Do those "gifting " schemes actually work?

Question

This is the snail mail version...
you get a list of addresses. Say five of them.
give the person at the top $10.
remove their name
add your name and address to the bottom of the list
send a letter out to 200 people inviting them to do the same thing.

It's based on honesty of 3% of the recipients and a large sample group....I don't see how it can fail....but does anyone have any experience to prove it?

There are heaps of similar schemes on the net...
but they may not be legal.

Thanks for your opinions Prusa & Judy. My opinion about this scheme is much like yours, and that is why I want some info from someone who has done the scheme.

If 'gulliable 'people are honest (ie they don't que jump and they do gift $10) then the scheme cannot die out.

Do the math(s) with a 3% response rate over five levels.

3% of 200 is 6 (who send out 200 letters)
3% of 1200 is 36 (who send out 200 letters)
3% of 7200 is 216 (who send out 200 letters)
3% of 43 200 is 1296 (ditto)
3 % of 259 200 is 7 776 (who send you $ 10 )

Thats $...oh gosh I can't work it out!

Quite enough money for being 'gullible' and investing a few hours honestly.

Most of us have an opinion about this scheme. But, has any one got a first hand account? Did this work or not? Please tell.

Cheers!

Answer 1

Anyone who falls for any of these kinds of schemes is a fool. Don't waste your time or money as success is all about hard work, sacrifice, luck, and the ability to leverage money.

Answer 2

They used to call them chain letters, and by snail mail they used to be illegal, probably still are.

No, they don't work. Why do you call it "honesty" that 3% of the recipients of these letters would fall for the scheme? Gullibility maybe, but has nothing to do with honesty.

The reason they don't work is that it pretty much dies by the time your name would reach the top of the list.