New Stories second half of 2003

J

I found the job in the want ads of my local paper, went and interviewed, they blew some smoke up my butt, so I tried it out I ended up gettin fed up with it and quit, too many lies and decitfulness, the only good friends I made out of it where my roomates, lol the funny thing is people talked that job up so much that even they believe they where doing a good thing, when in reality they where lying to people just to sell a stupid magazine.

LL

I started off bad ass but when we got to Hawaii it was the end of something I called freedom. They told us we would only pay so much for the round trip and everyday would cost us $10 more for rent. Me and all of my friends were selling no less than eight a day and max about 18, but when we checked our books we were all negative. I started advising everyone to check their books cuz we were being robbed. I rawled up all the girls that went and everyone wanted to quit. They ended up meeting with us and discussing where our books were at but I still had a feeling I was being scammed. One day they dropped everyone off exept me and my director started driving back to the hotel. They said I was disorganizing the whole group and they were sending me back to the home land to meet with the group in L.A. As soon as I got there they took me straight to the bus station, luckily they were courteous enough to buy my bus ticket and they gave me forty dollars. I was torn apart from my friends that were like my sisters.

MD

Well it seems all so fun at first they tell you that you will make so much money and travel for free so I didnt have a job and it seemed like something fun to do. well it was until i tried to go home i was all the way in orlando florida i told my car handler at about *9 am i wanted to go home she told me that i couldnt quit in her car so she spotted me out so i blanked all day when i got back to the hotel that night i told my boss i wanted to go home.  He flipped out got my room key recoded and said good luck getting my things and getting home. so i called my father - he sent me a ticket. they told me i had to refuse transportation. i didnt want to but i had no choice i had 600 on my books and they made up lies and said that i didnt have any money that cancelled orders took the money away so i had no money.

They tell you they will give you money to go home on well i went clear from fl to ohio with no money they wouldnt give me any. As your reading this there is alot more to this then i am saying. i would be here all day typing but dont ever go its not worth the abuse you go through just so sometimes you can eat or have money period. i feel horrible for anyone that tries to leave that went through what i did. my friend is still there shes afraid to leave she tries to sneak out but he wont let her. dont do it

J

I sold mags d2d for about 3 weeks. The car handlers were threatening the kids if they were late for a pick up time or if they didn't sell as many subsriptions as what there quota was. I hated the job, and got out as soon as I felt it wasn't for me. Please if you want to go home, just do it! Don't prolong your wait, it will just leave you somewhere in a strange place, and with no money.

GN

I worked on a magazine sales crew. I found the "Opportunity" when two of my friends called me and invited me to join. I figured they have been doing this for about a month and they liked it alot.

I spoke to the manager for the first time the next day. I was told how to pickup my bus ticket to get to where they were staying and I arrived the next day.

That week we were told of a hop to Ensenada, Mexico for a celebration of the new "Contest" and to announce the winners of the last one. The trip was very fun and I thought that I was going to have a great time based
on talking to the other 1,000 people there.

I noticed the general idea was work hard all day, party all night, no matter what night it was. As long as we brought in sales and were at the meeting in the morning everything was OK.

A little different than most crews, we were given $20 a day to live off of. This counted for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and of course it came off your "Books".

In the morning we would all wake up and had to be at meeting at 9:00 AM sharply. We would all take bets and have competitions using your spiel to outdo someone elses. Around 10:00 AM we would go to breakfast
and we were out selling magazines by 10:30.

Usually I was alone, however, once a week I could convince the driver to let me go with someone else. There was about 6 drops a day. 3 before
lunch and 3 after. No one in our crew was every denied lunch (Unless they had no money). When we arrived back at the hotel we got to check in our daily sales with the manager and the owner. The owner of the company used to drink alot of hard alcohol and was addicted to pills so if you had a bad day you got yelled at for about 20 minutes. We called it an Absolut ass chewin because he drank only Absolut Vodka. I was one of the best on crew so I never expericened on of these but I got to watch about 50. If the crew all had a bad day we were sat down in a room and the manager yelled at us one by one over the loudspeaker. One day on "T" or territory I developed an ingrown toenail and had to go to the emergency room. I got a prescription for Vicadin after the visit and my boss told me to give him half of the bottle for paying for the visit. I
came to find out that he never paid for the visit and I was charged for it after I got home. There were good parts about traveling though. We got to see both oceans, and all the good parts in between and there were new girls coming in and out of crew weekly. The fact is that the attitude of people towards you on a mag crew changes daily based on the sales you bring in. I finally decided to quit my sales time after 11 months and was told I got $200 for a 4 day bus ride home. The manager told me after all the cancellations and the fees I had to pay thats all the money I have after 11 months. I am now 21 years old and the memories of my venture will always be with me but the constant memory that comes up is how bad the whole magazine sales lifestyle is. I know that my story may not change someones mind about joining crew but I will let you know that when you return home (And you will return home) you will fell like you have accomplished absolutely nothing! Thanks for reading my story.

