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AIBU?

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Original poster

To chuck the Avon book in the recycling.

552 replies

Houseplanter · 01/10/2023 22:16

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.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
17
SurprisedWithAHorse · 05/10/2023 11:08

WillowCraft · 05/10/2023 11:05

Are you suggesting someone would get taken to court over an Avon catalogue?? and would end up with CCJs against them????

Show quote history

They're taking the piss.

LivingDeadGirlUK · 05/10/2023 11:09

enchantedsquirrelwood · 05/10/2023 10:24

I still don't get how everybody else happily pays for the mail they put through every door, in the knowledge that 99% of it will be recycled straightaway, but hopefully a few people will be interested; whereas Avon reps expect to not just post unsolicited stuff through people's doors, but then also get angry if the person doesn't dutifully return it to them

Yes this is a really good point. If you stick a leaflet through a door about eg fencing services, you don't expect it back. So why are the Avon/Neal's Yard/Betterware whatever catalogues somehow different?

Because everyone knows they make fuck all money at best, lose money at worst, and feel sorry for them. Same reason anyone buys from them.

We as a society need to stop being ok with an army of (mostly) women working for a pittance, or more likely nothing, while bringing in huge profits for the MLM company.

User174085934 · 05/10/2023 11:54

I wish we had the horse poo man, I would like some for our garden.

spitefulandbadgrammar · 05/10/2023 12:07

The horse poo man makes you keep the horse on your doorstep in a plastic bag for two weeks, to fit around childcare.

partypant · 05/10/2023 12:13

AlwaysPrettyOnTheInside · 05/10/2023 10:19

Its not an MLM.

Huh? Yes it is

x2boys · 05/10/2023 12:15

PreetyinPurple · 02/10/2023 07:41

Girl I went to school with has done Avon for decades. She just seems to do it entirely through a Facebook group, I see her asking if people want to borrow a catalogue occasionally but mostly it’s online. She does very very well, but it’s all regulars making regular orders. I imagine someone sticking catalogues through doors is wasting their time.

Yes when I wss a nurse I remember a couple of people doing Avon amongst colleagues ,it was a mental.health unit with six wards and quite a lot of female colleagues so.I imagine they did quite well as quite a lot of People ordered regularly
But trudging around the streets knocking on peoples doors is entirely different.

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 05/10/2023 12:24

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.

You're seriously overthinking it. People have busy lives and respond to irritations that get in their way as efficiently as possible, without giving it any more headspace than they have to.

Just like you don't waft away a wasp at a picnic because you hate that wasp personally and deliberately want it to be deprived of the jam in your cream cake that it's hoping for; you're just getting rid of an unwanted intrusion that's making your day that bit less enjoyable.

SurprisedWithAHorse · 05/10/2023 12:29

spitefulandbadgrammar · 05/10/2023 12:07

The horse poo man makes you keep the horse on your doorstep in a plastic bag for two weeks, to fit around childcare.

😂

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 05/10/2023 12:34

All of this could be stopped in an instant, with huge quantities of paper and ink saved, if there was the desire to do so.

Instead of shoving a whole catalogue through every door, and then going back again to collect it, a single colourful flyer with a prominent web address is all you need - then anybody who's interested can look through the goods on offer on their phone/tablet/laptop, the same way that most people already do their shopping from home.

You could always add a note and a number for the few people who aren't online to contact you if they do want a physical catalogue. Sales could even maybe increase if people could just conveniently click 'add to order' rather than having to find a pen and copying down a code on to a slip of paper.

Of course, this would mean that Avon couldn't make money by selling their catalogues to reps, so they probably wouldn't like it.

It also removes the potential for reps to cash in on people feeling too awkward not to give them at least a little order when they turn up on the doorstep, whereas they wouldn't feel this way if it was all electronic.

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 05/10/2023 12:38

Imagine if the horse poo man stuck a pipe through everybody's letterbox and pumped a ton of the good stuff through into your hallway.

There's no need for you to be rude to him: simply find a (large quantity of) plastic bags and leave it out for him to take away if you don't want to buy it!

VampireApples · 05/10/2023 12:43

I thought most Avon reps sold online now, it's usually a Facebook group or a personalised link so that the rep gets the commission. Posting catalogues seems a bit laborious and old fashioned.

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 05/10/2023 12:45

Posting catalogues seems a bit laborious and old fashioned.

It certainly does. The problem is that it isn't just them who 'like the misery' and want to waste their own time and energy, but they expect all of the householders to do the same.

Iwantmyoldnameback · 05/10/2023 12:47

I'm sure the Avon lady used to have a box of samples she brought round too if you asked her which makes more sense than ordering from a catalogue. I am going back years though.

Re Amazon - have you all forgotten not everyone makes their drivers lives easy either given the people who won't open their doors or leave them unlocked and complain when parcels are put inside.

Elphame · 05/10/2023 13:17

Stroopwaffels · 02/10/2023 08:11

@SisterMichaelsHabit you are wrong - https://avon.uk.com/pages/become-an-avon-rep they do ask you to "buy a kit" which is shelling out money to work for them, and as others have said, pay for the paper books which nobody wants!

Yes back in the day Avon was a pocket-money option for lots of women, we all knew someone who was doing it and had their patch with loyal regulars. But that is not how it operates any more.

In 2005 they switched to pushing recruitment and having a "team" which is classic MLM. https://www.talentedladiesclub.com/articles/is-avon-really-a-better-mlm-or-is-it-a-pyramid-scheme/

Avon is no better than any other pyramid scheme, they have just been around longer and are still trading on that long reputation and goodwill of the past.

