Taking on the Vector Marketing Scam

Like every lazy middle class college student, I always waited until the last moment before summer to find a job (I will say, I always had the fall back of delivering Pizza). When tired of sitting around the house and having to endure the look of my parents--the "did you get a job yet, I don't want to ask" look, I would look through the classified ads of my local paper. There were always some interesting prospects. I could apply to be a phone sex operator for instance. But one ad stuck out to me the most. It was bigger than all those other ads. And it was $14.75 an hour, no experience necessary! Excited at the prospect of getting a decent paying summer job which required no experience whatsoever, I showed my dad.

"Hmm, looks interesting. What's this $14.75 per hour or appointment mean?". Concentrate on that word "appointment". There's the rub dear friends. It was already looking too good to be true. But I had already given in to the fallacy that this would be the greatest summer job ever, so I challenged my dad.

"This is just the way they do things now days Dad....", he wasn't buying it---and rightfully so. My dad's an attorney; and one good thing attorneys do is detect bullshit right off the bat (not to mention, they're pretty experienced in creating bullshit as well, but that's another story).

My dad could sense my optimism, and I could tell he didn't want to kill my buzz, so he told me to just call the number and find out what's it's all about. And that's what I did.

Part 1: My first introduction into the absolute abyss of bullshit begins...

My first step was to call the company and find out what this great $14.75 an hour base/appointment shit was all about. I wanted to prove my dad wrong. When I got off the phone, he was gonna know just how wrong his assumptions were. I would show him.

So with that, I picked up the phone and called. A young sounding woman picked up the phone.

Woman: "Vector marketing, how can I help you?"

Me: "Uh ya, I'm calling about the ad in the paper".

Woman: "Oh yes. To apply you first have to qualify for an interview so you need to fill out an application online and if you're chosen we'll get in contact with you."

Me: "Sounds great. What is the job position exactly?"

Woman: "Well, I'm just the secretary, so I'm not really sure, but it involves kitchenware, and it's $14.75 per hour or appointment."

Me: "Really? You don't know anything about the job?"

Woman: "That will all be explained at the interview".

Ugh, bad sign from the beginning. The secretary didn't even know (or at least she claimed) what the fucking job entailed. But I was a naive 20 year old, and the prospect of $14.75 an hour was too good to let go to waste.

So I did my part and filled out my little online form, which pretty much, from what I can recall, asked me if I was a human being and didn't demand much else. And surprise surprise, I got a callback for an interview the next day. I wondered if they were more impressed that my first name started with a "C" or that my last name ended with an "T". On the phone, they scheduled me for a group interview the next day.

The next day I arrived at 9AM to a small building that looked like it was being renovated, but the building was still fairly new looking. It also overlooked Lake Union (in Seattle). Seemed pretty legit. So with that, I entered the building and found the room number they had given me.

When I opened the door, I entered a large room about 40 feet long and 20 feet wide. There were pictures all over the place of young people in suits with huge smiles on their faces, along with about 30 trophies scattered all over the place. "This is the shit!", I told myself.

As I inquisitively checked my surroundings, a young woman asked if I was there for the interview and gave me a sheet to fill out---the sheet was pretty similar to the same one I filled out online, except this one asked about previous job experience, and some stupid questions about whether we work hard and what our career goals were. Seemed painless enough. While I was filling out the form, more people started coming in. Most of them had suits and ties, and I started to wonder inside if I was under dressed (I went business casual). As the suits and ties began to increase, I suddenly got a very uneasy feeling. It reminded me of that movie Boiler Room, where there were plenty of hints to all the workers there that something just wasn't right, but they all ignored it for the promise of prestige and dollars. Either way, whenever uneasiness crept in, I just pushed it away. Twenty minutes after I arrived, there were about 25 eighteen to twenty-two year olds sitting around ready to see what this was all about.

