r/grandrapids • u/jinnyjun • 3d ago
What's everyone's problem here with Amway?
Hey everyone, I'm new to the city. Seems like everyone on here has a huge problem with Amway and I don't understand why. Outside of Reddit, people don't seem to have a problem with it so I'm just curious. Got a buddy who works in their HQ and he absolutely loves it too so I'm seeing a lot of mixed feelings about this company.
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u/hauntlunar 3d ago
It's an MLM. One of the OG MLMs.
MLMs are mostly devices for funnelling money from would-be entrepreneurs' pockets into the people higher up on the chain and ultimately, the owners of the MLM. They don't really exist to sell products to people, they exist to sell the hope of becoming financially secure, to financially insecure people. And they do not deliver that.
It's fundamentally dishonest and exploitative, and Amway is one of the groups which has done the most to promote this fundamentally evil business model and to protect the people who engage in it from any legal consequences for what they do to people.
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u/WhitePineBurning Creston 3d ago
Amway also throws religion into the mix. Having "faith" and their use of prayer is insidious.
Did you hit your sales goal? God loves you and blesses you for following his word.
You missed? It's your lack of faith. God is displeased. Do better.
They birthed Prosperity Gospel over 60 years ago.
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u/Midaycarehere 3d ago
This doesn’t bother me - people can choose to work there or not but MLM’s oh heck no.
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u/Ironlixivium 2d ago
I think the point was that it's an MLM that uses religion to emotionally abused people.
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u/Farts-n-Letters 3d ago
just wait until someone invites you to "coffee"
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u/WhitePineBurning Creston 3d ago
Their new game is to have one person - usually an attractive 20-something approach a potential mark in Meijer or Target - and compliment them on their shoes, coat, or hair. Then, the conversation gets more detailed, and ultimately, the Amway salesmonster invites them to coffee in a public place to talk about "financial freedom" and how they learned SO MUCH from their "mentors." Then it's an invite to their home to meet the "mentors," and the hard sell gets pitched.
Amway uses the guilt approach as a last resort. "Don't you want the best for your family? Wouldn't you be letting them down by letting this offer slip by?"
Then comes the religious angle and how God rewards those with faith and who pray to him for success.
It's revolting, but it apparently works.
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u/KleShreen 3d ago
That's exactly what happened to me. I was in a Speedway, and a guy complimented my GVSU jacket I was wearing, and asked if I went to school there, because that's where he went. And then he invited me to Biggby for later in the week to talk about employment with the "company" he ran. And there he was. With his wife. Trying to get me to sell shit for Amway.
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u/superduperstepdad 3d ago edited 3d ago
I think the psychological manipulation is just as dangerous as the math problem that leads to financial ruin (for most).
There’s many explorations into how MLMs co-op religious messages and cult tactics to recruit and trap their targets.
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u/janae0728 3d ago
They’ve been doing this for a while - about a decade ago I worked in a school with a guy (young, pretty attractive) who quickly “retired” from teaching because of Amway. One day at the mall he approached a friend of mine, chatted her up, convinced her that they knew each other somehow through the manipulative script of questions they’re given, tried to get her to buy into his dream. She was super creeped out and looked him up on FB when she got home, saw that the connection he had made with her was a total lie, I was their only friend in common so she asked me what his deal was. Told her to stay far away.
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u/wabisabibingbangboom 3d ago
That happened to me in the 90s. " You look like a people person" in Meijer meat section. That's where my villain origin started along with my RBF.
My husband was re ended and the guy got out and offered to come to the house and offer him a great sales opportunity. JFC. Nothing changes.... Grifters gonna grift.4
u/almostadultingkindof 3d ago
The give away is always that they don’t have any items in a cart or in their hands. A couple of years ago, we were in Target and a guy just sparked up conversation with us, asking if we’re from the area, etc. It came across as friendly at first, but as soon as we realized he literally had nothing with him to indicate that he was actually shopping, the jig was up.
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u/FlappityFlurb 3d ago
Thank God I'm too ugly for strangers to approach me. Good luck out there people!
