is vector marketing a scam?

Question

im 19 male, and i lost my job at the library in march. i live independently, and am really desperate now for a job.well, i looked in the employment guide newspaper, and found the job there for high school grads. the base salary is $15 per vector appointment with client selling cutco cutlery, houseware items, and they said gardening items. well, i called and they had an interview same day i called at 6:45pm. i went there in formal attire, but 2 other applicants wasnt. all 3 of us in group interview age 19. well, the interviewer did this scissor demonstration with a penny i let her borrow, and she ruined my penny w them things, n i neva got it back! well, i been through a couple scam meetings b4, but this one didnt seem like them, so i felt ok with it. all 3 of us got the job, and theirs a 3 day training. well, im now suspicious of the job, and should i back down? my mom told me if i join a scam, shes done w/ me. well, i never asked her about vector. but is vector a scam? should i do it?

Answer 1

Hi there
From someone with past experience with vector and I have had friends who worked there, I would tell you not to go for it. It is not necessarily a scam but it is a lot of hard work to sell expensive knifes costing about $650 door to door and they only pay you for every appointment you make and commission which is highly unlikely selling things that expensive. Trust me not a lot of people are going to buy knifes and kitchen utensils costing that much. I had the exact same interview that you had with the scissors and there were plenty of other applicants that made it. Why?? Because they are so desperate for people, and will hire anyone. I'm also out of a job myself, I'm 21 and I'm in college and I have lots of experience but it’s so hard to find a job. Everyday I look on the internet and newspapers for jobs Vector is always advertising for the same job, that’s because no one wants to work there and everyone quits after they realize how ridiculous the job is. They usually advertise the job to college students and high school graduates because they know they will take anything that comes their way. The training is not even paid and you will sit there for eight hours listening to people teach you how to sell knifes and cook ware not to mention the training is unpaid. I attended one day of training and I never weren’t back again.

One of my friends got a job there and worked for a week and made $16 by the end of the week 8 people out of the 25 that were hired were left.. It’s not worth the hustle if you ask me. If you think you can go door to door and convince people to buy knifes and whatever else they sell then go ahead and take it. No matter how desperate I am I will never work there. I would keep looking for another position else where cause it’s not worth it. Keep looking and don’t give up, something will come up. Just don’t do Vector!!! Good Luck

Answer 2

The job itself isn't a "scam" since they are generally up-front about the pay system and a good deal of what the position requires (you set up appointments, go to them, do the demo, and hand in the forms at the end of their work-week). They provide a free sample kit, free supplies (leather and rope, but not pennies), and at least try to act both friendly and professional most of the time.

I mean, your one complaint is that they ruined a penny and you never got it back. They most likely asked if you think they could cut a penny with the scissors. And even if they didn't it's just a single penny.

That said, it could be considered a "scam" that they try to guilt-trip you to continue working for them. "Oh, we have a contest coming up. See it out and then you can quit." "No, see, when this contest ends there's another one. Let's see if you can beat your goal twice!" "Oh, you got bitten by a dog and can't fill out the forms? Use your other hand." "Keep selling while in school. Show your friends and teachers and make some money on the side."

But any company(especially temporary working experiences) would try to do this, since having an employee who is making them money leave ends up having them make less money. Anyone who has done part-time retail and full-time college at the same time has most likely experienced these claims from their perfectly-legitimate bosses as the next semester is coming up.

For those who will claim "tl;dr":
* They don't (usually) hide anything about the job. Ergo, not a scam.
* They pay for meeting the criteria established. Ergo, not a scam.
* They pay the higher of two possible salaries (either commission or base-pay). Ergo, not a scam.
* Their business practices and the way they want you to carry out the job may be sneaky and underhanded, but they are actually perfectly legitimate sales practices. Ergo, not a scam.
* They try to get you to keep working for them, but use the same sneaky-yet-legitimate techniques to do this. Ergo, not a scam.

In short, it's not a scam. It sucks and most people make a net of minimum wage, but that's beside the point of whether it's a scam or not.

