I really, really hate MLMs.
MLM stands for Multi-Level Marketing, and it’s an updated term for something we might be familiar with: pyramid schemes. For those who are unfamiliar, pyramid schemes are “companies” where one person or a small group of people at the top and all the people at the bottom send the majority of the wealth to the top. This sounds normal, but the problem is that the only way for a new recruit to make any money is to recruit multiple other people for the company to work under them.
There are two problems with this. The first is that there are quite literally not enough people. If one person recruits 5 people and each of those 5 people recruited 5 more, there are only enough people on the planet to go through this cycle about 14 times. The second problem is that you have to be pretty high up in the MLM to make money. According to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), about 99% of all MLM “employees” don’t make any sort of money (x).
And that’s just a background on my little rant today. Most of my MLM-hate is directed at one company in particular: Vector Marketing.
Vector Marketing was founded in 1981 and sells cutlery and other kitchen utensils for the company that owns them called “Cutco”. Their annual revenue is about $245 million dollars and is an A+ according to the Better Business Bearuea.
So what’s the problem with them? Well, there are multiple.
The first is their pretty smarmy recruiting tactics. “High school and college students are the most vulnerable age category in the work force and you better know Vector Marketing understands that.” Kaitlin Tomko, from the article “I Worked At Vector Marketing So You Don’t Have To” (x) wrote. While college students are usually adults and fair game, going after high school students is pretty sketchy. Then there’s the fact that they’re rather repetitive while they’re at it too.
I’ve personally gotten at least three letters from them between my Junior year in high school and last week (May 2020 for anyone who sees this post later). All three of these letters promised different entry-level wages ($11.50/hour, $13/hour, and $18/hour). They can also get your number from any of your friends that just so happen to work for the company (see attached screenshot) (also, I don’t blame the person who gave them my number, they’re really trick like that; all love towards her, she was trying to do the right thing).
Then there’s the product itself. By all accounts and reviews, it’s a good product with knives that last. That’s not the issue. Cutco’s knives are stamped instead of forged, a process that has 40 steps in its testing. Forged knives are generally better, but that’s not to say that stamped knives bad. But when you see a forged WÜSTHOF 8-inch knife produced by a 200-year-old German company and compare it with the stamped Cutco knife, also 8-inches, you don’t expect that the less expensively-produced knife to be so expensive. The WÜSTHOF costs $149.95 (x) while the Cutco knife is $142 (x).
Then there’s Vector’s problems with the government. According to the Washington Post, “David Tatar, a Wisconsin consumer protection investigator, said that state surveyed 940 Vector recruits in 1992 and found that almost half either earned nothing or lost money working for Vector, because the company encourages workers to lease or buy a sample set of knives for their presentations. In 1994, Wisconsin ordered Vector ‘not to deceive young people it recruits . . . as salespeople.’ Tatar said the investigation was a catalyst for changes effective Aug. 1 in the state's consumer protection laws,” (x). Wisconsin actually banned Vector within state lines, so there’s that In 2008, there was a class-action lawsuit levelled at Vector for not paying their employees minimum wage and they had to settle for $13 million dollars (x). And these aren’t the only suits: [x]
Why does the BBB say they’re an A+ then? Simple: they have an actual product and they don’t go door-to-door (which a lot of MLMs do), but they do encourage “salespeople” to do so. Yes, the bar is that low.
So. Basically. I don’t like Vector, they need to stop sending me letters, and if they ever contact you, don’t fall for it.