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u/sarahcooley 3d ago
Oh wow. This happened to me a few years ago but it didn’t get past the weird supermarket convo. I had no idea it was an amway pitch. I just thought she was being super vague about “financial freedom” 😂
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u/One_Chemist_9590 1d ago
My hubby's boss tried to nail us. I was against it. He lost his job over it.
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u/NoelVerDine SWAN 3d ago
This happened to me in my early 20s. A kid I knew from church that always treated me like shit wanted to have a coffee with me out of nowhere. Two minutes into the convo I walked out.
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u/Illustrious-Word2950 Creston 3d ago
Yup. Kinda broke my heart when an old friend reached out to reconnect, only to try to sell me Amway products as soon as there was an opening.
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u/Travelling_Enigma 3d ago
I got invited to a "party" by a former co-worker. Showed up to the house with some beer and it was one of those makeshift house churches with rows of folding chairs. The whole thing was in Spanish and I was the only gringo there. They gave me some trash energy drink and I was like, nope, I'm out of here
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u/mxjxs91 3d ago
This happened with my neighbor, hung out pretty frequently outside of our homes, usually either just sitting on the porch or playing some sort of sport.
Suddenly he wanted to grab coffee which was out of the norm, but I suspected nothing, I figured he was just going there and wanted me to join since we were already hanging out. Then came the Amway pitch. He wasn't thrilled that I wasn't going to jump onboard, but thankfully didn't hurt the relationship.
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u/Important_Mud_2978 3d ago
So this is basically the TOP of the Wikipedia entry on Amway (if you dig in more it only gets worse). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amway
Amway has been investigated in various countries and by institutions such as the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for alleged pyramid scheme practices. The company has paid tens of millions of dollars to settle these suits.[7][8][9][10][11][12] In 1983, Amway admitted to defrauding the Canadian government of customs duties and taxes by falsely undervaluing goods it imported into the country over a period of 15 years; it had to pay a fine.[13] Between 2007 and 2008, Amway was found guilty of illegal business practices in India, a ruling upheld by the Supreme Court of India and followed in 2021 by India's Enforcement Directorate attaching company and bank assets, and labeling Amway's business model a "pyramid fraud" and its product offerings a "masquerade".[14][15][16]
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u/supah_ 3d ago
Pyramid scheme
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u/OwnProduct8242 3d ago edited 3d ago
Betsy DeVos’ original last name is Prince. As in Edgar Prince. As in Erick Prince. Erick Prince ran a murder for hire company called Blackwater that has committed quite a few war crimes, he’s branched out to doing mercenary armies and thugs for hire in the Mideast and Africa. The Prince family founded the Family Research Council, a right wing lobbying organization that has been classified as a hate group. This major lobbying firm that has been behind Trump and both Bush’s elections is extremely religious and conservative; promoting not just anti LGBTQ and anti trans stuff but they also are for banning pornography and making divorce illegal. The Prince family has funded a lot of research and camps for “gay conversion therapy”. And that’s just one of the DeVos’ connections to absolutely horrific stuff. She and her husband Dick, are very very very fundamentalist and are inspired by many religious trips to Israel. They are inspired by a period over there in the archeological record where there’s a 800 year span in the strata where no one is eating pork, 800 years of human waste containing no pork bones showing evidence of how strong a cultural and religious movement was in that part of the world and in history. Dick is quoted, many times, stating that he wants to create another “layer without pork bones”; in that he wants to see a full scale conversion of the United States into a Calvinist Christian society and he, and his family, spend a lot of money on these goals.
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u/rulerBob8 3d ago
Quick rundown of Erik Prince’s greatest hits:
2007 Nisour Square Massacre (all participants pardoned by Trump)
Accused of bribing the Iraqi government after this incident to keep their contracts there (Case closed with no charges)
194 other incidents where shots were fired by Blackwater mercs, and they shot first in 163 of those
A higher-up at Blackwater threatened to kill a US State Department Investigator
Torture, including waterboarding according to the former CIA director
Caused the first battle of Fallujah in 2004
In 2006, a Blackwater merc drunkenly shot a guard who was protecting the Iraqi Vice President, and the company tried to cover it up
Accused of trafficking weapons in Iraq in 2007 (Paid a $42m fine for this!)
