This is gonna be one of these
posts where Amway gets dissed more than the fucking assholes in the Amway
upline. The prices mentioned were current when this first originally appeared
on the blog. Check Costco’s website for the current price. I’d say check Amway’s
website too but that information is top secret and can only be provided by some
fucking Amway asshole.
Today the topic is membership fees.
Our sack of shit Platinum would spout off bullshit about how Amway is no
different than Costco because both charge a yearly membership fee. And
then he would sneer and say at least with Amway you get money back.
Membership at Costco is $60/year. This information is readily available on
their website on the home page where there are 2 links that can be clicked -
membership or join the club.
Amway is a lot more difficult to find membership fee information. Go to their
web page and click link after link after link. It’s a well guarded secret LOL!
A few years ago I finally found a pdf document about their business opportunity
and on page 13 learned the registration fee costs $62 so it had gone up since
we signed up a few years ago. And well hidden. In 2021 the cost is hidden even
better. A legitimate business would have membership information easy to find. A
secretive cult not so much.
Its not too difficult to become a member of Costco. You go to a store and fill
out a membership form and pay the annual fee. Or do it online. Costco annual
membership fee is good for one year from the date when you signed up and renews
one year later.
Amway is tougher. You have to be sponsored by an existing IBO. Annual
membership fee is due upon signing up and renewed for each calendar year. So if
you sign up as an IBO in July you pay your full annual membership fee at that
time and it will be due again by January 1. Not prorated. Not due on
anniversary date of signing up.
Products at Costco are usually name brand products you can buy in grocery
stores but Costco sell a lot of their food stuff in warehouse or bulk packs.
Compared to the unit cost it is cheaper than buying at the grocery store. The
problem of course is that you now have to stock up your pantry or have a large
group of people you’re feeding. Costco also sells many other things like
electronics, clothing, household goods, sports equipment, tires and books that
are not sold in bulk.
Going back to what I said above about the sack of shit Platinum sneering about
Costco memberships and how you don’t get any money back, he forgot to mention
with Amway’s memberships you need to spend at least $300/month to get a check
of about $10 in return. That’s how Amway pays you for shopping there.
Costco has a membership where the customer can get money back. Spend $120 for
the annual fee for the upgraded card and Costco sends back a check for 2% of
your purchases, no monthly minimum amount required to spend. So if I go to
Costco and spend the $300/month earmarked for Amway I will get back $6. The
huge difference is that by going to Costco I’ve also saved money because their
items are well discounted. I’ve also probably bought things that I actually
need or want to consume. I’m not heading to Costco with the sole purpose of
buying things that I normally would not purchase or have no use for.
Lets go back to Amway. Can I save money by shopping there? Nope. Even though
that’s part of their bullshit propaganda. Likewise the bullshit about their
products being high quality and that justifies their high price. If I can buy
laundry soap for $7 at Costco that gets my clothes clean compared to $40 for
the same size of Amway’s laundry soap that does the same job of getting my
clothes clean, I’ll go for the better price. Do I have to buy shit from Amway
that I normally do not purchase? You bet. The upline pressures us to buy things
with high PV like vitamins, energy drinks, food bars and other shit that I
normally do not purchase. The upline pressures us to buy more, more, more of
this useless shit so someone further upline can meet their goal for that month.
Average monthly bill by shopping at Amway - $400. Usually more. Been as high as
$1200 in a month. Mostly buying useless shit.
My average shopping trip to Costco is $100 and I don’t shop there every month.
I actually use the products that I buy from there.
So is the annual membership worth it?
Even with the yearly membership fee at Costco and depending on the customer’s
shopping habits its usually worth it and you usually save at least the
membership cost each year that would have been spent at other stores. When I
first signed up Costco was having a promotion and new memberships got a $25
gift certificate so yeah that first year definitely made it worth my while. I
do a lot of entertaining and nobody beats Costco’s prices on big cakes, salads,
pop, frozen burger patties, and other party fare that Amway does not sell.