Answer 3

I worked there for months and made about $8000.. that was doing 4-5 appointments 4 days a week. The knives are really expensive but there is a market for expensive knives. Their main competition is Henckel out of Germany, ebay the prices for a nice set and you will see. These knives are premium and come with a lifetime no b.s guarantee. People do buy them, especially upper-middle class, i sold lots to lower middle class families too tho. It all depends on how you approach it, for an outgoing, semi suave college student there is the potential to make decent money.. definitely not for everyone tho..it's definitely not a scam as they will pay you 14$ plus ( a few years ago) jus for doing an appointment..the person jus signs saying you did it and boom you are paid.. you do hafta pay like $200 for your kit (they give you like $700 worth of stuff) but you'll make that back after a couple sales as the commission rates are also very good, and only go up with the more you sell (again, the way it was a few years ago anyway, i havn't kept up with it) i was looking for vector cereal for a micro economics class and stumbled across this post haha cheers

Answer 4

So it's not a scam....but it is direct marketing. I've worked for them for the past couple of months since I haven't been able to find any other job, and some paycheck is better than no paycheck at all. Agreed it's not for everyone, but they're up front about pay and what's expected of you and what the job requires (ergo, not a scam).

- you get paid $17.00 per appointment OR commission, whichever is higher.
- if you quit after your fast start (the first 10 days) then sure, you'll feel like it's a scam because the only people you've spoken to are people you know or vaguely know. If you paid attention in training though you should've memorized how to ask for recommendations so you can try to give demos to people you don't know as soon as possible. Like every job you need to stick with it for a little bit first before being able to decide whether it's a good fit.
- if you don't make appointments then you can't get paid, end of story. Like any job, you need to actually do the job. In my experience the people who end up quitting and complaining are the ones who didn't actually set any appointments, or they set one and were upset they got paid the $17 for that /one/ appointment ($17/appt is what you get if you don't sell anything)
-you don't have to buy your demo kit
-it /feels/ door-to-door, but it's not. You're only allowed to call people you've been recommended to and only if the person who recommended them gives them a heads up first.
-they do target students, which I can understand for the context of the job (could you imagine middle-aged knife salesmen? scary), but I don't agree with how most advertisements are vague and leave out what the job actually is.
-training is unpaid, that's true, but if you actually do your job the time spent in training will pay itself off pretty quickly.
-all money spent on the job can be written off in taxes. Your manager should tell you how to do this in training. Keep all your receipts for gas or anything even vaguely relevant to work!

Answer 5

Vector marketing is not a scam however their strategy in making sales is stupid. They expect a student to work for a job that pays you $16 per appointment. How many appointments do you think the average person can get? Like 3-5 maybe. And then you get commissions off of sales. IF you make a sale at all. Trust me the knives are phenominal but they are too damn expensive. I mean who in their right mind would pay $800 for a set of knives? Even Bill Clinton spends only $300 on a haircut (and for that he gets the haircut plus a high calonic administered by Barbara Streisand). Glad I was talked out of going further with this job. I mean I went to the interview and they automatically hired me and wanted to see me the next day. They didn't even give me a chance to give notice to my other job. I hate jobs like that where they don't give you time to plan. I suddenly felt satisfied with my current job. So yeah if you know what you're doing and you think you know tons of nice rich people go on ahead for this job. But if you're an average person that doesn't know much about the real world do not apply for vector or really any marketing job in general.

Answer 6

I've had an awesome experience with vector. Started this summer. In the central region there is absolutely no deposit required to get your sample kit which is nice. I have gotten paid, on time, every time. The knives are amazing, I have actually had customers call me back thanking me for coming by. I understand that some people don't have the best experience working with vector. In my experience, they are the people that don't actually do any appointments. And the knives aren't overpriced...high quality knives are expensive.
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/wusthof-classic-ikon-carving-knife-set/?pkey=cslicing-carving-knives&cm_src=slicing-carving-knives||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_--_-
It is not for everyone, but my recommendation would be to try it out. I have had friends that liked it a lot and some friends that didn't, but you will never know unless you try it for a couple weeks.