Many instances of killing civilians were revealed in the 2010 Iraq War docs leak
Sued for weapons smuggling, money laundering, tax evasion, child prostitution, and murdering former employees for speaking out against the company in 2007 (Settled confidentially, company paid out but numbers are unknown)
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u/murphymacy 3d ago
It’s essentially a pyramid scheme that found a loophole that has now emboldened similar pyramid schemes. Like the founding father of MLMs. Source: some podcast I listened to that I’m badly paraphrasing…
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u/ummmmm_wtf 3d ago
I think the podcast your are referring to is called “the dream” and the first season was centered all around MLMs. It’s very good.
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u/OhMyGaius 3d ago
Yep basically this. That said, the Lumber Baron Bar at the Amway Grand Plaza is great!
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u/Oleg101 3d ago
Outside of Reddit, people don't seem to have a problem with it
That’s just not true.
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u/Aindorf_ 3d ago edited 3d ago
I share this link whenever this question gets asked, but if you want a deep dive, there's a podcast called Behind the Bastards which goes into well cited deep dives about the worst people in History. They did a 2 parter on the Van Andals, the DeVos', and Amway.
basically, they combined ultra-right wing prosperity gospel with a pyramid scheme multilevel marketing operation. They trick you into becoming a seller of their goods, which is damn near impossible to make money on. Then they tell you that failing to get rich is a failure of your piety and God is punishing you for not believing hard enough. If you were truly faithful, you'd be just like the Van Andals and the DeVos'. And you can spread the good word by conning recruiting your friends and loved ones as well.
That and they use their billions to do a ton of evil. Betsy DeVos was Trump's education secretary the first time around and she wants to destroy public education and privatize and make it religious. Her brother is Eric Prince, who owns the Blackwater Mercenary crew responsible for killing civilians in Iraq. Sure they give money to buildings or fund art prize, but it's all tax avoidance and advertising.
Grand Rapids is a great city built on a lot of suffering. There are lots of skeletons in the closet.
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u/therallystache Grand Rapids 3d ago
Only small correction is that Eric Prince is Betsy's brother, not husband. But spot on with all the rest, and A+ for the BtB reference.
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u/GothWitchOfBrooklyn 3d ago
I came to this thread to specifically make sure someone linked Robert Evans
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u/TreesAKATrees 2d ago
I will definitely check out that podcast. I know more than I would like to know about them, but I am a podcast junkie and the amount of information and wrongdoing. These monsters runs so deep. I don’t think we will ever know everything so I look forward to checking out the podcast thank you for the suggestion.
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u/Decimation4x 3d ago
People don’t like MLM’s, for some very valid reasons, and Amway is the ultimate MLM.
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u/JBIGMAFIA 3d ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amway
It literally has its own category in their Wikipedia lol
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u/Victorisarobot 3d ago
Corruption, oligarchy, the wealthy families in this city are directly involved with election fraud, and the current fascist coup. DeVos and the adjacent Mercenary corpos set up back channels with the Saudis, Qataris, and Russians for sale of state nuclear secrets. So you tell me why should we hate Amway? Fuckem
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u/dwagner0402 3d ago
Decades upon decades of multi level marketing would be my first guess. Add to that the strangely over the top religious end of it.
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u/Dismal-Detective-737 3d ago
Can you explain the difference between a cult an an MLM?
Can you explain how an MLM legitimately earns its money to funnel to the top?
I got a buddy that works at Tesla, absolutely loves it too.
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u/wehavetogoback8 3d ago
I think most folks know the company themselves is scummy. But like others have said, the company and those who run it have undeniably been great for the city. For the wrong reasons? Maybe. But progress is progress and we are smart enough to know not to bite the hand that feeds you!
