Episode 66: The Teacher As Anti-MLM Advocate

Resources:

Do Multi-Level Marketing Companies Mislead Students? “How Cutco Slices Up the Truth to Recruit College Students into Direct Selling Businesses.” Article by Parker Theis’ that I shared on this episode.

The Teacher As… Zooming In on MLMS Part Three with Sarah Haider sharing her experience with Cutco Knives

Mackaveli Millz You Tube Video “My Terrible Experience with Vector Marketing/Cutco Knives” - this is very entertaining and explains the deception as well

Cutco: The MLM Selling Knives and Lies - iilluminaughtii podcast(a deep dive into the company)

Cutco/Vector Marketing Part 1 - Downline Podcast (a deep dive into the company)

Cutco/Vector Marketing Part 2 - Downline Podcast (a deep dive into the company)

Bonus: Interview with Former Cutco/Vector Rep - Downline Podcast

Transcript:

Melissa Milner 0:09

Welcome to The Teacher As... podcast. I'm your host Melissa Milner, a teacher who is painfully curious and very easily inspired. In this third season, I explore my interests as the main focus of the episodes. If you have listened to seasons one and two, first of all, thank you. Second of all, this season will be a little different, it will still be centered around interesting topics and their connections to education. I'll continue to have interview episodes, maybe a Top Ten episode here and there since they are very popular, but also some episodes will be just me sharing about a topic, similar to my Podcasting with Students episodes from season two. New episodes come out every other week. If you enjoy the podcast, please share it with anyone you think would benefit from listening. It really helps the podcast grow. Thank you for supporting The Teacher As... I hope you enjoy season three.

Melissa Milner 1:07

This episode focuses on the teacher as an anti MLM advocate. To advocate means to publicly recommend or support. So in the context of teachers being advocates for the anti MLM message, it means we work to not normalize MLMs in our schools, and in older grades, we weave this information into our curriculum, so we can recommend to our students the steps to take to not fall prey to MLMs or even cults for that matter. There are many multilevel marketing companies out there, they sell a myriad of products, but they're all the same. If you want to learn more about the structure and dangers of MLMs you can listen to The Teacher As... episodes 59, 60, and 61, as well as investigate the resources and links on the episode 66 page of The Teacher As... website. Teachers should be aware of multilevel marketing companies in general, since they often target teachers, but more importantly, teachers and college professors need to be aware of the MLM companies that target teens. While researching Cutco Knives, after learning about them from Sara Haidar, who was in Episode 61 of The Teacher As... I was alarmed by the number of teens sharing their stories on YouTube about how they got involved with Cutco Knives. They were recruited by Vector Marketing. So Cutco is the company that makes the knives and Vector markets them. Many of these teens soon after graduating from high school, received a letter in the mail from Vector or they saw a job ad on Craigslist, or they saw posters about a great summer job on their college campus. I was lucky enough to come across an excellent article by Parker Theis entitled, "How Cutco Slices Up the Truth to Recruit College Students into Direct Selling Businesses." I do have an issue with the title because MLMs are not direct selling businesses, but that's another whole thing. The link to the article is on the episode page. It is alarming to hear the deceptive tactics Vector takes. I'm going to share some of the article with you now.

Melissa Milner 3:23

When Asha Swann entered the nondescript office building for the Toronto branch of Vector Marketing in 2017, she was excited about the prospect of her first job. She was placed in a room with other teens and told that they would be interviewing for a cutlery company called Cutco. They were shown an infomercial about the Cutco products that they would be hired to sell. And then a man came in to speak to them about his success with Cutco. Asha shares what he said, "I'm making six figures a year. I started out just like you guys when I was 16. And you can make tons of money selling these knives." Asha remembers that then he did a demo where he was just quote, "chopping fruit like a madman," she said. And then he whips out this pair of scissors and he's like, "They also make scissors that can cut through pennies. They're so powerful. This is the only pair of scissors you'll ever need in your life." Asha shares, "I'm 15 and I think this is the coolest thing I've ever seen."

