Trapped into Selling Magazines Door-To-Door

A joined up public database to track connections between company names and founders might be useful, but it certainly wouldn't stop corrupt organisations from marketing themselves as to ordinary people offering legitimate solutions. An organization with a reputation for being as laughably easy to buy off as the BBB isn't the answer either.

I actually assumed the article would be about the Southwestern company, an organization whose reputation for exploiting its self-employed staff is known on the other side of the Atlantic, but still recruits from the university campuses that haven't banned it. But they've been enlisting college-age kids to sell books on doorsteps under exactly the same name since just after the Civil War and they pay their BBB dues...

Some of these companies are dirtier, but the problem with "self-employed" remote salespeople whose lives are controlled by the company is deeper than knowing who the entities are, since neither the crews nor the people that actually persuaded to buy the merchandise are likely to do the research. That's the part where more protection is needed

And I say this as someone that did a self-employed remote door-to-door job in consecutive summers with the same company back at university whilst having other options.

Speaking generally rather than about any specifically identifiable person, many people in the United States told the scenario: "Your boss pays you 15% of Monday's sales of $200, Tuesday's sales of $1,200, Wednesday's sales of $450, Thursday's sales of $80, and Friday's sales of $1,500. He then awards you a bonus of $120 and subtracts $380 for expenses. How much money did you make?" with "Umm... a thousand dollars. Give or take. Good money. That's a heck of a lot more than I ever got paid at McDonalds, and they don't take out taxes or anything."

Life is a series of 4th grade math problems and, unfortunately for some people, 4th grade math remains difficult for them.

>It's hard to imagine there's so much competition for jobs at McDs or Chick Filet or Aldi (reputedly $12/hour+benefits), that smart-looking, communicative people would rather go door to door selling magazine subscriptions.

When I was in High School I worked in fast food. 2-3 days a week we had people asking for applications - which we never accepted because we had a ton. These weren't teenagers either. I was shocked at how many people wanted to work there. This was in a fairly low income area - it was a job and people were looking for jobs.

Unemployment rate >0

The issue is that they aren't actually selling magazines. They are selling their story, and how they are trying to rise above poverty. But of course they aren't the ones profiting from their poverty and despair.

An entire industry based on boxing up impoverished young people, shipping them around the country, and selling their story for a profit.

I think the problem is that the great majority of people are convinced that everything sold door-to-doors is bad (and these operations reinforce that). Thus any sales operation needs to profit greatly, unconscionably, from each successful sale - as well as avoiding overhead by ruthlessly exploiting it's employees. The old saying is "bad business drives out good".

(no idea why the parent was down voted, I upvoted it, I might not agree with him but it's a coherent, well-argued point)

The article points out that this business model has been operating in substantially the same fashion for 50 years, so I don't think much of your mutiny theory.

Also, if you are that scared of opening the door you are on the verge of being paranoid - and I live in an area of relatively high crime. Arming yourself is one solution, but has potential dangers. Another option to get a dog; although the barking might take some getting used to, the deterrent effect is well documented.