Once again, Pink Truth manages to find dark clouds in a silver lining. The general point of this article by Black Nova is that being a personal use consultant is not as simple as saying, "yes, I prefer to pay 50% for my product than full retail price".
**gasp** According to Pink Truth, you have to pay taxes at the retail price. AND you have to pay for shipping. AND you have to make sure that you (or you and your 'group') are going to use the $400 RETAIL/3 month minimum required.
I have thought of being a retailer for Dr. Pepper before because I LOVE Dr. Pepper. I have never even "looked into it" though because I am SURE that I don't want to have THAT much Dr. Pepper to deal with every month (or week or year or whatever...)
I think that Mary Kay's "personal use" deal is pretty great for some people. If you are thinking about doing it, get ALL the information - Black Nova's little piece linked above is pretty accurate I think and analyze whether it is worth it to you. The Mary Kay gods are not going to drop 50% merchandise on your lap, you are going to have to do a little leg work yourself, and you might need to tell some of your "friends" or "family" what the rules of being a part of the group are. "Sorry Aunt Ether, I can't order one mascara for you right now... you are either going to need to wait until we are placing the next order or go buy it from a consultant that has it on hand at full price." And maybe, after you, your friends and your family place a few orders and realize how much $400 RETAIL is, you might have to say that it is too much and that you can actually get a better deal paying full price for what you need.
This mentality bothers me the same way those "extreme couponers" bother me. In my opinion, no one needs 40 bottles of Ketchup. I don't care if you got them for $0.10. You have to store those ketchups until you use them. It works for some people (I guess), but it just doesn't do anything for me. So, if the deal works for you, go for it. If it doesn't, move on. There are tons of ways to make money, save money and spend money. So do what works for you.
Humorously enough, Pink Truth recommends that you purchase from Ebay or Pink Truth's message boards. Personally, there are some things that I just wont buy "mail order" like that. When I hear Pink Truth and Selling Mary Kay in the same sentence, all I can picture are crusty old bottles of inventory that someone couldn't move. I picture the backseat of a late 80's sedan sitting in the direct sun all day with the Mary Kay product I am about to buy. No Thank You.
Thoughts? |
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I think in some ways this gets down to actively researching everything--including the fine print--before you sign on the dotted line. When recruiters or directors intentionally try to mislead consultants (which is clearly not the way lead), that is unfortunate; as in any business though (or hobby, or what-have-you), the onus is on the individual to make sure his or her eyes are wide open. I think this qualifies, though I'm sure people have other perspectives on this.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I totally agree about getting all the facts before deciding to be a PU consultant - or take part in a circle of people using the PU. I think it works great for some - but those are not the kind of consultants a director should build a unit on. They aren't going to be star sellers or star orderers. If they join for that purpose, then that's what the director should plan on. $200 wholesale every 3 months. That's it. And that's not a lot. So I can see how a director who has a lot of PU consultants could get in over her head.
ReplyDeleteI love your comment about extreme couponers...that's a lot of ketchup!
great post!
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