Door-to-Door Magazine Selling Kids: Protecting Yourself While Helping Them
What just happened? Most people assume the following:
The kid's from around here; if you ask, he might cite the local high school or a community college.
FALSE.
The kid's really looking for ways to raise college money.
FALSE.
You're pretty safe in this situation.
FALSE.
The kid at your doorstep is a predator.
TRUE.
There is no way this predatorial embryonic salescreep is a victim.
VERY, VERY FALSE.
The Truth About Door To Door Magazine Sales
The typical young person engaging in this kind of activity is often even younger than he or she appears, but most are at least eighteen. They've been recruited by "no experience necessary - high paying sales" classified advertisements, usually in lower-income neighborhoods or mid-size cities. The sales manager gets them in, reels them in with a sales shpiel, and convinces them that, no, there are no positions left here in your hometown, but if you'll join us, we're driving over to Dayton (always a town hundreds of miles away) and you can work with us there for a while before coming back here.
After a hard-sell pitch, enthusiastic encouragement by the other young salespeople, and a pack of lies about the great future there is for the kids who go through this process, the young person -- almost always naive and inexperienced -- joins the van crew. He or she is in for a big surprise.
Life In A Door-To-Door Sales Crew
Every sales member has to pay for food, lodging, and sometimes even part of the van travel. They start out in the hole. The sales manager gives them about twenty dollars a day to buy cigarettes and other incidental items. If the new salesperson doesn't have clothes up to the clean-cut standards of the crew, he has to go shopping -- another debt he incurs. And if he did somehow manage to make money from his percentage of the magazine sales, his wages were withheld "on the books" until the manager decided the sales tour was over.
It was often worse than just owing your soul to the company. Many times there were beatings administered to the kid who sold the least, the kid who mouthed off, the kid who cried because he was homesick. Drugs were a common part of life in the evenings. Girls would trade sex to the manager for favors. Miss your sales quota, and you might be forced to fight another guy who missed his.
Things get worse before they get better. The sales manager never gets a permit to sell door to door; in state after state, you find yourself wanted, a warrant out for selling without a license. Or for trespassing. Or for drugs. Some members of your sales crew start ripping off customers -- slipping small valuables in the pocket, asking to use the bathroom and raiding the cabinet for drugs, even breaking into houses that seem abandoned.
Most ex-members tell even worse stories: of covered-up murders, disappearances, of fearing for their lives every day, rape, assault. Usually the crimes are within the sales crew; sometimes the crimes are against members in the community they are selling to.
In any case, members of the sales crew are virtual slaves, with no means to drive home, cash withheld by their managers, and in debt up to their eyeballs for "expenses." (In 1987, a Congressional inquiry found that of 418 sales personnel in one company, 413 left the company in debt to it, while the company was reporting excellent profits.) Those who try to escape are sometimes killed, and usually beaten, not to prevent them from leaving so much as to intimidate the others. Even those who do depart, sneaking away in the dead of night, leave without any wages owed to them; they're afraid to ask for them. For most, there seems to be no way out.
Dangers to Society
The danger of traveling sales crews extends beyond the crew itself. Police view them as a nuisance at best, and a menace at worst, because they have no qualms about taking advantage of elderly, sometimes confused customers. In one case, a nearly-blind 85-year-old woman bought 210 years of a subscription, and in other cases customers have been billed for subscriptions they never receive or tricked into spending much more than they intended to.
In addition, the poorly-vetted sales staff often has people on the run from warrants or a bad personal past. In several cases, children answering doors to them have been molested. Women have been raped, homes burglarized and vandalized, and in a few cases potential customers, usually elderly women, have been robbed and then murdered. Many police agency suspect that fly-by-night sales crews have committed unsolved crimes in their neighborhoods; the crew comes in, the criminals among them strike, and within days the whole bunch is gone.
What You Can Do
Protect yourself. Remember that any time a stranger is at your door expecting you to let them in, it could mean anything -- they could be intending to rob you or harm you, or they could be looking to scam you in one of a hundred ways. Buy your magazines online, not from door-to-door salespeople.
Help these kids out. Remember, most members of these sales crews are abused, scared kids far away from home and anyone who can help them. ParentWatch Inc. is an organization created by ex-sales-crew and the parents of victimized young people designed to help you stay safe, but also help the kids get back home. If you have a problem with these young people, check their website for ways you can contact ParentWatch for them to help them get a bus ticket back home. (Look for the link at the end of this article.) Never, ever approach them or their sales manager without being solicited, and never bring this up if you are in a vulnerable situation. Some of the sales managers will do anything -- literally -- to keep their crew hostage.
Report sales crews in your area to the police. Though it's good to try helping these kids, your most important priority should always be yourself and your family. The more difficult it is for sales crews to operate in your neighborhood, the more likely they will be to move on; eventually, they won't be able to operate anywhere and will go out of business.
Buy your magazine subscriptions online! They're cheaper, and you don't have to worry about dealing with a stranger.