To the parents that have kids selling magazines. Please, I mean PLEASE let them know that the ONLY people profiting from this is the owner of the company. Please help your kids come home!

-My hopes and prayers go out to the families and friends that had to go through losing a loved one to a mag crew. I KNOW EXACTLY HOW YOU FEEL.

J

my story begins in ashville nc,where everything was cool I actually thought I would make lots of money only to find out I started at 20 dollars a day, and if you didnt have quota you only got 5 dollars a day.

The day after I got there we jumped to tenn,where we were expected to work in rain,snow,and sleet,it was terrible. I had places on me from where the hail had hit me so hard,and once in ohio,my manager dropped me off in a assisted living neighborhood,and I thought i was making a sale until things went bad the man invited me in then slammed the door,threw me against it,and unzipped my clothes,I got out fortunatley,my manager came and got me and told me to suck it up and move on,and he dropped me in another neighborhood,i cried 2 days straight,then all of his agents were laughing,and all they could do was sit there and experience their drugs. I told my manager I was fed up with it,so he told me he had a bus ticket and go home,only thing is he dropped me off at the bus station with no bus ticket,its a scary thing to go through!

M

magazines and chemical sales go hand in hand. Chemical sales is the same type of business. I found it was easy to sell chemicals cause you had to deminstrate the product. I worked for a company by the name of Hypro chemical corp.We would carry a small water bottle of a concentrate mostly water and go door to door demenstrating this chemical.I believe 1 gallon would cost 20 dollars. We tried to sell it by the case a case would be 6 gallons.We would work the territory and then every 2 hours drop the stuff off to the costumer.It was better than magazines because they didn't have to wait 90 to 120 days to recieve product.It worked the same way as magazines same bullshit.I have read all these stories an I can relate to all of them.I walk away from this business without a nickel to my name.I am 35 and finally getting my life together.

MB

I worked on many magazine crews back in the late 80's and early 90's and nearly been to all fifty states. I started off working door to door then after I got good at it I became a stemer. A stemer is where you work strickly parking lots, and malls. I also consider College dorms as steming cause I could pitch a entire group at 1 time. I also would con my way in military bases.We always worked no matter how bad the weather was.They always told us that rainy days are quota days. I encountered many situations while working in magazines. If I got arrested the first thing my manager would ask me was how many did you get? If it was not satisfactory then he would leave me sit in jail for a couple of days.

Once i got bailed then we would pack up and head to another city, so therefore I would have to skip bail. I left a huge trail of warrants for my arrest. I have been experdited by airplane 3 times, arrested 30 times,spent 3 years in prison. Left to be homeless a few times. My manager was a raging alcoholic who did not tolerate non productive days. My quota was 20 sales a day, which most of the time is impossible to do.There just wasn't enough time in the day.

We would work from 9 am to whenever.I would have to knock on doors at night time if quota was not met.I watched many people come in to this business,and leave after the 3rd day.I can't say i was ever given a bus ticket, but I was left on territory many times.I would have to walk back to the hotel.This would usually happen when i was having a bad day,or I missed my pickup.There where many days when i would not get a draw at night or maybe i would get a 5 dollar draw which I would have to eat on till the next night.3 meals 5 dollars will not happen.You where treated as a postitute.You could have a good day and you still only get a 10 dollar draw because everyone else had a bad day, and they would tell us that we need to pay our bills.My manager spent his day on the golf course, or at the hotel to recieve phone calls from the carhandler to bitch him out.

