<p>Posting this here because all of you seem pretty knowledgeable about shady business.</p>
<p>I have been job hunting while home from the summer at SSU. Nothing so far.</p>
<p>Today, I got a letter in the mail from a company called VECTOR.</p>
<p>What got my antenna up was that they advertise high pay and flexible hours, but tell you nothing about the actual job. After doing some googling, everything that came up was from the actual company.</p>
<p>Are my instincts right? Is this a scam?</p>
<p>Scam. It’s multilevel marketing. Any time someone seems reluctant to tell you what you’ll actually be doing it is a scam. Southwestern, Vector and Cutco (and I think Cutco and Vector might be the same company or something) are the three biggest offenders.</p>
<p>They send these letter to everyone and anyone. It’s selling knives. I think you have to purchase your demo set and then you are on your own (or something along those lines).</p>
<p>I researched this way back when too when my daughter received such a letter and a friend had actually pursued it (but didn’t get very far). It is a legit company, but borders a scam, since you do have to invest, and rarely make money. People who are real wheeler dealer salespeople maybe with some good contacts can earn some commission but I’d say most don’t. </p>
<p>Did you look into camp counselling? That seems to be the easiest summer job to get. My daughter has worked in stores (Urban Outfitter and American Apparel) the past couple of years but this year it may be harder to get those job as business is slower. My son will be working in a camp.</p>
<p>Vector and Cutco are one in the same. Many say the product is of very good quality, but I would advise against being involved. Search the forums, there are plenty of experience threads.</p>
<p>Google is also your friend on this. Try searching for “experiences”, “reviews” within a Vector or Cutco search.</p>
<p>Do not fall for this. Search this forum for Vector Marketing and Cutco - there are several threads on this topic.</p>
<p>[Summer</a> Job: Nice Pay, if You Can Cut It - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121789140861111649.html]Summer”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121789140861111649.html)</p>
<p>[Vector</a> Marketing targets unaware college students - News](<a href=“http://media.www.webujournal.com/media/storage/paper245/news/2004/02/04/News/Vector.Marketing.Targets.Unaware.College.Students-596811.shtml]Vector”>http://media.www.webujournal.com/media/storage/paper245/news/2004/02/04/News/Vector.Marketing.Targets.Unaware.College.Students-596811.shtml)</p>
<p>Thank you all very much for your insight 
Glad to know I was right to be hesitant.</p>
<p>I’ll look into summer camps. Thank you!</p>
<p>This company is not a scam. They sell a valuable product. Just like vacuums, encyclopedias, clothing, toothpaste, and food. </p>
<p>You will learn more about human nature and business doing these “scams” than working in a traditional retail job.</p>
<p>You’ll also be pressured into buying the product yourself and then trying to sell overpriced knives to family members and whoever else you can bother for 15 minutes. It’s multilevel marketing.</p>
<p>Well, it’s not officially a scam since there is a product and you can make money selling the knives. But I think they’re sleazy for sure. The ads they post and letters they send out are very misleading. They mention a ridiculously high hourly rate. They don’t tell you what the job is. They pretend they are selective in who they hire. What a joke.</p>
<p>My son got two letters from Vector this week - the second said “OPEN IMMEDIATELY.”</p>
<p>^^^probably using one of their knives, missypie. I sat through a CUTCO demo a couple of weeks ago, given by a very close friend’s son. I felt so bad for him. He is so not ready to go out in the world to do this. 
He dropped his “script” multiple times, flubbed it too many times to count, but fortunately didn’t cut himself on my watch. I did buy two knives because I think it’s a good product. What I wouldn’t do for him, however, is give him names of other “prospects,” which is the very difficult thing that these young people have to deal with. Some of them are pressured by their managers to pressure their customers for more names. At some point, they must just run out of potential customers.</p>
<p>When my friend’s daugther did this years ago, I used every excuse in the book to avoid listening to her presentation.</p>
<p>momof3sons: I also was stuck listening to my son’s friend. Bought one knife and he persuaded me to give him the names of two of my friends. Each bought stuff from him. They use these kids to get in the doors of people who would not let in strangers. High schoolers know a lot of people. Even though the kid was not a close friend of my son’s, he had been in his classes for years. What happens when they run out of family and friends and friends of friends. By the way, it is a good knife, but very over-priced. The letters are now addressed to my younger son. I rip them up.</p>
<p>S1’s friend did this about five years ago. I bought two knives 'cause I felt obligated, and I gave him two more names. I am actually very pleased with the product!!</p>
<p>I also believe that it puts hair on the chest of these kids, who have to make presentations and demonstrate their product. I don’t think it’s a scam – it’s just not for everyone, and the fact that the kids work on commission means they don’t necessarily earn much. But I don’t think it’s a scam.</p>
<p>Someone in our neighborhood gave her nephew (who was selling vector knives) our neighborhood directory. He called everyone, claiming that his aunt had personally suggested he call each of us, and wanted to come by to meet us and “chat” – didnt say what he was up to until I asked further questions. I wished him luck bud declined the opportunity to visit with him. Maybe this is a normal strategy for salespeople, but it struck me as underhanded.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: I do not sell knives or cutco. I do and use multilevel maketed products (most retail items are in some form ML) but mostly I try to buy with least levels of marketing and management ie goodwill, garage sales, farmers markets. </p>
<p>Frame the issue in another way:
How much are you willing to spend in $ to use a product?
How much are you willing to spend in $ to use an acknowledge “superior” product?</p>
<p>OP, answer on line, and we will walk through one of the reasonings.</p>
<p>Personally?</p>
<p>I am not willing to pay someone in order to be able to work for them. That’s just not how I work. I don’t want to buy anything and I don’t want to sell anything unless I’m in a store selling it to people who genuinely want it.</p>
<p>not the question that was asked.</p>
<p>But if you pay someone to work, then you are not really working, are you?</p>
<p>How do you know that a person genuinely wants it? Just because a person is in a store looking does not mean they want it. Along this vein, talk to some marketing/advertising students.</p>
<p>I hear that the knives are a quality product. The company not so much. </p>
<p>I’m not impressed. I am especially not impressed with the company’s recruitment tactics or their method of getting sales appointments. </p>
<p>NO thanks. </p>
<p>And HGFM – you might find you are very good at sales in the right environment. This isn’t it.</p>
<p>This has to be the funniest thing I’ve heard in a while! I can just imagine myself in that situation dreading it! lol </p>
<p>One of my son’s best friends asked me if he could come do his Kirby vacuum cleaner demo and he was here I swear for about 3 hours! I thought I would lose my freaking mind!!! We both knew from the start that I wasn’t going to spend $2,500 on a vacuum cleaner but he had a quota to make so I had to let him come. It was awful because only a family member or very close friend of the family would sit through that! I didn’t know how to tell him he didn’t have what it takes to sell a Kirby!</p>