Happy Monday. This is another anti-MLM post, so if you’re looking for previous posts pertaining to the aspects of the Multi Level Marketing business model, I have an entire category dedicated to my main passion for this blog.
This week I’m looking forward to writing about it because this one, I believe, is one of the main components of the so-called MLM lifestyle aesthetic, and that is the free stuff they always promote to get people to join their companies. They always talk about having time freedom and financial freedom and the freedom to work from anywhere, but in this post, we’re gonna explore those free trips and free cars that were always promoted as perks on joining an MLM
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Getting free trips and free company cars from your job sounds amazing on paper. You work hard enough to plan your vacations accordingly and if you have a company car, they either reimburse or pay entirely for gas and other maintenance. At least, that’s how MLM companies promote it. The truth is, though, there are a lot of catches. I wish I was exaggerating. We’ll be diving into the free car programs that some MLM companies promote as well as the free trips, and both come with some pricey catches
Free Cars
I want to start with the free cars because it’s basically a more tangible component of the so-called MLM lifestyle that is portrayed on social media. I want to give three examples of these “free car” offers that are anything but. First, though, I found an article from Talented Ladies Club that did an article on those free cars and used Arbonne and FM World as case studies, if you will. Travelling Jezebel also went through the Arbonne Mercedes-Benz program and also went into Monat’s Cadillac program. Time Magazine even did one on Mary Kay’s Pink Cadillac program.
The general consensus on these free cars is that some of them require their cars to be of certain luxury quality, meaning they rather take Mercedes-Benz or Cadillac. Arbonne (white), Monat (also white), and Mary Kay (bluish-pink) require their cars to be a certain color and the decals to be in certain places (Arbonne requires their decals to be on the driver and passenger sides as well as the back). Monat requires their new Cadillacs to be less than 5 years of age at the time of signing.
All of them require that after you hit a certain rank (ex. Regional and National Vice President ranks in Arbonne, Market Mentor rank in Monat) you lease the car in your name and you must maintain the sales that got you there each month if you want to keep getting the bonuses. If you fail to make those ranks, they will usually rescind the rest of the bonuses which puts you on the hook for the whole payment, although Monat may give you two grace months. Even then, you shouldn’t count on them. The sales quotas are usually in the 10,000s mark for group volume, which is impossible to maintain monthly in these companies
MLM companies never put the bonuses on the entire monthly payments and it was done on purpose. It’s to keep you in and pressure you to make those sales so you can receive those bonuses. For example, Monat gives their Market Mentors a $500 bonus towards their Cadillacs, which usually covers half to a third of the monthly payment.
Besides Arbonne, Monat, and Mary Kay, other companies that have some sort of a free car program include Thrive/Le-Vel, FM World, Pruvit, and Nerium
A Reddit post from November 26, 2019, titled “What is the true cost of the “free” MLM car? Genuinely asking, as I suspect there is more to it than what these ladies lead others to believe on social media.” This hun claims that the car she had “earned” wasn’t the ultimate goal, but upon reading the lines, I feel like getting the car was her goal. She’s just hiding it behind her team
A Reddit post from January 24, 2021, titled “So it’s not a free car after all”. This is a huge yikes, because while she admits that Monat covers her car payment, it’s still not enough for the whole thing, but she claims that is a good thing. Poor thing has to know that she has to maintain her sales in order for Monat to keep sending her a bonus
A Reddit post from September 30, 2019, titled “It’s not a free car when you have to maintain 12k in volume every month.” This could also be a r/thathappened post, but this Mary Kay hun thinks her free pink Cadillac is a flex on a Chick-Fil-A worker. Even if this story was true, I would bet the Chick-Fil-A doesn’t have a car that is tied to some company ‘bonus’ and it’s probably not a luxury brand like Cadillac
A Reddit post from March 30, 2022, titled “Arbonne’s little army of “entrepreneurs” and their “free” white Benz”. This is another part of the free car perk, the car celebration days where a hun or a group of huns pose with their free cars after hitting certain ranks. Some will hold a celebration before they reach the rank without a guarantee of whether or not they even reach the rank. This is a way to promote as part of the lifestyle but also a way to keep you in and make the necessary sales
A Reddit post from November 22, 2021, titled “Ketones hun Tiktoks about not getting her luxury vehicle.” This is a 7-picture gallery that you will have to click on since it wouldn’t show up here, but I can give you a preview. It’s about a Pruvit hun who thought she was leasing her free car but couldn’t get it because her bank turned her down… for any luxury car, she claims. She claims she doesn’t really need it as her family couldn’t get a house either. The last three pictures are people leaving comments that I don’t think she would like, but they contain some truth
Free Trips
Free trips work the same way as free cars. Although there are a lot of catches to it, the way it works is like those school fundraisers where students have to give away cookies in order to possibly win some prizes. In MLMs, huns usually have to sell a certain amount of products in hope of earning these trips that are supposedly paid for by the companies.