Their was alot of verbal abuse, and physical abuse.They knew I had no other place to go so they had me by a rope.There was alot of partying and sex on crews.Every crew had different rules.One of the managers I worked for sent me money while i was in prison for a year, then the day i got out sent me a bus ticket in Florida to get right back to work.I could not get away from this it was my life.Everytime I tried they would influence me with money,or a vacation, or give me a crew.I never liked working as a car handler it was too many bodies to keep track of.Once I got pulled over in a neighborhood with expired license they ran a check on me and i was wanted in 3 states Virgina,Florida,Ohio all for failure to appear in court, and fraud.Thats why I liked to work parking lots, and Malls.I could run around and lose the police, or mall security.When your in a neighborhood their is no where to run, except Miss Jones house.

There were many times when I would forget about the contest and just con my way into someones house just to avoid getting arrested.I got to the point where I could tell you what kind of people lived in a house by the cars they drived, the condition of the house,color,lawn,and so on.I had many fallouts with different managers that I would jump from company to company.I do have to say that i would run across people a year later, and they actually got their magazine.And of course some didn't.The ones that didn't where the ones that the salesman pocket the money, and did not write up the receipt.If I knew someone was going to pay by cash and they where dumb or young I would just pocket the cash.Young girls in the parking lot would be in a hurry to go shopping that they would hand me cash.By the time they figured that they needed a receipt i was long gone.This is what this business pushed me into doing.I needed to eat.If someone told me they did not want a magazine I would ask for a small donation.

I have probably logged a million miles on foot.Saturday night was always payday.You would get the remaining money that you did not take a draw against.My pay would be anywhere from 5 to 200 dollars for the week. Sometimes I would work all week and get 5 dollars.Your money goes strickly to food,cigerettes,drugs.

I never really had a money to buy clothes.We always borrowed each others clothes.Since their where so many people coming and going you would get alot of your stuff stolen.everyone carried trunks with their belongings.It was like living in the circus.

I had many sexual encounters going door to door.I had many encounters with females, and housewives.There were times when i gave my pitch and in 10 minutes was having sex with a complete stranger.You never know who's behind those doors.

I had many men touch me and put me in a situation where I was unable to leave the house unless i would fight back.There are alot of crazy people behind those doors.I watched many girls on our crew get assaulted by men.Ive seen girls get raped in the hotel rooms.

My manager did not care if you slept in a girls room,as long as you produced.I found that couples on crew would not produce well.If you lived in a apartment chances where we where going to hit you hard on Saturdays.Are manager liked us to work apartmens on Saturday cause usually there was not a manager on property,and you could get your quota early and be back at the hotel early.You had pickups every 2 hours and if you where not on the corner by that time they would just leve yo their in the neighborhood.There where times that i would knock on every door on the street and not get a sale they would make me knock on the same doors again till i got a sale.You have to stay motivated 10 hours a day.You have no private time.Everything is done as a group.Even on my day off I had to take new people under my wing and talk magazines.You live and breath magazies.Usually we would hop to another city on are only day off, never on a week day.We even worked on holidays except for Christmas, which was usually are vacation.We would stay at a nice resort for Christmas.This was the money that we put into the kitty all year long.It was kind of nice cause people would work for a couple of months and quit so the money would stay in th kitty.Of course th money disappeared many times.Or if someone needed to get bailed out of jail they would take the money out of the kitty.Sometimes we would go to a city with multiple crews and there would be alot of competion.

Our crew ranged from me being the only person to 40 kids on crew.That was crazy cause then they would sleep us 4 to 6 in a room.It was like one big slumber party.I never did get alot of sleep when we got back in the evening we would all go as a group to diner and then practice are pitch at the hotel.If you where a top seller you had to take a group of people to practice your pitch this would last sometimes till 10 or 11.

I would not recommend anybody to try this type of work.It is very stressful.You are also not allowed to bring your car caus they don't want you going off somewhere by yourself.

JB

I started selling magazines back in the late eighty's at the age of eighteen. I remember reading the ad in the newspaper and it said "rock n roll" atomosphere entry level,travel,great pay.Well i had just turned 18 and needed a job because my parents where about to throw me out of the house.I interviewed at a hotel (quality inn) on brookpark in Cleveland.

