Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-06-16

the neighbor who recommended
us would get credit for us as
one of her 20 names. Oddly,
the slip was so worded that we
were not rejectig the program,
but the program was rejecting
us.
We had had the program ex-
planned to us, 1t said, but we
had been rejected as buyer
Representatives" There were
three possible reasons for re-
lection: do not believe 1t"
(the program, do not under
stand 1t" or Other" In the
space next to Other" the
salesman scrubbed want time
to think 1t over"
In a last, desperate try-per-
hapS hoping I was a compul-
sive gambler-the salesman ad-
mitted that, "of course" there
was a little risk involved in the
program.
"If you don't have the nerve
to take a risk, we'll have to
put you down as a reject" he
said.
When this appeal to my
manhood failed, he gathered
up all his papers, expressed his
regrets that was turning my
back on the chance of a life
time, and left.
As ! checked over his sales
pitch at my leisure, I decided
that he had, after all, left
something behind: A sour taste.
For one thing, he had made
some rather glazing misstate-
ments Of fact.
Product Available
He said the product he was
selling-or anything like it
was not available on the retail
market, and probably wouldn't
be for six or seven years. A
quick check of the Yellow Pages
turned up not only the whole
saler of his product, but an
other company that had SINH
lar units in stock, available to
anyone who wanted them.
He said the unit, If 1t could
be purchased, would cost 81, 100
or 81, 200. I called the whole
saler of the product first
class piece of merchandise, in
cidentally, If q little luxurious
for the average homeowner-
and found that 1t normally re-
tails for about $500. carrying
charges, which accounted for
roughly $3.50 Of the referral-
systems 5000 price, would be
CORRESPONDENCE lower)
He said his company did
millions of dollars worth of
business" and invited me to
check 1t In Dun & Bradstreet,
the Nationwide financial list
ing service. l did, and 1t was
not listed.
He said there would be at
statesmen working for you" and
that they were selling 40 or
IL units a day." The wholesaler
put the sales figure more mod
estly: IS a week.
A neighbor who had gone In
on the program said she un-
derstood the company - the
sales outfit, not the manufac-
turer-had been in business for
80 years. I checked and dis
covered that 1t was incorporat-
ed last March.
It's a Pyramid
But the real shocker in any
chain-referral system com e S
when you figure out what hap
pens as the pyramid builds up.
For, despite the salesman's Off
hand disclaimer, the scheme is
In fact a pyramid.
And the trouble with pyra-
mids-the thing that has led
the post office and some States
to classify them as out-and-out
lotteries - is that sooner or
later you run out of people.
When this happens, the low
man on the pyramid winds up
paying for the product he prob
ably would never have bought
but for the glittering promise
that he could get 1t for moth
ng.
He discovers, to his horror,
that not only are there not
enough people around who want
to buy the product, but there
aren't even enough people in
his neighborhood for him to
dig up any prospects. If the
pyramid continues far enough
and that is the only way the
purchaser can get his merchan-
disc free" there aren't
enough people in the State,
the country or the whole wide
world.
The pyramid builds UP. in
exorably. by what is known as
geometric progression.
Take, for example, the sales
mans easy assurance that
practically anyone can come
up with IL names, and out OF
these, six will come into the
program. That works out like
this:
36
216
1896
TITS
1856
279,936
l.679.6l6