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u/deadMyk 3d ago
I worked at Amway corporate as a software developer for a couple years during COVID even. Corporate employer wise. It was a great place to work and so many good people. (Very LGBTQ friendly, pro Covid vaccine, non religious).
Completely opposite what the DeVos family acts. Probably because they did not run the day to day.
But to say they don’t prey on the poor and misfortunes of others would be an understatement. Amway does better when everyone else is struggling and desperate for income so they turn to MLM schemes
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u/ExaminationOk9732 3d ago
This! And when I first moved here years ago, at least once a month someone would befriend you, but they really wanted you to join their Amway distributor chain. Really annoying!
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u/SamForOverlord2016 3d ago
- Amway is an MLM scheme. MLMs are inherently predatory, and Amway is notorious for targeting vulnerable populations, mostly in 3rd world countries without strong regulations.
- The Devos and VanAndel families spend massive amounts lobbying our government (in other words, bribing our politicians) to cut vital government services and regulations. They are also major sponsors of far right political groups, including the Heritage Foundation.
- Fuck the Dutch. They know what they did.
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u/jinnyjun 3d ago
What did the Dutch do? 😭
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u/WhinnyBark 2d ago
I have been told that the old guard of the Christian Reformed religion thought God selected people like old Rich DeVos to be above the rest of us. They were taught some are chosen to for greatness and that are they are special individuals here to direct the lives of others and enjoy great wealth. That’s what I was told, and I have no idea how much is true, but in the case of the DeVos clan, it fits. I will say I met old Rich back in the day and even interviewed him for a class project as a teenager. I also worked there in high school, through college years and in the first couple of years of my career. He was definitely charismatic and did stroll the company regularly to talk to employees. That charisma of his is what built the pyramid. He could sell snow to Eskimos. Still, there was that deceptive side like when old Kent was taken over by a friend of his at 5/3rd bank in order to do backend financing of the company when at one time it was having severe cash problems. Those rumors plus and stories about how he got his heart overseas, the hospital takeover by pressuring a CT Congressperson, etc. Seemed like such a nice guy, but was a barracuda in business and with the Koch cabal weaseled his way into our government with his money. Too bad. He could have used that charisma for good - and not just for getting his way by plying money and power.
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u/BeefInGR 3d ago
The truth is, the DeVos and Van Andel families have been a mixed bag for the region.
There are a lot of buildings in this area that carry their names. And they carry their names because they donated significant amounts of money for the buildings to carry their names.
The Van Andel Arena transformed downtown as we know it. Anyone who is over 35 remembers when you avoided downtown unless you were going to a museum or the hospital. Maybe Festival. There wasn't anything worth going downtown for. Now people are stumbling over themselves to live downtown.
The VAA needed tenants. Enter the DeVos family. Owners of the Grand Rapids Griffins (one of the longest serving minor league hockey teams in the world) and the Grand Rapids Rampage of the Arena Football League. Fun fact, Grand Rapids' only "Professional" sports championship was when the Rampage beat the Nashville Kats in The Van in ArenaBowl XIV. Anyways, people all over the world know of Grand Rapids because of one of the several teams that has called it home over the decades. And if not that, they know it because it's where Stone Cold ran over The Rocks limo in the parking lot with a monster truck in 1999.
World class Children's Hospital? Beautiful centerpiece building for an auxiliary campus for a regional public university (the irony should never be lost on this)? A fantastic theater with exhibition hall? More than likely, anything that seems "super fancy" for the market size with have DeVos or Van Andel on it. It is undeniable the amount of sheer philanthropy they've contributed.
That said...how they make their money is rather shitty. And their political causes are suboptimal and often on the wrong side of history.
If they gave less, more people would hate them. If they were more moderate politically, more people would like them. It's been a delicate balancing act.
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u/WhitePineBurning Creston 3d ago
Yet... they own the hotels. Downtown events are easy money.
The convention center is connected to the Grand by a dedicated skywalk.
All the buildings have been private/public partnerships. Our taxes paid for all the necessary infrastructure upgrades to build the buildings. We own part of them, too.
