Duane - Sold Magazines in 1963

When I was 18 and just out of school, I wanted things I could not afford working at what I was doing. I saw an ad for travel and adventure and a chance to make a lot of money. I responded to the ad and was hired on the spot with plans to leave the next day for northern Wisconsin.

We arrived at a small hotel some where north of Green Bay with about six other teens and met the rest of the crew there. That is when we found out exactly what we would be doing. We were tutored by another older crew member as to what to say and how to say it. The next day we where taken out in the country and given a section or area to cover. I felt right away that I did not belong there but I decided to give it a fair shot.

I tried for three weeks to make it work but I didn't have the ability to lie like the others. I also saw the mistreatment of crew members and the lack of any personal care for the workers by the leadership. I also had several scary times with bad driving and poor equipment that was provided for the crews.

One morning I made the decision that I was not going back to the motel that night and as soon as I was left off for my area I started hitchhiking back to WI. They had left me with about $5.00 and I was in southern Minnesota at the time. With God's help and good weather I was able to reach Wisconsin Rapids by about 8pm. I had a couple of uncomfortable experiences along the way and to this day I will not hitch hike or pick up a hitch hiker.

By the time I reached Rapids I had $2.50 left. I stopped at a truck stop and called home to the Milwaukee area and was able to get my parents and my uncle to bring my car to me in Rapids. I had left all of my stuff at the motel in MN and needed to go get it. As it worked out I was able to get back to the motel and retrieve my belongings before the crew moved on to the next area. I was also lucky that I didn't run into any of the supervisors when I arrived at the motel. Not that it would really have mattered because I was a big guy and could take care of my self all right.

This all happened in 1963 but after reading about the latest problems, I see that nothing has changed. My prayers go out to all the young people that are involved and I pray that they will all return safely each day.

Jess - Sold Magazine

Well, it began one summer. a friend and myself wanted to do something different. For me though i was really in a bind at home. I quit school and needed a good job to feel somewhat glad that i quit school.

We answered a ad in the paper. I didn't have nothing to lose so I said what the heck and signed up to leave the very same day. I didn't even get to say bye to my folks or anything. Before i knew it i was in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The very next day we we're already on our way to our first city.

We ended up in Illinois. I forget the name of the city. The very first thing i did when i got there was to call my folks and let them know that i was alright and what i was up to. They were very hesitant of me doing this. But told me that it was alright and to be very careful. The first week was slow. Mainly because when i went up to the doors i was so nervous i could hardly talk. As weeks went on i got to know my crewmates. Eventually igot more comfortable and started selling more mags. The first day i made one sale, the second i made two and up and down for awhile. I started to do a lot better and the first month i was selling the amount of mags that the rest of my crew were. To make a long story short. After the first couble of months i was making between 50 to 100 dollars a day. Some days it would be less and some more, but on an average that is what i was making. I think the most I ever made in one day was 150 to 200 dollars. The most i made in a week was 1300 dollars.

We worked six days a week and usually packed up and traveled to the next city on sunday. Some times we got lucky and got to stay in the same place two weeks. Which then we would go and see stuff. One thing i didn't like is that we didn't always get to stay in the best of hotels. Actually they were pretty raunchy at times. I had gotten split up with my friend. He went one way and I went the other on another crew. I was usually on a crew form 6 to 12 people and would have to share a room with 2 or 3 other people i hardly knew. After the first year i was pretty much an old timer so i would get the respect from everyone in the crew and i would always get my own bed. After the second year i was promised my own crew and alot of other stuff.

I started running out crews once and a while and running ads to hire new people. After the third year i wa sa top producing agent for the company and started getting restless for my own crew. Which never happened. Finally the boss was giving me shit about going on vacation. He told me that if i wanted my own crew that i would have to skip my vacation. That's when it went down hill. For one thing i only took a week of vacation a year. So, I decide i had enough of promises never kept and nothing be awarded to me for my effort. So i left the crew on my 4th year to the date. I guess i got lucky be cause i never got beat up. on the other hand my boss made an agreement that he woould send me a 1000 dollars a month until he paid me off my earnings. yes, I did get some of the money back. But, he still owes me 2000 to 3000 dollars. In total i saved up 12,000+ dollars in a so called expense account which i didn't have access to, except asking my boss for it. I kept in touch with him since i quit in july of '97. Now i think he's ignoring me, because he won't even return my calls and not to mention the 3000 dollars he still owes me.

So in the end my advice is if you got nothing to lose go for it. I got lucky an ended up on a good company. On the other hand if you have nothing to gain either go for it. Then my advice would be to anyone who wanted to join a crew. All your going to get out of it is some adventure, because you are not going to gain anything or lose anything.

J's Story

Well I want to tell you my story - it may be kind of long so I hope you will put it up if you see fit I just don't want my real name on it! I started on June13,1997 I was hired in a hotel and told I would be making 50-100.00 dollars I was under the impression that you made 50 and with comission up to 100.00 dollars a day and i didn't know that I would not leave forever! I thought it was like a few days and then you went back home. We went to Indiana where they were staying. I was the only female and told normally thier was always a lot of girls so I didn't tell my parents I was the only girl. I called home the first night I was told I couldn't call from my room because they got better rates when he had a phone and we didn't so i went and did the home thing. The next week I gave my mom the hotel name and# but the next week I was going to and he said no.That he got better rates when he got phone calls and we didn't. I was like okay they were all real nice.

