Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for August 02, 2010

et tu, Guru?

Try selling pencils.

Amway.

Well, for starters, you might try a better location, one with more customer traffic!

The way to make money at Amway is to recruit other people and take a percentage of their gross proceeds. What part of “pyramid scheme” don’t you understand.

Actually, Sheik, they’re not a pyramid. They ‘splained it to me once, and if I got it right, it’s because everyone keeps their own profits. The upline gets paid out of the company portion of the earnings.

JanCinVV, can I sell you a nice bridge?

Or maybe you’re interested in shoreline property on the Gulf?

Its multi-level marketing or network marketing not a pyramid

Makes cents to me

^^So, would that make it Scamway?”

Excellent analogy cdward!!!

Only thing we “made” from doing Amway was having to pay less for the products we used. That said, they do have some good products. Lousy marketing scam though.

Hmm, this weekend I saw two things: a homeless man panhandling at the corner of a wally-world and some fundraisers using toddlers to fill their jars at the entrance of a wally-world. Guess whom got more?

I sure hope that businesses check fundraisers before they allow them on the premises.

A friend tried to interest me in an Amway dealership. I read all the information and listened to the promotional tapes. I never could find out who was out there “selling the soap” so I declined. Yeah I know, you have to find ten more suckers to buy the “business” and they each find ten more and…..

Yes, it says something that they had to change their name- such a bad reputation. Like some of the posters at the other site;-D

Here’s a mystery: Where’s that climber’s rope fastened? What’s he gonna do when he’s done talking to guru - pull himself back down?

here’s another mystery: what does the guru do for food?…..he should put a sign at the bottom imploring truth seekers to bring along an extra sandwich or two

Good one, Wiley. Got everyone off politics and onto something else.

What’re you asking for the bridge, Sheik?

^Hmmm,, Seems someone got out of selling Amway.

Flagged

Pyramid schemes - ha!

Name a single organization - from the church to the government to BP to your favorite charity that ISN’T A PYRAMID.

Somebody (too often an old white guy) is at the top and everyone below him is working to support his lifestyle.

At least with MLMs or Direct Sales the working class get to share directly in the profits of their efforts.

I’ve got an idea, why not sell Amway to spammers? Get rid of both of them that way.

Great one Wiley, I love the Guru. He’s a truly honest man.

Pyramid schemes are also illegal in the US. If Amway were a pyramid, then Richard DeVoss and Jay Van Andel would have been in prison years ago. As others have said, it takes a lot of dedication and work to make real money in Amway (or Quikstar as they are now known on the internet), but it is still possible. What I didn’t like about it - in addition to the “who’s selling the soap” problem - was the secrecy. When we were invited to an Amway meeting, we were not told it was Amway until AFTER the presentation.

We gave it a try in 1983, and when I found myself in tears at the idea of attending yet another Amway function for New Years instead of being with friends and family, we gave it up. There is nothing more boring than sitting through Amway pep talks. We drove from Riverside to Fresno to listen to one of their up-and-coming new Triple Diamond stars, and I was so bored I went outside and waited in the car rather than listen to the man. (Yes, sitting in the car with nothing to read or do was less boring than listening to the guy.) The other reason we quit was that we got caught up in a split in our upline organization. Our direct upline decided they didn’t want to be part of “Champions” anymore, so they split away and formed their own. Being their downline, we had no choice but to follow them. This happened just before the summer “reunion” at Disneyland for which we had already paid. Everyone was promised that they wouldn’t lose money on the changeover, but guess who got stuck with about 90% loss. When I challenged the leader of the new organization about it, she said to me “we can’t afford to give everyone every penny”, which was exactly what her husband had promised. Lost nearly $1000.

Check this one out guys. http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2009/05/09

Meanwhile back at the guru-pex, Get a bigger jar.

Make the one, true path to enlightenment a toll road.

You and every other webcomic artist…

nighthawks: “here’s another mystery: what does the guru do for food?”

Every morning and every evening a single sparrow flies overhead, bringing a beakful of grain or berries back to its nest. Sometimes, it drops some food where the guru can get it. Sometimes, it drops something else entirely… But a truly wise man knows how to take the bad with the good.

Wiley - I love your work. How do you think of these things? I tried for a couple of days to think of a caption for the contest you ran and came up with some lame line - you come up with a pearler every day.

Thanks Mate

Listen & read the lyrics to:

“The Men in Black” and “Winner takes it All”

@Nab There was a place called, IIRC, The Mountain House, in that general vicinity. More of a restaurant than a convenience store, though. It went out of business twice during the 16 years I lived Corvallis, so I’d say the answer to your question is “No”.

If the Church is a pyramid scheme, the Pope is sure missing out on a good thing. I believe he doesn’t even get a salary. Just support while he goes about running the church and touring the world.

The pope is head of the Vatican which is the biggest real owner in the world. The annual income from this is at least $ 90 billion. So I think the church is doing allright.