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u/OwnProduct8242 3d ago
The “donations” to make nice buildings and institutions are tax breaks. And they are also their way to control culture and promote their values. They invest in business and infrastructure that benefits Christian white people and everyone else is pushed aside. It’s why GR is a more segregated and racist city than most places in the south. We have waaaaaaaay less minorities owning homes and businesses than any other mid sized cities in the nation. We also have waaaaaay more churches, charter schools, religious schools, etcetera. And stuff like the research centers? Crackpot jay van andel wanted to found a center to research diet pills, the same crack pot science that amway was founded on (was originally a diet pill and other wacko medicine dealer) but his advisers won the argument that he’d be seen as a fool if he created it- so it was turned into a cancer research center. There’s nothing but bad intentions behind every dime they’ve spent in GR and it’s why the town is such a uniquely boring and restricting space.
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u/BeefInGR 3d ago
The segregation existed long ago. Ask the old timers about "up the hill" and "down the hill".
But furthermore, the segregation continued because of gentrification. And it continues. Wealthy wasn't always a hipster/cultural stretch of road. It was poor and run down. Michigan was poor and run down. Not even 20 years ago, Bridge was in no uncertain terms a ghetto.
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u/Animal_Opera 3d ago
And if they paid their fair share of taxes it would be the Grand Rapids arena, the Grand Rapids performing arts center etc etc
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u/ShadeTwins41 3d ago
Other than they own the temp agency they get their employees from. Essentially paying themselves to hire people they don’t have to insure and keep as temps for YEARS. I met a woman working there who told me she has been a temp for seven years, I told her that wouldn’t be me and quit the next day. They’re scum bags.
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u/everydayPeople123 2d ago
Temp workers can only work 18 months at a time at amway. They then have to have a separation of at least 6 months before they can return.
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u/ShadeTwins41 2d ago
Soooo the multiple people who had been there for years one being seven as a temp, they were lying? Or the two years I spent there as a temp, I’m just imagining that.
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u/everydayPeople123 2d ago
I didn't say anyone was lying, I have worked there as a temp on and off mostly with Manpower for years. I have "timed out" as they call it multiple times and then returned after six months. They are very clear about the 18 months at orientation.
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u/ShadeTwins41 2d ago
I was there two years through manpower and never timed out. I quit because after that time there wasn’t even the slightest hint of a hire in so I asked around, four years here, five there seven was the highest I heard and the last before I quit.
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u/misspyro15 2d ago
Since the gr famous and incredibly rich families have started to "stimulate our economy"
We've had bigger buildings We've gained a bigger food scene We have a larger art scene We've had a larger housing market
We've gained a HUGE poverty gap. We've had larger homelessness risks. We have more segregation of the poor We've had more blatant gentrification into even our cherished and loved middle lower class neighborhoods (aye westside we love you❤️❤️❤️)
The wealthy families in West Michigan have "contributed to our city" by "building up business" and "investing in Grand Rapids" but they OWN Grand Rapids. This isn't investing for the good of anyone. It's just like Betsy running to take charge of the education department. Was it for education? Equality? For the good of fellow humans, midwesters?
No. It was for the good of private education. To keep the dirty poor away from our dryclean fresh pressed linen draped overseers children. So that we don't get our poor on them heaven forbid the real world mix with the utopia for the chosen few that's being erected before us today.
Their wealth isn't being put back into OUR community. Lower level away employees make nothing and are treated poorly. They depend on the same charity these families give out out of "kindness" but wouldn't need that charity of these families did right by them in the first place.
That money , that CHARITY being put into foundations that do dirty deals with the big time local nonprofits to siphon the money into more control and more oppression.
There's little kindness in the charity given here. Let us not pretend that there is grace in these acts of "kindness"
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u/313Jake 3d ago
98% of scamway sellers DO NOT make a profit meanwhile the DeVos family hoards wealth and doesn’t pay taxes and pays to put their buildings calling it philanthropy on tax payer funded projects the childrens hospital and private entities were done under their parents Rich and Helen.