I was always told to go to my room and never knew why.Well I soon found out after about 6 weeks I got lectured. And after about a couple months i didn't eat supper I just stayed back at the hotel and then my manager said no more and I had to go to eat. The first day I came in blank so I sold nothing and I didn't want to go eat and so since I had no money I wasn't gonna eat. Well my crew driver said I was gonna eat whether I wanted to or not. I said without money I wasn't gonna eat and he kept saying he was gonna put down on me. He was mad and grabbed my arm and when I finally got it free I jumped out and went to my room. My manager came and yelled at me big time and when I cried I got in more trouble so I ended up going and I guess that was the beginning of it.

I finally got a roommate! I met one of the bestfriends I've ever come across so that was the only good thing about all of it. After a year is when it got bad. When he thought I gave a smart look or a answer he didn't like then I got hit. So other then the emotional abuse that goes on I got fair share of physical abuse. After Thanksgiving I got a bruised eye it was the the only one you could openly see. I had got bruises on my arms when the manager gave permission to the other guys that if I needed it they could just kick me out of the car wherever I was. So all of this went on and in July I lost my sister and I was never able to go to her funeral and thats something I wished I would've done. The weird thing was on 7/7/98 I walked about 5 or 6 miles to tell him I quit. Well he threatened that I would go to prison and I couldn't leave.The reason was a long time before that a guy I worked with said a way not to get into trouble is when your having a rough day and people ask for a mag. that was not on our list to say it was and send them one that was on our list and then at least you could eat and wouldn't get in as much trouble.So thats what I did and I never knew how bad it was. I found out that it was a federal offence but thats how he threatened me. So when my grandpa had a stroke (who I was very close with) I decided I wanted to say good bye. In case he didn't make it and On 12/21/98 I went out to work. I was in Myrtle Beach and I met the nicest lady who I just broke down and talked to her and she took me to the motel and I got everything I could get and got on a bus and came home to my family! When I got back I found out the police were looking for me. I was so scared but I ended up calling the detective in Myrtle Beach and the people who sent me home thought it was like slavery and the police wanted to make sure I made it home safly. Wasn't that so nice! Well that night I called my manager at the hotel and asked for my things COD. He said no. Well not to make this drag on but months later my old roomate contacted me and I was so happy!!!!!!!!!!! Well she told what happened to my things. The managers wife took them and they weren't cheap or nothing, but anyway my personal things they trashed luckily she got some of my pictures for me. Well let me tell you what happened when I got home! I found out that when they tell you your gonna be nothing and turn out like crap! But what happen to me was I met my future husband 9 days later (after I got home from mags) now it was a very short dating but now we are happily married going on 6 months! And so many people have told me I've never looked happier! So you can have a happy ending! But the more I thought and talked with my old roomate I realized I can do something I can't let them do this to others they break so many laws. How can I let this go I have such a strong feeling that I need to do something. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't help others get the life that they deserve and to get out and so that others don't get sucked in! Thank you for reading my story!

!!!ME!!!!!!!
 

Brad's Mom's Story

Here is a story of my son's (Brad) 26 hour ordeal with a mag crew.

Brad is 18 years old and dropped out of high school in March, got his own place in May. That only lasted a few months since his roommate couldn't pay his rent, Brad had to move back home. Shortly there after his car's transmission went out and things were just going down hill fast. On October 10th, Brad called me and said he would be home later that night. When I woke up that Monday morning, Brad was not home yet. I was mad... when I finally tracked him down, I told him "it wasn't going to work out - him living with me, if he was going to use my home as a flop house." I also told him he had to make up his mind if he was going to stay at home or elsewhere, he had no direction in life and it was driving me crazy. (these words came back to haunt me later). He was working cleaning carpets with a friend, so he decided to stay with him for a while.

On the evening of October 13th, Brad called me from his girlfriends house ALL EXCITED! He told me about these guys he met while walking to his girlfriend's house. They offered him a job selling magazines door to door. He could make good money, he would get to travel and earn trips to Cabo and such. But, before I could really talk to him about it, he said he had a meeting with them at 8:00 at "The Bluffs" (a housing track) and he needed to talk to his girlfriend about it. He said he would call me after the meeting. That was the last conversation I had with him for over 26 hours.

Thursday night (October 14th) around 7:00 we get a phone call from Brad's brother to say that Brad was missing! No one had heard from him in over 24 hours. My heart just SANK! I called his girlfriend to see if she had heard from him since his so called meeting and she and I just started to cry, it was so unlike Brad not to call his girlfriend several times a day or be with her. I knew then that these Mag people had him, but I had no ideal where to start looking. My husband said to think positive, and I knew in my heart the only reason he hadn't called was because he couldn't. I called the jails and hospitals to see if by chance he was there, then I called the police to file a missing persons report.