That link is really eye opening! So if an Avon rep doesn't meet a minimum level of sales they get no commission on what they do sell?

No wonder some get so aggressive about the return of their books.

I'm still going to put any I receive straight in recycling though.

MyBigFatCapybara · 05/10/2023 15:26

My friend did Kleeneze (like me she is disabled, low income) and my sister did MaryKay cosmetics so I have some sympathy for those who do these although I personally can't stand MLMs and don't buy from them these days. So I do try to put the catalogue for these kinds of things in it's plastic wrapper and leave on my doorstep or on top of my wheelie bin for the collector to collect . I don't give it any headspace apart from that.

YouOKHun · 05/10/2023 19:49

user1469796848 · 01/10/2023 22:48

Genuine question…how much commission can somebody make from selling Avon? I’m struggling to see how you can make a viable business/living from it.

@user1469796848 the answer is it’s pitiful and most people lose money. Avon makes them pay for those books then updates the books and tweaks the products so they have to buy again to be up to date. Avon is an exploitative MLM and has been since c.2005 but it’s hiding behind the old direct selling model that it used to be when some of our parents may have sold it.

Back then there were territories so less saturation (everyone trying to sell to each other) but that doesn’t suit Avon now because it makes a lot of money converting people into “Avon Ladies”, what’s not to like for Avon if they can get everyone in one road signed up and buying books and stock? Who cares if they haven’t a hope of making money? The old model of Avon and indeed much of the traditional direct selling activity was killed off by first the supermarkets/discount stores and then by the internet, but MLM is a scam in which 99.6% of all participants lose money.

https://www.talentedladiesclub.com/articles/is-avon-really-a-better-mlm-or-is-it-a-pyramid-scheme/

Is Avon really a 'better' MLM? Or is it a pyramid scheme? - Talented Ladies Club

Avon is sometimes considered a 'better' MLM - a more traditional, nicer direct selling company. But is this really true? Or is it a pyramid scheme? Let's find out.

https://www.talentedladiesclub.com/articles/is-avon-really-a-better-mlm-or-is-it-a-pyramid-scheme/

YouOKHun · 05/10/2023 19:51

@Stroopwaffels just seen you beat me to it with your posting of the TLC article!

Xenia · 05/10/2023 19:56

They don't bring them here but I don't think there is a problem if you throw it away. Aren't there some laws on unsolicited deliveries and rights to throw them away? I throw all junk mail away and any litter or anything left on my land. I suppose if it were a gold bar or someone's iphone I might make an attempt to find the owner, but the catalogue people may rightly assume (as they have no legal duty to read it) is just like all those glossy house selling estate agent magazines which come to me. If I went to someone's house and left some copies of my books on their front step and said if you don't want these you must leave them out so I can enter on to your property again and take them back - that seems a bit of a cheek.

JanoirLondon · 05/10/2023 20:02

All the experts on here from Non avon ladies
.makes me laugh. Loads of money to be had. My upline has 350 reps under her whom she recruited and she earns commission from their sales as well as her own.
Utter rubbish some of the comments.

spitefulandbadgrammar · 05/10/2023 20:18

JanoirLondon · 05/10/2023 20:02

All the experts on here from Non avon ladies
.makes me laugh. Loads of money to be had. My upline has 350 reps under her whom she recruited and she earns commission from their sales as well as her own.
Utter rubbish some of the comments.

And those 350 reps who don’t earn commission from 350 reps beneath them, what’s their pay like?

Certainlyreally · 05/10/2023 20:28

JanoirLondon · 05/10/2023 20:02

All the experts on here from Non avon ladies
.makes me laugh. Loads of money to be had. My upline has 350 reps under her whom she recruited and she earns commission from their sales as well as her own.
Utter rubbish some of the comments.

And what is that if not a pyramid?

WrongSwanson · 05/10/2023 20:43

JanoirLondon · 05/10/2023 20:02

All the experts on here from Non avon ladies
.makes me laugh. Loads of money to be had. My upline has 350 reps under her whom she recruited and she earns commission from their sales as well as her own.
Utter rubbish some of the comments.

upside down trailer GIF

This seems very..... triangular....

MillicentTrilbyHiggins · 05/10/2023 20:47

JanoirLondon · 05/10/2023 20:02

All the experts on here from Non avon ladies
.makes me laugh. Loads of money to be had. My upline has 350 reps under her whom she recruited and she earns commission from their sales as well as her own.
Utter rubbish some of the comments.

I had a look to see if I had a local rep. There are 10 that are less than 0.5 miles away. You can't honestly tell me that they are all making money?

FWIW I actually like the Avon catalogue. I don't like shopping online with them, no idea why, I buy most other things online. But, despite having 10 local reps, I haven't received a catalogue in years.

YouOKHun · 05/10/2023 20:59

@JanoirLondon thanks for clarifying that Avon is a pyramid scheme where the only people who do well are the mass recruiters. I’m afraid it’s you who is clueless.

KoalaChaos · 06/10/2023 00:53

I have a vuage recollection from my childhood that the Avon catalogue (along with kleeneze and others whatwas the homeware one beginning with B called? ) was always in a magazine rack in the bathroom at my nanas house for toilet reading.

I accept my nana might have been the weird one here so feel free to say she was.

but if not then is it weird to think that maybe the Avon business structure of reps and catalogues has decreased because now people read their phones on the toilet?