Melissa Milner 4:25

Later in the article, it talks about how Cutco advertises and recruits these teens. Typically, Cutco advertises in newspapers and on flyers posted on bulletin boards at college campuses, but the advertisements tend to leave out the name of the company and or the nature of the job. This is what drew Asha in. When she was looking for her first job, the ad she clicked on only advertised the pay and the demand for students. Asha says they're offering $18 an hour, you can't even get that. Like, what more do I need? I have concert tickets I want to buy I want to get a bus pass. I'm 16. That's all I want."

Melissa Milner 5:09

Asha continues: So he keeps telling us how it's not a pyramid scheme and it's a multi level marketing company. That it's totally legal and regulated by the Canadian and US governments. I just thought nothing of it. When Swan came home from the interview, glowing at the prospect of making her own income for the first time, her mom recognized the business model immediately. "I'm so excited. I went to the first interview, and hopefully they liked me. And I hope they bring me back for a second interview." And my mom says, "This is a scam." "No, no, it's not a scam. It's a multilevel marketing company and it's accredited by the US and Canadian governments." I'm borderline quoting the guy from the video and so my mom says, "You sell to people, who sell to people, who sell to people. That's the shape of a pyramid." Later in the article, there's information about the history of Cutco Knives. Founded in 1949, Cutco's website states that they are the largest manufacturer of kitchen cutlery in North America, with more than 200 million in annual sales for their knives, utensils, and a whole slew of kitchenware. Since its inception, Cutco, a subsidiary of Vector Marketing has been involved in numerous different lawsuits for deceptive recruiting tactics, unfair labor practices, and refusing to pay its workers.

Melissa Milner 6:30

I want to share one more part of this article that talks about how Cutco changed things when the pandemic hit, and how even more teens were drawn into selling for Cutco. Because of the pandemic, many people who lost their jobs began seeking employment in other ways. Vector, the parent company of Cutco, announced the temporary switch from door to door virtual sales calls because of the COVID 19 pandemic in early 2020. This encouraged more young people to apply for jobs with the company. A job that pays above minimum wage and allows work from home. This is what drew journalism student Bashair Ali into applying during the beginning of the pandemic. When Ali wanted to make some money while in her first year of online university, she began looking on the job search site Indeed. She stumbled upon a job that advertised remote work flexible hours and above average pay. She didn't know exactly what she was applying for, but was excited about the money she would be making. After applying and being hired, she began remotely selling for Cutco in 2020. She says it was basically a webinar. I would just go through the PowerPoint with the people on Zoom. It would actually take a long time. Sometimes people would ask questions, usually they didn't. And people got really bored when I was doing it. Ali received compensation for the sale she made. She shares, "I was selling a gardening set. It was like $116. I only got $65," said Ali. "I did four interviews, and they paid me $15 an hour because my commission pay was $5 extra. They forgot about that money. The hourly pay advertised, the $60. I only got $65. The ad she responded to did not specify that they would only be paid based on commission. But why directly advertise to teenagers? Weinberger says it's cheap labor. The barrier for entry into direct selling is very low. Essentially you get a business in a box for 50 bucks. In Ali and Swan's cases they paid closer to $80 for their entry into the company. But are they going to make a lot of money? Probably not. After the experience they will be wary of unaffiliated job listings that sound too good to be true.

Rachel from Friends 9:00

Oh whatcha got there?

Phoebe from Friends 9:02

Oh this? Well I'm glad you asked. Don't you hate it when you have to cut a tin can with an ordinary steak knife? Now, I know what you're thinking...

Chandler from Friends 9:18

Pregnant woman slaves for?

Monica from Friends 9:22

Phoebe, they didn't make you pay for those knives, did they?

Phoebe from Friends 9:24

No.

Monica from Friends 9:26

Are you sure?