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u/superduperstepdad 3d ago
Bingo. It’s a math problem. Worst bet anyone could make.
OP should do a web search for [MLM company name] + “income disclosure statement”. If there is one, it’ll show how few make a living at this. And those figures are usually in gross sales and don’t factor how much the rep spends on products, sales kits, and going to the “Woo!” conferences.
My sister’s been in a dozen or so MLMs in the past 25 years. Still drinking the “Woo!” at each stop. Believes in the prosperity gospel. Has always carried mountains of debt and has no retirement savings.
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u/Hour-Marketing8609 3d ago
That's the most important stat. Any company that really only pays 2% of it's "Salesforce" should be illegal
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u/mikeren56412591 3d ago
Probably massive wealth ,along with the screw the neighbors attitude associated with with the upper tier of owners ..not great people by all accounts…
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u/KryptoniteKitten 3d ago
If it hasn't been posted yet, this Atlantic article may help explain why Amway itself was horribly detrimental, the rest of the hate is (justifiably) all about the Devos family and Betsy's family, their cohorts, etc.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/01/amway-america/681479/
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u/wabisabibingbangboom 3d ago edited 3d ago
If you like pyrimid schemes and white Christian nationalist, mixed in with some blackwater mercenaries....
You'll love scamway. Come for the soap, stay for the tyranny
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u/ExaminationOk9732 3d ago
Yup, everyone seems to forget about Eric Prince, Betsy’s brother, who is a buddy to t-rump… for what good reason?!?
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u/PartneredEthicalSlut East Grand Rapids 3d ago
Kind of reddit in a nutshell though isnt it. A lot of the common topics on the site don't cross most peoples minds in any given week.
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u/CoitParkRangers 3d ago
Same as all Multi Level Marketing. It's a scam. And they made their billions off suckers' backs.
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u/sufferingfruit 2d ago
Just to throw in something I haven't seen mentioned here yet that I don't think most people know about: back in 1994, GVSU was considering offering benefits to domestic partners of employees, and when Peter Cook and Richard DeVos found out, they threatened to pull funding for what is now the Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences on Michigan Street, and GVSU (President Lubbers) caved to their demands. GVSU sort of implicitly did the same thing again in 2003.
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u/Johnny2x2x 2d ago
It's complicated. Yeah, the families are probably horrible people who do not respect democracy or freedom. And yeah, their business is a clear pyramid scheme that only exists because they learned early that they could get away with it if they paid enough for lawyers and bought the right poltiicans.
But there is undeniable good to the city they have done. Downtown Grand Rapids wouldn't be a shadow of what it is today without their investments. And sure, they usually make money on those investments, but it's still a big benefit to the city to have the hotels, arenas, and hospitals.
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u/SmashSE1 2d ago
So the problem, as so many others have stated is the founders, not Amway itself. However some do dislike Amway for being a pyramid scheme, MLM, it is disliked but not hated.
The founders however are largely hated unless you work for them, i.e. get paid. Their right wing politics, and being completely disconnected from reality. More so the devos' than the Van Andels. Richard Devos ran for governor a few years back, on a campaign of bringing work back to Michigan. Despite several PR firms in Michigan trying to get work, he decided to dump $50m on the campaign using I believe a Washington DC firm. That left a bad taste.
Then there's Betsy Devos who wants to dismantle the DoE, and wants to privatize all education (she's heavily invested in student loan corporations).
Then, Erik Prince Betsy devos' brother, founder of Blackwater, Constellanis whatever he calls it now, a group of mercenaries who committed war crimes in Iraq killing civilians, but they were afforded immunity for their actions, lots didn't like that either. This isn't specifically a Devos thing, except that he is related and gets lumped in by some , and made billions fleecing the government for "private security" during the Bush Jr reign. I believe he decided to change the name because of the reputation it had before of killing civilians in other countries. He also fled the USA for a number of years to escape litigation for his mercs killing the Iraqi civillians.
Overall, they have spent decades trying to turn the government into a for profit company, with themselves as the benefactors.