By this time I am about to lose control. Myself, my husband, Brad's two brothers and six of his close friends are pacing the house. Trying to figure out where to start looking. It was so unlike Brad to do anything alone. We were just talking about making up flyers so the guys could start passing them out, when Brad's girlfriend's Mom called me around 10 p.m. to say she just heard from Brad. HE WAS BEING HELD BY THE MAG PEOPLE AND THEY WOULDN'T LET HIM GO!! She asked if he was okay and where he was so she could come and get him. He told her that he had lost his contacts (which he can't see at all without) and he thought he was at a Budget Suite. He also told her that they had his wallet and he said he didn't like it and was scared. He told her not to worry, he was going to slip out in the middle of the night and get a bus home.

Thank goodness she had caller ID, she gave me the number from the payphone he called from and I called 911. They gave me the location of the motel and sent the police to get him out of there. My husband and his friends all took off too! His brother and one of his friends got there first and could see Brad standing in the window of his room. They couldn't figure out why Brad didn't come out when they drove by. They had forgotten that Brad lost his contacts and couldn't see them. So they parked and waited for the police. The police went up to Brad and acted like they were arresting him, in order to get him away from the other crew members, but my son wouldn't press charges against these people. He kept telling the police "I am here on my own free will, but I do want to go home". They let Brad go back up to the room to get his own clothes and wallet and the police made the crew pay him the $15 they had promised him for the day. Then the police turned Brad over to my husband to bring home.

When Brad got to me, we hugged so hard that we almost couldn't breath, I was crying so hard! He told me that he felt like he was living a TV movie and didn't want to be there. He also mirrored my words from before "you said I had no direction in life and I thought this was it", I felt so bad for saying that to him! The night he arrived at the motel, there was another kid that told the crew he wanted to go home, the crew members locked him in his room and Brad didn't see him the next day and no one mentioned him. This scared Brad and he decided to go along with them until he could figure out where he was and try to slip away on his own. They gave Brad clothes to wear for the day, that is how they got his wallet. He didn't know what happened to his clothes and wallet until the police told the crew to return his belongings. After the day of going door to door they told Brad they were going to all go down to the Strip and hang out for a while and that is when Brad figured he would slip away and catch a bus home. But, I got the police there before they left.

I am so thankful I got him back so soon, especially after reading all the other horror stories here on your site. I just wonder how many of those kids parents don't know where they are. Brad asked several time to be able to call his girlfriend, friends or me and they kept saying "sure but later, your an adult now you can do what you want, you don't really need to call, do you?". Finally he slipped down to the payphone to call his girlfriend and luckily everything turned out okay.

I want to thank you for letting me tell my long story for a short ordeal. I hope no other parent has to go through what my family had to and maybe my story will help other people make a wiser decision about going with these mag crew's. They move fast and start working on the kids minds right away.

Again thank you for this opportunity to tell my story as a parent.

Erika's Story

Hello my name is Erika and I wanted to thank you for putting out a web page to warn young adults about the danger in selling magazines. I filled out a survey on you web page. I used to think that we were the only ones selling door to door, but now I am looking up information on the true danger that is involved. Let me just tell you briefly how it was on our crew......

After I graduated high school I moved to a different state. After a few months I quit my job to find something different because I did'nt think that it was working their for me. One morning I saw this ad that said If you wanted to travel and make money. It was the first time that I had seen an article like that.I figured I did'nt have nothing to loose and besides I always wanted to travel.Next thing you know I'm leaving to a different city to join up with the crew.I ended up staying all most 2 years.

My first day was weird because I did'nt know what to expect. We left the motel about 8:30am to start selling magazines.They showed me what to say and do.They would tell you to say what the buyer wanted to hear,eventhough it was'nt always true. It finally hit me that you really don't make to much money. We would get $5 a day plus $1 for every magazine you sold for the day.Some people wouldnt sell a thing so they ended up with only $5 in their pockets.Most of them smoked so they spent their money on cigarets which left them with no money.I guess I was fortunate for always having money in my pocket, but I felt so bad for those guys. We would work six days a week from 8:30am till about 6pm.It all depended on how much we sold for the day. If the manager did'nt like how many magazines we sold he would send us back out.We worked in all types of weather - rain, snow, floods, heat waves you worked. Then on Sunday we packed up and left to a differant city to do it all over again. That was the way it pretty much went till one day when I lost so much respect for my manager. One night he got mad at my room mate because he said that he did'nt like her attitude. They started to argue and the next thing you know he threw her across the room. She had told me that he had done that to her before, but that was the first time that I had witnessed it. I had heard of the guys saying that he had done that to them as well. He even told the guys to hit her if she did something that was'nt right.I guess I was lucky that he never hit me. But it still does'nt make me feel better about the situation.That, I would say is the hardest thing for me to forget.I really hate myself for never saying anything to him about hiting my friend. I guess at the time i figured that he would strike me as well.After that I did'nt like the way he would conduct business.

The one thing that I'm thankful for is my friend. I am now in contact
with her and we sometimes dicuss the things that went on. To make a long story short, I want everyone to really think about it before you decide to do this type of work. Take Care and God Bless you all!!

**ERIKA**

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