cream at the grocery store, because nothing was as good as Schwan’s). If we were going to be away from the house on delivery day, we’d leave a list of what we needed on the front door, and the Schwan’s man would put it in the freezer for us. He’d collect for it the next delivery day (about every two weeks).
I wanted to see them, but the only things displayed on the site were 1995-style “Under Construction” pages.
That furniture’s not going to build itself, you know. Get hopping!
Sexual satisfaction to bored housewives and farmer’s daughters, if a million old jokes are to be believed.
You can talk, you can talk, you can bicker, bicker, bicker - but it’s different than it was!
No, that’s the Schwanz driver.
Use the schwans, Luke!
Trust your feelings!
One Excellent movie about a Door to Door Salesman titled Door to Door staring William H Macy, playing a real life door to door salesman selling Watkins products in the Portland area. The real life person had I think Cerbal Palsy (sp?) it is a very interesting story. Mr. Macy does an excellent job in it.
About 15 years ago I tried my hand at door-to-door-selling Kirby Vaccuum Cleaners.
We get Schwan’s deliveries every two weeks. (The confusion of the company spelling is partly because their logo is a stylized swan.) We get sliced cheese, hot pockets, chimichangas, ice cream, mashed potatoes, and dinner kits. It’s a little pricey, but it’s definately quality.
That’s what the special attachments to the vacuum cleaners are for…
Back when I was in college, every spring there were ads posted for jobs that would pay $800/month (good money in the 70s) for summer work. If you went to the meeting, you’d sit through a long talk and have absolutely no idea what the job would be about for at least 45 minutes. Eventually, you’d learn that it would be for a company called, IIRC, Southland Corp. and finally (after an hour or more) selling books door-to-door. I can’t remember what the books were; one-volume encyclopedias, perhaps, or maybe bibles.
Never took them up on it but I do wonder if they’re still in business and still conning college students into wasting their summers doing this.
How did that work out for you? Was it profitable? Worthwhile? Hellish and unbearable? Any good stories?
If they aren’t there are other companies will to rake suckers in (as already described in the thread). Vector Marketing (link goes to wiki) has an MO just like that Southland Corp. you describe. They send out a lot of mail every summer promising in excess of $15 an hour base pay and flexible schedule, but suspiciously lax hiring qualifications for such a profitable scheme. “Valuable resume experience”, “opportunity to advance”… “conditions apply.”
They sell Cutco knives. 10% commission, you buy the demonstration pack yourself, $15 an hour is per appointment not hour and even that’s iffy, your managers hassle the crap out of you even when you’re at home and not ‘at work’, and they bitch you the bottom line SELL SELL SELL instead of how much time you’re at the phone. Outside of your mom and your one friend’s mom who is just trying to be nice, no one buys any of that crap anyways. So that job sucked.