The company had been in the business since they were teenagers.They where very flashy people who flaunted alot of gold,cars,vans,and boats.I thought this was the greatest opportunity for me to become successful.I was hired on the spot and was told to be back the very next day with my luggage.

I met the crew and we all went to dinner that night. Everyone had a go getter attitude.The next day the owner took us out in his boat to go waterskiing, I thought to myself this is the best job in the world.

magazine crews work a 6 day work week monday through Saturday.The work day begins by everyone waking each other up, oh by the way if you are a new guy you get to sleep on the bed for the first 3 days, after that it goes by your production.If you are the low man then you get to sleep on the floor.I spent many nights on the floor.Usually we would have 3 to 4 people in a room.We generally would spend 2 to 4 weeks in a city.

After everyone wakes up we all go to breakfest together.Everything was always done together.After breakfeast we go back to the hotel to have a motivational meeting which involved practicing are pitch to one another.This would last for about a half hour.One my first day I went out with a trainer he handed me a pitch that I was to use as a guideline to sell magazines.It went something like this: Hi my name is ____ and im going around your neighborhood to get all your neighbors to vote for me in this years communication contest.

I was trained not to sell magazines but to act like a kid in a contest and this is the last week of the contest and all i need is 3 more people to back me up with votes and ill win 1000 dollars and a trip to Cancun.Well we all load up in 2 to 4 vans and every carhandler is given a territory to work.Everyone heads into a different direction.When we arrive at the territory they tell you and another person that this is your territory get out of the van 1 person works one side and the other works the other side.The carhandler will be back to check on you every 2 hours.On my first day I went to 3 doors with a trainer then he cut me lose to do it on my own.I had never gone door to door before i was very scared.He told me to tell them that it was my first day and to bear with me.Well i did not get any sales my first day but i basically had to develop my own pitch so i could sell these darn magazines.I am now 35 years of age and I can tell you that it literally screwed up my life.

I sold mags for 4 years, and then chemicals for 2 more.The money was not great.They give you just enough money to keep you there and prevent you from leaving.I had no other place to go so I was stuck. It made me become a con artist,and a bullshiter.I become very good at it though.I became a very good acter that I would run from house to house(cause all the neighbors are watching you as you go from house to house) Running from house to house got my fired up.I would knock on a door out of breath so Miss Jones could see that I was very motivated in winning this contest.

I used many tactics for getting in people's house.Once a person let me in their house they where sold,especially a house wife.I craved over young housewives because they love to buy things when their husbands are at work.I also got arrested about 30 times.usually I would get arrested for soliciting without a permit.I have probably been stopped by the police 500 times to ask me what im going and present id.Talk about imbarrassing.

CP

I joined mag crew with my best friend. We were both broke and just wanted to leave town. When we got there everything was great. I was so excited. A chance to see the country and make a lot of money. The only problem was that everyone smoked drank, and had sex all the time. I got caught up in all of that. I got pregnant and my managers wanted me to have an abortion, but i couldnt. I wanted to raise my baby. I got out and have succeeded in starting over, and making a wonderful life for myself and my son, but my babys father is still out there, not paying any child support, because they get payed "under the table". I never got the money off my books, and I regret those three months I was on crew more than anything, but I guess if I hadn't gone I wouldnt have my son. My best friend is still out there and last I heard from her she was on Meth. I hope that she will realize that mag crew is no life and has no future.

VE

It all started in late June of 2001. My husband and I were both without jobs and things here at home went bad. We then saw an add in the paper that said "get paid to travel, make lots of money." I called and set up an interview for both of us to go in and talk to him about this different job that seemed so interesting. We both went in at the same time and from the beginning it all sounded too good to be true. Of course it was a good sales agent trying to convince both of us to join.

After we heard how great it would be we both decided to join. We had to leave within the next few days, they didn't give us any time to really say bye to friends and family. We took off and I remember it was a Sunday, the next day we got out the van all the new kids had someone to train them and we went door to door telling people a bunch of lies and selling the hell out of some magazines. It was hard at first, sore feet, hot in the summer, walking all over neighborhoods all day long.