We were each called for our initial screening interview in the order that we filled out our questionnaire--that meant that I went first. They called my name, and I went into a smaller office where I was greeted by a guy who couldn't have been more than 22 years old. He looked eerily similar to the picture I've posted above, except the guy was thinner. We did the "nice to meet you"s and the interview started. All in all, this was probably the easiest interview I've ever had in my life (I'm almost 27 now). He looked over my questionnaire. Noticing that I had worked at Gart Sports, he said "looks like you've got sales experience". Check. "Seems by your questionnaire that you're pretty good with talking to people". Check. "Do you think you're good with people?". Was I gonna say no? Check. And with that he told me I seemed like a good fit, but that he couldn't make a decision until I went through the group interview.

Because there were other pre-screening interviews, I had to wait about two hours for the group interview. I noticed during this time that a few people came out of their initial interviews shaking their heads and just left the building. SUCKERS. They obviously weren't as qualified as me, who had a summer's worth of sales experience at a sporting goods store! Man did I feel great about myself.

Finally, after two hours and a few bathroom trips, the much anticipated group interview started. We all took our seats and the boss (the guy who interviewed me) began a presentation. The presentation started with a demonstration that included two knives, one visibly rusty and one brand new, and a piece of rope. This is when things started to get noticeably absurd. He took the first knife, and began trying to cut the piece of rope.

Struggling to cut the rope, he asked us confused minions "Now, what do you guy's notice about this knife?". Someone raised their hand "It doesn't cut?". "Exactly!" he said emphatically. He then took the newer, non-rusty knife, and cut through rope, asking again "What do you guys notice?" Another hand raised "It cuts right through?". "EXACTLY, good". He then went on to explain that if we got the job, we would be selling these knives that were far superior to any other knives out there in the market. Finally, I found out what we'd be fucking doing! I don't know why the secretary couldn't have told me this in the first place.

He then began to go through a presentation on some pretty simple marketing principles about how, when selling things, the best way to get practice and make other contacts is to start with people you know. Seemed reasonable enough.

Then he explained our role in all of this. This is where I began to really sense something was up (which I obviously should've sensed right away on my phone call with the secretary). Basically, you'd make a list of 12 people you know and give them a presentation of Cutco knives, in which you would hope that they would buy a set. From those people you knew, you'd get references of other people they knew, and basically hope to cajole their friends into feeling sorry for you enough to buy a set, or at the very least, sit through an hour presentation. So, for every one of these presentations, which would take an hour, you'd make $14, and a 10% commission on any item you sold. As you began to sell more, your commission would go up eventually. We would also have to endure three days of unpaid training.

Just in case any of us wasn't entirely sold on the prospects this job entailed, he attempted to reassure us: "Just think, if you stay with it, and you work hard, you could me right now giving this demonstration. I once sat in those chairs you guys are sitting in right now, and look at me now!".

After the group interview, I really had no idea what to think. I sat down and waited for my name to be called to see if I got the job. When I met back up with the boss man, he fed me the same line of bullshit he had fed me during the initial interview--how I had sales experience and seemed that I was good with people. And with that he smiled "Soooooo....you got the job!". I smiled as if I was very happy, and emphatically thanked him. I actually wasn't happy at all. I thought I should have been, but something just felt dirty about the whole situation.

I went home and told my dad of the "good news".

"You're gonna sell knives?".

"Ya, you start with people you know and..."

"You're being ridiculous, find a real job". That was pretty much all the reassuring I needed. I found a job the next week working for a painter for ten dollars an hour, and it was pretty fun.

Part 2: How the Bullshit Works and Why it is Total Bullshit



I'm not an economist nor do I claim to be one, but I know a sliver of some basic principles that can help the average layman understand why Vector Marketing is indeed a scam. You may ask yourself (presuming you've actually been reading this whole time), why don't they just sell this shit in stores? That's a good question, and the answer lies with the concept of incentives. The reason Cutco doesn't sell its knives in stores is because the economic incentives for the ones profiting the most aren't there. Vector marketing exists in pretty much every corner of the country, and makes a huge profit (I'm not sure of the exact number anymore, but it was about $75 million when I first interviewed there).