Phoebe from Friends 9:27

No.

Rachel from Friends 9:29

Honey, you're not gonna make enough money to help Frank and Alice just by selling knives.

Phoebe from Friends 9:32

No, no, I know that, but I just need to make enough money for the second part of my plan.

Chandler from Friends 9:37

What's the second part of your plan?

Phoebe from Friends 9:38

My Saturn dealership.

Melissa Milner 9:41

I already interviewed Sara Haidar, who was recruited pretty young, as well, to sell for Cutco knives with Vector. So, I just pulled a little clip from that that I thought was very interesting of how she didn't even realize how much of a scheme it was until much later and she heard a little bit about what the next steps would be beyond just the selling the knives.

Sarah Haidar 10:07

I didn't realize it was such a scheme until I had left and years and years and years later, I was talking to just... I stayed friends with some of the people that I was in it with, and no one stayed for very long, which was probably my first sign that things were not really legitimate. But I spoke with a friend. And he mentioned that he had stuck on just a little bit longer than me and that once things kind of started to fizzle away with the other people that I started with, they asked him if he wanted to open his own branch. So his own office. This, this whole process of being in it was was so intense, I was constantly busy. It felt like school. It felt like I was at something just for like a long amount of time and went home, kind of like a regular school day. And just like in a school day, I mean, you don't get paid for the work that you do. You weren't getting paid for all of these trainings. You were only getting paid when you made a sale.

Melissa Milner 11:05

So I just want to end by sharing this picture of a flyer that I have in front of me. Flyers similar to this are placed on various university campuses to solicit students for MLM job opportunities, without letting them know the details of the job. And this picture is from a Reddit user, ballroombrits2011. I will have this on the episode page as well. So it says summer work. And then there's a little banner that says summer openings.com, $17 base/appointment. And then there's a whole bunch of bullets: flexible schedules, customer sales/service, no experience necessary, apply now, and it's a little cut off, but I think it says start after finals, full time/part time openings, fun atmosphere, all ages 17 plus, conditions apply. And it says on the bottom Vector, and then there's like a tear off with the with the summer openings.com on it. So, it just it's just an alarming that it says $17 base or slash appointment. But it's not $17 an hour. And I think a lot of kids/teens look at $17 base or appointment and they think $17 an hour. So that's a problem. Many of the teens that shared on YouTube about this, shared that they were shocked when they found out how they actually get paid. And when they actually get paid. So they have to fill out forms to prove you know, to cite how many people they prospected they have to prospect a certain amount, and write down lots of information about it before they can get that base pay. And if they don't sell anything, they basically don't make much. And then, of course, many of them talk about how the knives are expensive. They are high quality. And they're expensive. And you know, they're teenagers. Who do they know that are going to spend that kind of money. It's not like they can sell them to their friends, their friends don't even have homes yet to have knives. It's just really upsetting that they're getting recruited like this. There was one girl on YouTube that said, I graduated and the next day, there was a letter in the mail from Vector about a job opportunity. How is Vector getting the lists of addresses of high school seniors? That's disturbing. So parents, middle school, high school teachers, college professors, they're trying to start these these kids young. They could lose money that they don't even really have yet. And it's time that they should be focusing on school. So please find out more about multilevel marketing companies that are targeting our youth.

Melissa Milner 14:35

I'm really excited in a very related note, Robert Fitzpatrick and I will be starting our Ponzinomics 101 podcast in June. So I will be sharing more about that in the next episode, but we're really excited. It's all about providing lessons and information for teachers and parents about the dangers of MLM for our youth. The whole podcast is about educating so that we can stop this from happening. Thanks for listening.

Melissa Milner 15:14

For my blog, transcripts of this episode, and links to any resources mentioned, visit my website at www.theteacher as.com. You can reach me on Twitter and Instagram @melissabmilner and I hope you check out The Teacher As... Facebook page for episode updates. Thanks for listening. And that's a wrap.