Published by Jamie K. Wilson
Jamie K. Wilson is the wife of a US sailor and mother of two teen boys, one Marine, and two beautiful baby girls. The family hails from Louisville, Kentucky originally. View profile
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174 Comments
Post a CommentKevin, once again to you and those who defend the mag crews: I am glad you had a good experience. I recognize the possibility and even likelihood that some mag crews are honest and aboveboard. I also know that this article is not "riddled with lies and fabrications." If I am lying, then a lot of liars read this article and commented to it; this comment section is filled with sad mag crew stories. I suspect the truth is either you had a very different experience, or that you yourself are lying to protect a dark and corrupt, but lucrative, industry.
This article is riddled with lies and fabrications. I have worked on mag crews for two years, I have received excellent compensation for my sales, served on three crews of different companies, and have been witness to an incredible amount of good things happening such as: the ability to learn how to sell to a customer effectively, how to socialize with others in a fun and friendly environment, and how hard work and dedication pay off. I have never seen in my two years: rape, murder, abuse of any kind, or theft. I will not deny that there are those of us who have lesser moral values and yes they may steal to make an income, they may give themselves up sexually, but the companies I have represented have never condoned such actions. Yes, you receive $30.00 per day to live on, but at the end of each two week period, your sales are paid to you in cash. The living arrangements may be tight, but they bond you with friends that can last a lifetime. It teaches you the importance of hard work, a
Today is 1230 am and my son and his girlfriend were swayed to go sell magazines, and now they have been dropped off in a chicago bus terminal with no money and no money to get home, i am despertly trying to get them home in the mean while i am trying to get this companies name and i hope i never run into the manager or owner of this company, but thats a matter for later now i got to try to find a away to get to very scared young people home !!!! Help
Today is 1230 am and my son and his girlfriend were swayed to go sell magazines, and now they have been dropped off in a chicago bus terminal with no money and no money to get home, i am despertly trying to get them home in the mean while i am trying to get this companies name and i hope i never run into the manager or owner of this company, but thats a matter for later now i got to try to find a away to get to very scared young people home !!!! Help
I knew very little about mag crews when my 19 year old son headed out on Dec.14,2010 for California.He wanted to see the world and make buttloads of cash.I was nervous about it but he left so fast that I didn't get to voice my anxiety.I wish i had the opportunity to give him a swift kick in the butt and stop him from going because I am sitting now waiting for his arrival on a greyhound bus after he ran for his life after 2 months in the crew.He left everything he had and didn't have a penny to his name.I dont know the extent of what has happened but I am so ashamed of myself for not checking this job out before he got on that bus.He said he could not tell them he wanted to leave the crew.From what I have read on these sites and the way my son was controlled and kept from his family,I am honestly afraid to see what may have been done to him before he got away and I got him on a bus.He wants to go to a hospital immediatly when he gets home.I think these people are monsters who ha
To Christomper and anyone else who dealt with this issue and would like to talk: please, please click on my name in the byline at the top and send me a PM with contact information. I will get back with you quickly. Thanks!
I sold magazines D2D for en entire year (1995 - 1996). During that time I was beaten up by my boss, arrested, threatened, robbed and eventually escaped. I worked for a man named Fred Taylor and we traveled with other sales teams, mostly up and down the east coast and Texas. This article is spot on correct in the descriptions of the lives these people live. I was paid $15 a day and $30 on the weekends - barely enough to survive on, but I made it last. I never robbed, raped or molested anyone - but I knew what I was doing was not legit. I learned a lot about life and how the world works, it was definitely an education. I would not recommend anyone joining a crew like this - mainly because most people cannot survive for more than a few months and then get stranded somewhere. I have kept in touch with some close friends of mine who I met while on crew and we are still great friends. If you'd like to share stories I'd be happy to share mine with you.
in closing, all I have left to say to you current agents and managers, do you really want to work for a company or even an industry that you are CONSTANTLY having to defend like this?
all of the payments went in his pocket along with my books! Im not saying that I didn't have fun. I partied like a rockstar! I went all over the country, made some great friends that I still talk to and to be honest I dont have any regrets. Life is a learning experience and I learned A LOT! But at the end of the night, a lot of these companies and people NEED to be exposed for what they are. If you seed out the bad ones, the "legit" ones will be more successful anyways.
As a former mag agent, car handler and manager i know the inside and out of the business. I truly believed i was working for a legit one. Isn't it your manager's job to sales talk people. Have you guys ever googled your company and read what your jones's are saying about it? Im not saying that ALL companies are like this at all. But i heard plenty of stories and NEVER dreamed that this man I trusted would do something like this to me. As far as casing houses, that's ridiculou! These kids are right, we did our business during the day and got wasted at night. But some of you guys are truly oblivious and that's not really your fault. I got sucked into it too. Legally, the clearing house is only required to clear a certain percentage of orders (not 100%). And even if your company is clearing ALL of their orders, you are still being over worked and under paid. My boss gave me an 05 NAVIGATOR!!! I thought I had it made. But in the end, I was making payments on it to be &