Then you get use to it and you become better at selling, and you learn how to make up more stories and sell more magazines. I was selling about 20 a day. Really, you didn't make that much money, I also became a car handler later and didn't get any extra money for it and since I had to drive everyone around I lost time to sell, and money at the same time but the main reason I did it was because after a while it got to where I hated knocking on doors. If we didn't meet our regular quota we would get yelled at for at least an hour after work hours, sometimes we had meetings that lasted even longer. We got up at 8 in the morning and worked until 6:30 to 7 every night, six days a week, and on our only day off we usually had to hop to another state. I drove a big van with a bunch of guys, including my husband. I was the only girl but that was okay cause all the guys were cool with me. I liked the crew but the owner was such a jerk at times. Sometimes he was awesome (when we had a good day). Other wise it was hell. We would dred the days we went in with out our much business.

The next morning we would go back to work and we only prayed we had a good day. We did have some good times but in all reality you never got a break and honestly the money wasn't that great at all. We got $20 draws every night, but we each had to pay $15 a night for our hotels. We never stayed at crumby hotels but that's $35 a day and then at the end of the month you got all your money that was left. My first month I remember I got $400. The next $600. C'mon now I make that in a week now. Of course add the $35 a day to live on, but the day we got our money most of us spent it within a few days. So there we were running on our daily draws.

It was hard, we worked in any kind of weather. We never missed a day no matter what. You could never have an excuse on why you didn't sell enough magazines, in his eyes no one could ever have a bad day. Even though it was hard and I wanted to come back home I would think about all the bad things I would have to come home to and loosing all the friends we both had on crew.

My husband was the number one agent at the time, and since I was the car handler we had it made (for mag crew agents). So after thinking about going home I would back out.

I ended up seeing different places, and meeting new people. To people considering joining- be careful who you go to if you decide you join. Even though there wasn't any physical abuse involved and the business was legitimate (I mean they really got their magazines), it was definately something you have to really be careful about. Don't trust just anyone cause you have to keep in mind that the agents that do the hiring get $50 a person they hire. Just be careful who you trust and if make sure that you are guaranteed a bus ticket home if you don't like it. Luckily the mag crew we joined bought your ticket for you to go home in and some money to eat off of. The owner did make sure we were well taken care of and he was very protective over us. He always made sure we got in contact with our parents and all our parents knew they could call the owner's cell phone if they wanted to talk to us. If we wanted to leave and go home it wasn't a problem he let us go and he would provide transportation to the bus station and the ticket. If there was ever a family emergency it was no problem, you could go and come back. Unfortuanely not all crews are the same. There are some that are totally screwed up and he always let us know that we should be lucky we were on a good crew. Even though it wasn't bad like these other crews, it was hard and you had no time for yourself. You couldn't go anywhere, you had to ask permission to do anything. It was like I was a kid again and this time it was worse because it wasn't a parent trying to control us. To anyone out there trying to get out of town and travel, be careful who you
trust and make sure they provide a bus ticket home if you want to quit.

M

well i was really ill.. had to work in the rain cold wet cloths for 12 hr days. then got kinda held hostage in seattle by a man who said i was gonna work for him. its really dangerous for young attractive or unattractive females to be out on there own at night drops. they need to be paired with a male sales man or with another female its safer. and i think that its bull how if you didn't sell so many mags in one week you have to work on your day off. witch you only have one day off a week and thats sunday. i don't know its just not the best job seriously i wouldn't suggest you doin it if you really need money .. cus no matter how glamourous they make it sound its really not like that at all....

KA

I started when I was 19. I had just gotten out of a relationship that left me upset, so I joined the mag crew to leave town for awhile. It was awful. We got up at 7:00am, left the hotel at 8, then started "knocking" at 10am. we did that until 8pm, every night, but Sunday. We got $15 a day.

I started seeing one of the guys on the crew, and he started beating me. I wasn't allowed to talk to anyone but him and there were times when he would hit me in front of everyone. Many times I tried to leave, but they wouldn't let me. Finally, my boyfriend got fired for beating me, and so I left with him. At 20 years old, I ended up in Texas in a battered womens shelter.

I am now almost 30, and I still have a hard time. I ended up doing drugs for a long time to try to "escape" it all. after I stopped doing drugs, I started having flashbacks, and bad nightmares of him beating me.

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