I’m not thrilled with any store - and yes that includes Costco - that charges
people an annual fee just for the privilege of shopping there. I’m amazed that
Costco hasn’t dropped their fee yet. In this day and age of Internet shopping
and price comparison that might be in the not so distant future. I mean really
why the hell do they have to charge an annual fee? If you offer good prices
people will come and shop there. Even if they slightly jacked up their prices
to cover the loss of annual membership fees people will still shop there if its
a better deal than their regular grocery store.
Likewise Amway on the annual fee. Except Amway does not offer good prices on
their products. And charges a higher membership fee than Costco.
Costco likes it when their customers shop there because they make money but
they do not use any bully tactics to strong arm customers to buy from them nor
do they strongly suggest what customers should buy once they’re in the
store. Unless you count the employee standing at the door giving out that weeks
coupons to get good deals on some products.
Amway? Bully tactics from the fucking assholes in the upline to shop there?
Absolutely!
Its a cash cow for any store that charges an annual fee to shop there. That’s
how the owners line their bank accounts. There’s no doubt in my mind that both
Amway and Costco have people who renew their memberships every year but don’t
do any shopping. Talk about free money for the company owners with very little
effort. With Costco they mail out the annual renewal and many customers who don’t
shop there vey often renew “just in case” there is something they might want to
buy there in the upcoming year. With Amway pressure from someone upline to
renew might sway an IBO who otherwise doesn’t do anything with Amway.
Ridiculous. The upline IBO does not receive any compensation from membership
fees. They’re only helping the Amway owners get some more free money.
So that begs the question - how come towards the end of the year Amway IBO’s
pester IBO’s to renew their membership even though they don’t buy nothing,
attend meetings, or do anything at all. What’s in it for them? Adoration
from Amway’s owners?
Yeah let’s just send out another big old FUCK YOU to Amway.
It makes sense to buy at Costco, even with the annual fee, because you buy the stuff you want and need, and not the stuff that your bossy up-line insists that you buy in order to make some up-line asshole happy.
ReplyDeleteBuying at Costco is fulfilling your personal desire. Buying from Amway is fulfilling the desire of somebody else whom you don't know.
When an IBO finally realizes that Amway is a money-transfer scheme, where you transfer your cash to somebody higher up the ladder, with no real return for yourself, that's when he quits. It happens sooner for some IBOs, and later for others. But it definitely happens sooner or later.
This is why turnover in Amway is so huge.
That’s right Anonymous. Even though I don’t shop at Costco every month, there is some benefit to me to keep my membership alive. And I buy stuff there that I actually need. The complete opposite of what it’s like shopping at Amway.
DeleteIt would’ve been easier on me if we had just given that sack of shit platinum $20/month to leave us the fuck alone. We would’ve saved hundreds of dollars every month by doing that. A small price to pay!
It all comes down to your transferring cash upline thing. We can buy stuff from ScAmway and the assholes in the upline make a few pennies interest or they can blackmail us to give them $20/month to leave us alone. Does that make sense or did we get into the margaritas early today?
Joe Cool has brought that idea up a few times at his web page. He says that if you simply gave $50 a month to your immediate up-line, and told him to just leave you in peace, you'd be much better off than trying to build some stupid 6-4-2 structure, and losing your shirt financially.
DeleteOf course it's really just a joke -- why give money away when you could just not join Amway at all? It's not that we're all drunk -- it's just what in argument is called a "reductio ad absurdum." This means you imagine a really idiotic scenario as a way to demonstrate how utterly illogical and stupid something else is.
It's illogical and stupid to bleed cash upwards to your Amway up-line. So we comically imagine giving the guy a small amount of cash every month to leave us alone.
Exactly Anonymous. It’s idiotic to give away your money to the assholes in the Amway upline either by buying Amway shit or handing the upline a $50 bill. But yes paying someone to leave you alone. Might be worth it. One time I saw a guy in a Mickey Mouse outfit standing in front of a statue that tourists like to take pictures of holding a sign basically saying pay me to get out of your picture. Kind of ingenious. Pay me not to be annoying. Ambots could make more money doing that instead of being an Amway sales rep.
Delete