Just like the free cars, though, the huns are on the short end of the stick on these trips. Though I wasn’t able to find an article on MLM trips, these next few Reddit posts will paint a picture of what they actually are
A Reddit post from June 21, 2021, titled “So what’s the catch with the free trips”. This post was asking for the catches (aka hotel and airfare) that come with the free trips. That is a legit question and I think it’ll be answered in the next few examples
A Reddit post from December 30, 2021, titled “How do “free trips” paid for by MLMs work? I don’t understand how it’s financially viable for the company so what am I missing?”. The perfect answer that came out of it was the first comment I saw while scrolling through. It said in part, “The Mary Kay hun I know recently bragged incessantly about her “free” trip to Cabo or Cancun or something at some generic hotel, but later it came out that she had to pay international airfare, pay for her (inland) hotel where she shared a room with 5 other women (two of them shared a sleeper sofa), paid for all her food and drinks, paid for new clothes for the trip, was required to make a certain number of a certain type of posts to social media each day, spent all day in workshops and meetings getting more brainwashed and purchasing more product, and had to pay taxes on the trip, on a price that MK claimed it cost (which I’m sure was inflated). The part that was free? Admission to the workshop/convention itself. Everything else, she paid.”
A Reddit post from June 5, 2021, titled “Cousin keeps posting about these “free” trips”. The OP posted a screenshot of her cousin’s FB post in which she bragged about her company Thrive paying for everything
A Reddit post from September 19, 2022, titled “MLM “Free Trip” Cancelled Because of Hurricane – Huns Are More “Woe Is Me” Than Anything Else”. This is another part of the free trips MLM love to promote. Sure, they will promote the most luxurious locations, but they also specifically plan these trips at the possible worst time. This post in question is about Arbonne’s September trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, in the middle of hurricane season. Hurricane Fiona severely damaged the country and Puerto Rico and Arbonne didn’t cancel the trip until their huns got to the airport.
A Reddit post from September 13, 2022, titled “You didn’t earn it otherwise you’d go. Who’d miss out on a “free” trip?” I think this highlights the downside of these free trips. This Melaleuca hun missed out on a trip that she had qualified for because she couldn’t afford the extra costs (read: airfare, itinerary, hotel, etc). However, she sees it as no big deal
In all, the cars and the trips are not free. Their MLM companies might chip in, but they will not give the entire bonus by design. The free stuff all comes with too many rules and none of them are in favor of the huns. However, they don’t see it, which is great for MLM companies. As long as more reps join in without heeding warnings, the free cars and the free trips would continue as long as the MLM companies are active
33-year-old math enthusiast, Pokemon fan, Eurovision fan, Bingo player, anti-MLM watcher, meme consumer, YTP watcher, stans news reporters when no one else wants to, inconsistent in real life, a complete human mess, and professional social media lurker
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The Most Inconsistent Person in the World 
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