Let's be frank here. We all like a good set of knives, but most of us aren't willing to spend $900 on a set of knives--so with that being said, Cutco probably couldn't make such a huge profit if it were just selling knives in stores. That's where you come in. Based on this marketing platform that Vector has set up (which I will explain in more detail), they can make a much larger profit with the pyramid scheme they have set up than they would otherwise be able to. Simply stated, they do it this way because it works. It's actually pretty genius, while obviously very sinister at the same time.

The way it works is, you (technically an independent contractor) start off with a list of people that you know, and give presentations to people, hoping they feel sorry enough for you to actually buy a set of knives. You start off at a very low commission of 10% of your sale, plus the base pay. As you sell more, your commission rate will continue to go up, but you have to make a significant amount of sales first (some of the actual numbers are hard to find because Vector is somewhat secretive, for obvious reasons).

Now, notice something important here. To the company and your local manager, who takes a much larger commission on your sales than you do, you are the most valuable to them at the beginning of your employment. Why is this? For one, you are most likely to sell more at the beginning stages because you are doing presentations in front of people you know, who know you, and are more willing to dish out a wad of cash for someone they either feel sorry for and simply want to help out. However, once you get past this initial stage of presenting to people you know, your referrals will be with people who don't know you, are more likely to say no to you before you get in the door (therfore no base pay), and probably don't want to talk to you in the first place. Thus, the longer you dive into this thing, the less and less chance you're going to have to make a sale.

Also notice that Vector has cleverly instituted in their marketing practice incentives for you to push and push to get more clients. Because your commission goes up with the more sales you make, the more incentive you have to keep selling. This seems fair right? The company wants you to succeed right? Not exactly.

Yes, it is true that the more sales you make, the manager and the company take a cut of that sale, and therefor they have incentive for you to keep making sales, even if they're making less money from you as your commission goes up. The problem is, that you're the most valuable to the company and the manager when you're first beginning, and they're taking the larger cut. And as I stated earlier, the beginning is also the point at which you are probably having the most success. Either way, it's a win win for the company because A) you're completely expendable to them, because they can easily get tons of desperate unemployed college students to take your place and give them that initial cash flow and B) if by chance you do happen to raise your commission rate, they know that 99% of you are going to eventually dry up and quit anyways.

That's why they make you feel so good in the beginning about getting the job, because by the time you've realized what bullshit the whole system is, you've probably exceeded your usefulness to the company anyways. It's all about the short term employees, and the ones who are successful longer are just icing on the cake.

What's worse is, all the time you wasted trying to find potential buyers, driving to their places, doing presentations, you were probably in actuality making minimum wage and could have utilized that time to find a real job or an internship that might actually help your future capital.

In light of all that, it makes sense why the secretary wouldn't tell me what the job entailed over the phone.

Part 3: A friend and I attempt to confront the abyss of utter bullshit...

Just before spring break during my sophomore year of college, Vector Marketing began littering the campus with fliers. These fliers pretty much said the same thing I had seen in classified section of the newspaper ad from a year before. Of course, the name Vector Marketing appeared nowhere on the flier. I was pretty pissed about my experience, and it got me thinking: Why don't I just bring down Vector Marketing myself? I mean, hell, someone had to do it, and if no one else, why not me? So with that, the first step was to come up with a plan.

In trying to figure out how to go about all this, I decided it would be best to probably get a partner in crime to help with such a monumental endeavor. I got one of my college buddies to go in on it with me after explaining to him the "Vector Marketing: utter abyss of bullshit" theory. We were going to be soldiers, completely dedicated; and I mean, we were also both liberal arts majors, so we had a lot of time on our hands.

Before we did any sort of research or brainstorming to make a plan of action, we got drunk in the middle of the day and decided it would be best to start off with a friendly prank phone call---you know, just to test the waters. It went something like this:

Me: Hello, I'm calling about a flier I found at school.

Receptionist: Oh yes, it's $14.75 an hour base pay, plus commission, and does not involve telemarketing.