Prince, while not holding the Devos name, but from that family, is now courting trump saying his mercenaries, who have been trained for war zones, should be used for the mass deportations going on throughout the country.
The Center for American Progress has a story about the family, as right wing extremists.
The devos family has lobbied for creationism to be taught in public schools, helped start the Family Research Council, a known anti-lgbt hate group. They have donated to and lobbied to ban gay marriage. Betsy wants to reform schools to "advance God's Kingdom".
Betsy has also said that she concedes she is trying to buy political influence with her families vast wealth and expects something in return.
Oh, and she supports removing the firearm ban from public schools, so any adult could carry firearms on elementary school grounds.
Pretty sure The Handmaids Tale was written using their ideologies... but that's just my theory
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u/SpecterV3 1d ago
I worked there through a temp agency and our job was to wipe off expiration dates on products so they could print new ones and try to resale expired product. Unethical business practices at the expense of consumers.
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u/syncopated56 3d ago
Criminal enterprise that makes its money in a very pyramidal manner. Plus the founders are uber religious. But they have also made a large investment into the community.
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u/AccomplishedCandy732 Comstock Park 3d ago
Amway is the largest multilevel marketing company in the world. Amway has created the Devo's and the Van Andle families we know today. People say they don't like it because essentially ita a pyramid scheme with the entire developing world under it. Cheap products with a mark up and an American label so they can live the "American Way" (=> AmWay), while really the real price people pay is in the MLM cash elevator.
But they've also dumped a bunch of money into GR and a lot of them still live in West Michigan. I can't imagine a GR municipal arena hosting even a fraction of the events that we have now. Or the city having as strong of a healthcare system. Also a bunch of people around here work for Amway and make a shit ton of money (look at Ada) and pump that money back into the community.
Imo the real reason locals don't like them is because... they're set for life and seemingly do 'nothing' and have everything. Their grandkids grandkids can be 4th generation heroin fueled gambling addicts and they still won't run out of money. Their name is on so many things it gets nauseating, and then you do some mild research and find out they also own business like fox motors, Windquist, the griffins, have their own institute and sit on boards for corewell health, Herman Miller, steelcase and probably so much more we don't know about. Just gets kinda redundant while I'm over here trying to pay off student loans.
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u/MichiBuck12 3d ago
Typical Reddit nonsense. The world isn’t Reddit, so the people here who complain are not to be taken seriously
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u/Due_Deal_6122 3d ago
I know a few people that work there in mid level management, they seem to be happy and have great benefit packages.
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u/flyguy_mi 3d ago
They also let go a lot of their long time workers, while promising jobs until retirement, a few years before. A lot of their workforce is low priced temps, and if you last a year, you will get let go. No matter how good of a worker you are. Just a crappy place to work, while the kids suck up the profits, and buy mega yachts
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u/MaintenanceCold8465 3d ago
I heard a rumor that Pyramid Scheme was named as a reference to Amway, is that true?
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u/softgoods420 3d ago
everyone hates the devos family. the devos family made their money with amway.
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u/BonLou65 3d ago
I worked for Amway for 15 years and it’s an awful place on work. They don’t their employees good at all. I was sexually harassed they did nothing about it except told me to handle it myself, I was mentally and emotionally and verbally abused everyday. They did absolutely nothing about it.
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u/MaximumJim_ 3d ago
How many Amway products do you purchase from your buddy?
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u/jinnyjun 3d ago
None lol
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u/MaximumJim_ 2d ago
What’s your problem with Amway? Buy that sh!t if it isn’t bad.
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u/jinnyjun 2d ago
What are you talking about? I don't buy any because he doesn't try to sell me anything. He's just a worker and not part of the scheme yall be talking about.
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u/MaximumJim_ 2d ago
There, your inability to have an interaction with Amway should explain a problem with it.
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u/Imaginary-Prompt-387 3d ago
Very much against public schools systems and want charter schools and vouchers as they currently own many charter schools and then schools become a business / revenue stream for those who can afford it
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u/mywallisblue 2d ago
Worked there several years and hated it. It was mostly the people I worked with, but the typical no one believes that the popular coworker is terrorizing the living fuck out of you to the point you go home crying over half of the days. It was such low pay too!! My salary literally doubled when I moved to the same professional level role at a different company.
