Is Selling Amway Child Abuse?

[Mike!]

If you are an MLM junkie or Zombie, and you've lost all your money throwing it at the next great MLM (Like Amway, even if it's an old MLM now) and now you and your family end up pennyless and are homeless and on the street, yes. Yes, that's child abuse. In fact, anything leading up to that point should be also.

 

[theprestige]

If you are an MLM junkie or Zombie, and you've lost all your money throwing it at the next great MLM (Like Amway, even if it's an old MLM now) and now you and your family end up pennyless and are homeless and on the street, yes. Yes, that's child abuse. In fact, anything leading up to that point should be also.

I'm not sure I understand: Are you saying that child abuse is child abuse, or that selling Amway is child abuse?

 

[madurobob]

what planet is it where having to listen to your parents choice on a stereo is child abuse ?

The planet my 11 yr old lives on, according to him. Then again, allowing him to choose the music amounts to elder abuse, in my opinion...

 

[Joecool]

The planet my 11 yr old lives on, according to him. Then again, allowing him to choose the music amounts to elder abuse, in my opinion...

LOL. Would it be elder abuse if your 11 year old joined Amway and showed everyone in the family the plan?

 

[madurobob]

LOL. Would it be elder abuse if your 11 year old joined Amway and showed everyone in the family the plan?

No, that would be comedy gold. Most of my extended family works in the ivory towers of Universities around the USA and has very little interest/intelligence in the ways of entrepreneurship. I am the black sheep, working in finance and product mgmt for a fortune 100 company.

 

[Joecool]

No, that would be comedy gold. Most of my extended family works in the ivory towers of Universities around the USA and has very little interest/intelligence in the ways of entrepreneurship. I am the black sheep, working in finance and product mgmt for a fortune 100 company.

Agreed. While selling Amway is no more harmful than other activities that take your time away, I do have a story to share.

My personal sponsor in Amway is a physician. Around 1997, he had a son, and subsequently, a daughter a year or two later. Last I heard, he is still completely sold out to Amway and WWDB (the system). Thus much of his spare time is devoted to Amway meetings and traveling to conventions and other cities/states to show the plan. I'm sure some, possibly a lot of quality time with family has been lost due to his Amway quest.

 

[madurobob]

Agreed. While selling Amway is no more harmful than other activities that take your time away, I do have a story to share.

My personal sponsor in Amway is a physician. Around 1997, he had a son, and subsequently, a daughter a year or two later. Last I heard, he is still completely sold out to Amway and WWDB (the system). Thus much of his spare time is devoted to Amway meetings and traveling to conventions and other cities/states to show the plan. I'm sure some, possibly a lot of quality time with family has been lost due to his Amway quest.

Could be. But, the point of my long-winded post about my friend in Florida was that he took his family with him to regional events and that his Amway organization strongly encouraged him to do so. So, one possibility is your Dr. friend chose to not travel with his family, rather than being forced to spend time away from his family by the organization. If thats the case, you can't really blame Amway for that.

 

[Joecool]

Could be. But, the point of my long-winded post about my friend in Florida was that he took his family with him to regional events and that his Amway organization strongly encouraged him to do so. So, one possibility is your Dr. friend chose to not travel with his family, rather than being forced to spend time away from his family by the organization. If thats the case, you can't really blame Amway for that.

It's not Amway's fault. Sometimes the blame lies on the system, and at other times, it is individual choice. In my friend's case, his wife traveled with him but his kids were dropped off with the grandparents. Not a bad arrangement as I 'm sure granny and gramps enjoyed the visit, but I'm from Hawaii and these out of state conventions. coupled with even the local ones, is a lot of time spent away from the kids. But overall, it is true that a demanding job or hobby can be just as bad for quality family time.

I guess the part that ruffles my feathers is that in Amway, there are groups that give straight out bad advice, and the vast majority of those on an Amway quest, do so for more time and money. Ironically, what they desire more of is what they end up with less of.

 

[Muldur]

First, note the source of that $600K figure and note there is no explanation of how they came to that figure. I'd like to see some other metrics from the data - median income, and the distribution across income levels. I'd also like to see something a bit more - um - independent.

Someone did some "back of the envelope" calculations using data that used to be available, but not longer is AFAIK, and found that 54% of distributers made NOTHING. And the rest averaged about $65/month.

 

[Muldur]

I'm not sure I understand: Are you saying that child abuse is child abuse, or that selling Amway is child abuse?

If participating in Amway hurts your children either physically (by denying them resources you have diverted into Amway) or emotionally (by denying them the time you have diverted into Amway), then yes, selling Amway is child abuse. Particularly so since it is a proven fact (for everyone not an Amway Zealot, like Icerat) that Amway reps as a rule, do not succeed.

 

[icerat]

Someone did some "back of the envelope" calculations using data that used to be available, but not longer is AFAIK, and found that 54% of distributers made NOTHING. And the rest averaged about $65/month.

Oh, I'd love to see that math. 50% of people who join Amway never even place an order after joining, so clearly they're income is going to be zero. So that leaves 4% of the "active" making nothing, an overall average of $115/mth and, according to you, "the rest" making $65/mth.

Not that average means anything with a non-normal distribution, but I'd still just love to see that creative use of mathematics.

 

[icerat]

If participating in Amway hurts your children either physically (by denying them resources you have diverted into Amway) or emotionally (by denying them the time you have diverted into Amway), then yes, selling Amway is child abuse.

Wouldn't this apply to almost anything a parent does that isn't centered around their child?

Go to football training instead of spending time with your kids - child abuse
Spend money on football shoes instead of with your kids - child abuse
Going to work instead of spending time with your kids - child abuse!

Seriously, between this and the other threads, your apparent hatred of how you think Amway operates is verging on pathological.

 

[Joecool]

Wouldn't this apply to almost anything a parent does that isn't centered around their child?

Go to football training instead of spending time with your kids - child abuse
Spend money on football shoes instead of with your kids - child abuse
Going to work instead of spending time with your kids - child abuse!

Yes, so neglecting your child to sell Amway - child abuse.

The reasoning is a canned standard response. Thus when an Amway person says "your job is a pyramid", I say, yes, so you admit that Amway is a pyramid.