Me: Oh that's great, you know I just hate those phony ads in the paper where you think its one thing, but it really turns out to be a telemarketing scam.

Receptionist: (eerily silent)

Me: So, what exactly does the job entail?

Receptionist: Well, I don't really know because I'm just the receptionist, but it involves marketing of kitchenware (can you believe this shit?! Almost the exact same line as fed to me before).

Me: Interesting. This is Vector Marketing right?

Receptionist: Uh...(says something inaudible)..yes, yes it is.

Me: Ok, I just wanted to make sure, because I read today in the New York Times that your company was in jeopardy of being shut down because of massive fraud allegations. Is that true? (A total lie obviously, but who gives a shit)

Receptionist: Oh my god. Is that true? (inaudible talking to someone in the background) Can I call you back?

Me: Sure no problem.

Receptionist: Thanks.

And wouldn't you know it, about 15 minutes later they called back. But this time, I wasn't talking to the receptionist. The manager called instead.

Manager: Hi uh.....I just uh..got done talking to my receptionist and uh....she said something about an article?

Me: Ya, I read an article today that your company was on the verge of being shut down due to fraud allegations.

Manager: Uh...well...uh... was that in the paper today?

Me: Yes.

Manager: What paper.

Me: The New York Times.

Manager: Ok, thanks. Have a good day.

Obviously this was a total lie, but good to put a little scare in them.

My friend and I decided that the best course of action was to go to the local paper about this shit of a scam, and hopefully they would do some leg work and expose them for what they were. We knew that we would have to be compelling, so for a few days we compiled as much information from the web as we could, including testimonials from people who had worked and gotten screwed by Vector (a lot of people didn't get paid for any work they did--some even showed up to their offices to find that they had been completely abandoned), and pretty much any information we could find. We then called the local newspaper, who seemed interested, and we drove down to their main office with a binder of about 300 pages worth of material. The investigative reporter seemed very interested, and as we gave him the schpeel, he became more and more intrigued. When we left, we felt that we were one step closer to bringing down Vector. But, sadly, we never heard back from the paper.

So after a week, and no phone call back from the local paper, we realized that Vector was probably gonna be pretty hard to take down. But, we were definitely not going down with at least a fight.

We decided that our last and final hurrah would be to each get an interview at Vector and sabotage one of their group interviews. And, that's exactly what we did. We used fake names of people we went to high school with, and made glowing resumes of great work and life experience, filled out the forms online, and lo and behold, we both got interviews for the same day!

We honestly had no idea how we were going to go about all this, so we decided to just do it on the fly. My friend and I drove to the office, which was in a small single floored complex in the middle of a residential district. I'll forgo trying to explain what it looked like and just say that it was a pretty ugly building.

We entered the building, just as I had done a year before, and the set up was pretty much exactly the same. A room full of trophies and pictures of young kids in suits and ties, lookin' all professional and such. We scoped out our terrain and then filled out our preliminary forms. As we filled out our forms, other people began to walk in. They sat down and filled out their forms as well (there were about ten people).

While filling out our forms, the secretary went into the boss's office. One of the girls there waited until she was gone and then looked around and asked "Does anyone know what this is for?". This was our time! We went through the whole process. The knives, the pyramid scheme, the poor college students who wasted their time, why we weren't allowed to know anything about the job....everything that we have ever learned, we told em. Because most of the people there already had their doubts, they tended to believe everything we were saying. Funny enough, no one asked us why the hell we were there if we knew all this. But at the very least, we had set up a skeptical audience about to endure the utter bullshit that was gonna come out of the manager's mouth.

But before the manager ever gave his presentation, we still had our initial interview. Of course, our plan for this was to kiss as much ass as possible so we could do our damage during the presentation. So, with that, I was called in--and the new manager looked pretty much exactly like the last one, except this one was Asian.

He started off casually: "I see you were a baseball player?". Shit, I forgot I had put that down as one my activities in high school on the questionnaire.

"Uh, ya, I played third base?".