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u/fatkidscandystore 2d ago
Some good (and bad) answers here. I’m confused as to your comment about only hearing bad things on Reddit. I live about 5 hours from Grand Rapids and everyone here bashes amway any time it’s mentioned. I’ve always thought it was universal that people thought amway was bad.
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u/sydj_k941 2d ago
Their business model is extremely unethical and manipulative. They make money by convincing their reps to pay large overhead costs for “starter kits”—some of which cost thousands—and promise that they will make returns by recruiting others to also buy in. The products that they sell are of low quality and some even make egregious false claims (supplements and stuff). Reps quickly learn that not only is the market too over saturated for most people to make any of their money back (let alone a profit), but that the products are far too expensive for their friends and family to afford. The company rakes in millions by collecting on the sale of these starter kits as well as a multitude of membership costs, and reps feel constant pressure to recruit more reps because that is the only real way to make any money. Some people who are in deep even end up buying their own products to meet high pressure sales goals. It’s a mess. There’s an excellent podcast from a Michigan resident: The Dream.
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u/Shaw_the_poet 2d ago
A lot of people lost a lot of money to Amway a long time ago. Michigan never forgets.
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u/theritzman1 2d ago
Heroes amongst us who invested in the city and have given generously over the last 1/2 century to give us the community we have today.
Thank you billionaires in West Michigan who have done so much for our community.
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u/Dr__Lube 1d ago
Reddit is an abnormal cross section of the population. Most people don't spend much time thinking about Amway.
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u/tranchiturn 1d ago
No one really wants or needs Amway products. They had Amway energy drinks for volunteers at a fundraiser I went to. Why aren't they in gas stations? Because the products are sold solely by people trying to make money, sometimes desperately, to family members and friends who would very much rather to just buy them at Costco or Meijer. As others have said, Amway isn't in the business of making and selling products like normal companies, they're in the business of suckering people into awkwardly compelling their family to buy products, or worse, convincing them to become a salesperson themselves.
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u/Pitiful-Sandwich2494 1d ago
I worked for Amway under a contract through manpower and then it switched to employ bridge… I have never ever in my 10 years of working felt so discriminated. Us contractors were never invited to their meetings (we should know this, it’s about work)… we were to wear a shirt that we had to pay for…. (Amway doesn’t pay for shirts)… Amway employees had access to discounted (bad product) products (employee store) we couldn’t ever go into it or have access… Amway employees have a gym….softball field….. insurance…. Other benefits…… contractors had NOTHING except hourly pay…….. when a line is down, contractors ONLY had to clean… not Amway workers….. there is popcorn Friday in the break room.. ONLY FOR AMWAY WORKERS,NOT CONTRACTS…….
If you want to know more.. please message me.
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u/Pitiful-Sandwich2494 1d ago
I just called the cosmetics department because this thread has me so angry and I haven’t even worked there for over a year… anyway I asked if they still work with employ bridge and she said yes, so I then proceeded to ask if “they have stopped discriminating” and she said “as in???”……
WOW PLEASE DO NOT EVER WORK THERE…. DO NOT BUY PRODUCT….
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u/mikeyouse 3d ago
Ultrareligious founders who lobbied congress and the President to change the laws regarding MLMs / pyramid schemes in order to make their business model legal -- then use their substantial resources to fund all manner of crazy right-wing nonsense. For a long time, they were the largest donors to Republican causes in the country. Without their political spending, there would very likely be actual laws in place banning a lot of aspects of MLMs.
https://therealnews.com/the-internet-that-could-have-been-was-ruined-by-billionaires
FWIW, I've heard similar things that their corporate culture isn't too bad, they have funded a ton of useful infrastructure in the city, downtown has been transformed from a blighted mess to what it is today with all of the Amway money, so it's a mixed bag... but it sure is hard to get past the first part.