To chuck the Avon book in the recycling.

[Houseplanter]

So I know there's someone out there trying to make a living and good for them. But i don't want Avon stuff. My choices are to

a leave it out on the step where it'll likely get wet
b keep it in the house but I'm unlikely to be here when they call back
c (and this is my preference) chuck it in the recycling with the rest of the unsolicited trash.

You arent proving the op's point, or whatever you think you are doing.

You are just making yourself look ridiculous.

She doesn't look ridiculous at all.

No

Don't do this

It's a scammy mlm

The consumer is the "sales rep" buying all the silly catalogues etc. I don't know why people can't see that. Avon are making a bucket out of the vulnerable and desperate (and their ability to persuade family and friends to buy things to 'help them work around the children ')

Mlms are evil and should be banned!!

Anyone silly enough to fall for the MLM bullshit deserves to lose money- so they stop falling for it.

No, and no one I know has either. I don't associate with people who fall for it/support it

I'm sorry you don't understand, I hope you're not a rep x

I can't believe so many peopl have never heard of Avon or understand the workings.
I always had Pretty Peach stuff when I was young and believe it or not it was quite a status symbol back then. People envied me. The Avon lady was always glamorous, lived up the road and her husband was something in the city.

Times are hard. Someone, perhaps (i did say perhaps) less fortunate than you is trying to earn some cash.

lf it is not in a plastic liner, why not leave it out on a dry day? To return the catalogue is true recycling rather than having energy being used for it to be pulped. And it is no extra hardship.

I did Avon in the eighties. For those saying it's not an MLM, I'd love them to explain why I had a pushy area rep whose existence seemed to be to persuade me and others like me to keep on peddling Avon even though we were lucky to make £20 a month from it. I'm assuming she wasn't an Avon volunteer and that she made money from persuading bottom of the food chain reps to keep on with an unsustainable business model?

Oh god, we’ve gone from “leave it outside in a bag” to “leave it outside in a bag with a kind note” to “order bubble bath from them and make friends”. IT’S JUNK MAIL. Do you order horrible pizza every time a leaflet is wodged through your letterbox? Join the Jehovah’s Witnesses so as not to be mean?

Is this a business, or charity?

Because Avon are certainly making a big fat profit, so I'm not sure why the language of charity is being used.

@WrongSwanson - Of course it’s a business! But at the end of the day you have a local agent trying to earn a few pounds. Why make life difficult for someone, when it’s no extra effort to simply leave the booklet out. These roles sre often undertaken by those finding it hard to make ends meet.

Amazon is a business, but l don’t go out of my way to make things as difficult as possible for the delivery driver.

My local pub is a business, but l still take my wine glass back to the bar when l leave.

Call me old fashioned, but it’s calked courtesy.

All businesses and cosmetic companies make a profit though. Elizabeth Arden doesn't give away their doublewear for free do they?

Avon allows people, usually women and usually those that cant work normal hours to try to earn a bit of money. Many aren't in the chains, they are independant and just take orders and place them with avon.

Buying through them doesn't cost the consumer any more than if they bought directly or from superdrug. You are just buying through a rep that then gets to earn some money too.

Deliberately throwing the books that have been paid for in the bin when you know the reps need them to pass on to others to try to get further sales is an arsehole move.

It doesn't require headspace or effort to just leave a book outside. For those that say they didn't know, well now you do.

For those that say its the principle, its junk mail, its a waste of paper, so what, its that persons livlihood and it doesn't hurt you to leave it outside so they can collect and pass on to the next person.

I really dont understand why a person would be so spiteful as to throw the books away. There must be something wrong with you to do that imo. Maybe buy some of their aromatherapy shit, it might make you into a less sour & vindictive person.

Talk about talking a load of crap. Avon is a brilliant company with lots of opportunities. It's changed over the the years and I'm proud to be part of it

Wow pretty sure I’ve thrown an Avon away along with all the other free catalogues that come through the door…. Didn’t realise I was being a dick…. If they’re so precious that they’re meant to be returned, maybe don’t put them through random doors 👌🏻😄

Avon is an MLM and has been for over a decade now.

MLMs aren't illegal. Pyramid schemes are illegal. MLMs are not classed as pyramid schemes because there is a product to buy but they are still exploitative and scammy.

A viable business does not need to beg people to return their marketing materials because they make enough money to cover the costs (or go bust). And they don't beg people to be kind or try an item because their just trying to make some cash around kids in difficult times. Your customers have no obligation to return marketing material or make pity buys. And if your "business" can't survive without those then it isn't viable and Avon are scammy vultures for convincing you that you can make money while they save on all the inconvenient costs like National insurance and holiday pay that they would have to pay if they employed sales and marketing reps.

This!

I posted (a long way) upthread that I'd broken cover to post again as I felt strongly about this, having stopped contributing months ago because there are so many unpleasant people on this site. Well, this subject has really brought them out of the woodwork hasn't it?

I truly hope, for those of you who are so verbally aggressive on Mumsnet, that people are nicer to you than you are to them.

Over and out.

I love a bit of avon. I like to sit down with the book and a cup of tea and then wait for my order.

I started ordering direct from Avon then my mum started selling it and I ordered from her. I paid the same prices and my mum earnt something. Win win.

In fact, if your issue is avon making a profit, they make more of a profit if you buy direct as there is no commission for them to pay so that argument is moot..