Answer 7

It s really something you should use common sense with. Technically, it isn t a scam, but there are some questionable practices here. I saw their ads on a student job website. There were hundreds of ads for the same position, and that is not an exaggeration, and when you apply online, you are immediately going to get an interview, which shows that they re probably desperate for employees, yet, when they called me, they said that there were limited time slots, even though they were able to book me in for the day they called me, which seems a little off. Really, the job is based on whether or not you know people that will pay $2,000 for kitchen knives (not to say that they re bad quality, but still, not a lot of people will pay that). And you d be working as an independent contractor, which means that you would not be paid for training or transportation costs. And you only get paid per appointment that you set up, and you re required to find the clients yourself. It s not technically a scam, but it s not a great place to work

Answer 8

Vector Marketing is not a scam. This is from someone who worked at the bussiness, and stayed long enough to see if it worked. I watched friends of mine in the company actually make money, while others obviously couldn't. This job isn't for everyone, it requires you to know the right people, people who can either afford the knives, because the knives are very high quality, and expensive, or at least people that will point you to others who will at least listen to you present.

For those of you who don't know, Vector Marketing is the marketing branch for Cutco. They are in charge of advertising and distribution of Cutco products. As an employee, your job entails that you call people that you know personally (this is because they discourage door to door selling, "~Mom to be 2 my Princess 81909~ " pointed out they did that, but i do not know if they did at the time, or if she's lying) and you will ask them if they would just allow you to make a presentation about the knives to them. If they say no, you never bother them again, but if they say yes, you go ahead and make an appointment, present and, besides asking if they would like to buy and submitting their order, ask them if they know anyone at all that would like to hear them out. Now, granted, you won't get many people to go to sometimes, but the point of the job is that you just keep finding more people to present, because you'll be paid $11-$15 per presentation, which usually they last an hour or less (hence why they state "$__ p/ hour). Anyway, its hard work, and if you're not charismatic, or a good socializer or public speaker, then you won't do well in this job. Not every job is for everyone, and that is people tend to forget. Hope anyone reading this heeds this and thinks carefully before signing up for somthing that will not be worth it.

Answer 9

It is not a scam, but it does have it's drawbacks. I worked for them back in 1993.

They sell the best cutlery I have ever used. The few knives I acquired while working for them are still razor sharp. I have seen some people try to compare CUTCO 1810 surgical steel with the 440 steel they sell at any Walmart. I can tell you that is untrue. The people I worked for/with were cool as could.

As stated before it is a very difficult job to get a large gross pay if you are not an A type personality. Being an introvert of sorts, I had problems asking for referals. The selling of the cutlery was pretty easy, it sold itself with quality. . I could never work for them again, but if you are a go getter you can do well in that job. The prices were really high , but I got a sale from 9 out of 10 appointments I set. I made about $12 per hour, the problem was I would go days without appoinments. The prices today are even higher which is a drawback to the job. With most jobs you get what you put into it.

I would ask that you judge the job based on the effort put into it. Also if you don't have contacts that can afford the lofty prices, don't take the job. You are selling fine quality, but it is disheartening to make a sale only to have the customer cancel because a set of knives is a car payment.

Answer 10

Vector marketing scam, Cutco knives: http://amzn.to/1F2yf1P

Answer 11

I work there as a sales rep and now I'm a receptionist. Honestly it is not a scam. I get paid really well and i love my job. However both jobs are very complicated. As a sales rep you make $15.50 for every appointment you go and do. So you either go to their house or have a virtual demo (online). The $15.50 is guaranteed money so whether you make a sale or not. They also have commission when you do sell the products. As a receptionist you get paid $8.50 an hour. If you don't work hard you won't get the money like you think you would or if you're a receptionist you will get fired. I wouldn't be working for 2 years here if it was a scam.