mary kay is pretty much corrupt...

and so I'm quitting.
I was enjoying it; enjoyed selling it, enjoyed (still enjoy) using it, enjoyed making other women feel good about themselves.
I did not enjoy the pushing, the lying, and the things I have since found out.

On Monday, an aquaintance called me almost in tears. Apparently she had joined my unit under someone. Our sales director pushed her to make a large initial purchase (just like she pushed me), and when this person didn't want to because of the money, our SD encouraged her to lie to her husband. nice. Then this person said she wanted to make a $600 purchase wholesale (that's $1,200 retail); when she looked at the cc statement, it said $1,200. Did I mention that the sales directors make their consultant's initial purchase? nice, again.

Then I started doing research. I found an eye-opening website called PinkTruth. Former sales directors, national sales directors, and consultants from Mary Kay and other MLMs (multi-level marketing) joined this site to expose the real companies behind the masks. What I found was disgusting. Sales directors pushing, pushing, pushing ("I'm not pushy. If I were pushy, I wouldn't be successful.") their Independant Beauty Consultants to put huge purchases on credit cards; teaching them how to max out their cards, get loans, just to make monthly numbers high enough to move up in the company. One sales director was at her breaking point when she went to a consultant's house to help with month-end numbers, and she saw $30,000 worth of product lining this woman's basement. She had been pushing her to just keep making the purchases to move up, because she'd "sell it eventually." Women's marriages have ended over the debt they have wracked up. One women on the site even was told to refinance her house to get the money she needed to make a large purchase to move up in the company. I myself have probably gotten 3 or 4 emails in my short time doing Mary Kay letting consultants know of places that will give loans to people with poor credit, or credit cards you can open if you need more, but have maxed yours out already.

Mary Kay sales directors are "successful" because they make money off of their consultant's initial purchases. Also known as, their consultant's DEBT. They lie to rope people in.

"There are no quotas!" lie. If you don't make a $200 order every quarter, you lose your "active" status and can no longer place orders at a discount. That means everything you order, you now LOSE money on because it's full price, plus tax, plus shipping.

"Mary Kay is the #1 cosmetic company in the US!" lie. It's Oil of Olay. Mary Kay has NO way of tracking sales that consultants do with customers, only what consultants order. So, the hundreds of thousands of consultants that have placed thousand dollar initial purchases that are now collecting dust in their basements? THOSE are the numbers corporate is using to say that. Oil of Olay actually tracks their sales to customers. They are #1 in the US.

"You can't sell out of an empty wagon!" lie. What other MLMs actually push (hard) having an inventory? um, none. Do you see your pampered chef lady driving around with 10 pizza stones in her trunk? I don't think so.

"My biggest commision check was $xxxxx!!" (most likely a) lie. It might have been, before you take out your expenses, your product purchases, your end of the month "oh my gosh, if I don't buy this much stuff, I'll lose my status!" purchase, your free product you gave away, etc...

I could continue, but I won't. if you're interested, you can read more at http://www.pinktruth.com/. Your eyes will be open wide.

Needless to say, I feel quite duped, quite stupid, and quite embarassed. I still like the products, and will continue to use them until I run out. But, I will no longer be supporting a company that ruins women's lives, when they promote enriching women's lives. The only thing they are enriching are credit card companies. It's garbage. I'm glad I didn't end up with thousands and thousands of dollars in debt like so many women do.