"Oh, interesting, who did you play for?".

Who was this asshole? Is this some sort of interrogation? I made up some high school name, and the prescreening went by pretty quickly. Needless to say, we were both ever so fortunate enough to be asked to stay for the group meeting.

Finally the group interview began...and again the manager started off with the stupid rope presentation. He also asked the same questions as the manager from a year ago. He showed us the two knives--predictably couldn't cut the rope with the shitty knife, and the Cutco knife worked just splendidly. Big surprise.

He asked: "What did you guys notice?". I was about to interject, but my friend beat me to it.

Friend: "Uh, you have an old rusty knife that obviously couldn't cut crap, and then you used a brand new, and visibly sharpened knife to cut a piece of rope."

Manager: "Uh, kind of".

Me: "You know, he brings up a good point, I mean, isn't this a little dishonest what you're doing here? I'm not sure I could cut butter with that knife.".

Manager (visibly pissed and confused): "Alright, well, if you have any more questions about the knives, save them for after the presentation." This was going quite smoothly.

He continued to blabber on, and honestly, we didn't have much to say in the middle of the presentation. I think he was happy that we allowed him to go so long without any hiccups. He began to explain what we'd be selling, and pushing the point that a good marketing strategy starts with selling to people you know. Again, my friend interjected before I did.

Friend: "Uh, I mean, if your product is actually a good product, why would you need to sell to people you know? Why wouldn't you just sell it in stores?". About 5 people nodded their heads. The manager, visibly upset, told me friends to save all his questions for after the presentation. So, obligingly we waited.

He finally got near the end of his presentation, telling us about how we would get paid, and how the system would work. I finally interjected.

Me: Excuse me, I have a question.

Manager: Can you save it for after the presentation?

Me: Well, I dunno, I think it's kinda important.

Manager: Ok, go ahead.

Me: Well, it seems to that this is all just kind of a scam.

Manager: Ok, save your questions or remarks for after the presentation.

Me: Well, maybe I'm wrong, I'm just trying to figure out how this whole thing works.

Manager: Ok

Me: So basically, we have to buy a bunch of knives and nag our friends and relatives to buy them from us. If we're lucky enough to get these people to buy our knives, we have to bug their friends, who probably aren't gonna wanna dish out $900 when they already have a decent set.

Manager: Can we wait until after the presentation.

Me: Well, just let me finish. So basically, we make you a big commission, and we eventually run out of people to sell to, and then we're totally screwed after you've gotten out of us what we can.

Manager: Well, the only way you'll run out of people is if you don't work hard.

Me: Fair enough then. But if that's the case, what is your retention rate then? How many people actually stick with this program?

Manager: It's extremely high.

Me: Well you see, that's not exactly what I've read. You see, I did some research because I assumed the ad was for Vector marketing, and most sources say that 95% of all the employees you hire quit after 1 or 2 weeks. Did you know that?

Manager: That..that's not true.

My friend: No that is actually true, I also read about it earlier this week before I came to the interview. This really is a total scam.

Me: Ya, honestly, you should be embarrassed.

Visibly pissed, and definitely taken off guard, we gave him the common courtesy of actually finishing his presentations, to which afterward he angrily asked "Now, any final questions"? Nope. He went back to his office and we waited in the main room to see if we got the job. Needless to say, we were both told that he didn't think we were good fits, but thank you for coming.

So, we didn't get the job, and we accomplished nearly nothing. But we at least ruffled some feathers for a day, and hopefully prevented some of the other prospective employees from wasting another day being bothered by Vector. And hopefully that manager was a little more on edge from that day on. And you know what? He deserved it...because he's an asshole. Every manager who works at these places knows what's going on. Either that, or they lack so much empathy for other people's struggles that they've convinced themselves that they were able to succeed because they were just better workers---they weren't. They were lucky, and now they want to utilize that luck to suck the blood dry from the innocent. So all in all I'm happy to at least have made a dent in the small little world of Vector Marketing.

As the old adage goes: If it sounds to good too be true, it probably is.