We just know what bliss kitchenware brings to mothers around the world. Moms would much likely adore a non-stick marble pan than a jewelry hiding inside a beautiful decoupage box. Try giving her one as a gift and perhaps, she’d throw you the warmest and the tightest hugs she could offer. Nevertheless, you might want to reconsider that idea if you are about to wrap a box of Pampered Chef kitchenware.
Well, we are not saying that having pieces of kitchenware from Pampered Chef is a wrong move, but you might not want to give your mom a fright, by giving her the idea of you being part of something that could possibly be a pyramid scheme. Oh, are we saying that Pampered Chef’s a scam? No, but we are saying that such fright exists as many wonder about the truth of the matter. Well, who knows really? Let’s dig for answers and that’s the main point of the article you are reading today: Is Pampered Chef a pyramid scheme?
Who is the Pampered Chef?
- Company: Pampered Chef
- Founder: Doris Christopher
- Products: Kitchen Products
- Website: www.pamperedchef.com
- Cost to Join: $109 - $249 Starter Kits and $150 sales a month to stay active
Well, first off, we are not talking about a well-fed chef with rosy cheeks nor a spoiled man with a white toque. No, Honey. Pampered Chef is a multi-level marketing company (MLM) company offering a line of kitchen tools, food products and cookbooks that was founded by Doris Christopher in 1980. Just like any inspiring founders who started their company, Christopher started this humble business in the basement of her suburban Chicago home. She began directly selling to consumers by having in-home demonstration cooking. Oh, I know what you have in your mind and you’re right, it was a tactic that was first popularized by Tupperware. Classic!
By hosting various demonstration cooking sessions, the company managed to expand in the entire United States and soon, in Germany and Canada.
Hmm… This story sounds quite innocent, doesn’t it? For sure, this company isn’t something that could bring you harm, right? Erm… I’d say, let’s dig deeper.
Pampered Chef Products
One of the natures of MLM companies is that they sell their brand. MLM companies try to take pride in their works claiming that their products are the best of the best, the finest of the finest. This is one of the reasons why most MLM products are quite pricey. Nevertheless, Pampered Chef is one of those MLM companies that manages to hold their dignity in bragging about the quality of their works. From various reviews, a lot of people who purchased the products expressed their satisfaction at the quality. A lot of positive reviews were made for the stainless steel non-stick wok, tortilla warmer and deluxe cooking blender.
Nevertheless, let us admit that we can always find the same items with the same qualities (but a heck lot cheaper) from other stores. This is the most prevalent issue that Pampered Chef faces most of the time and it is quite undeniable since the company is known for its high-priced items.
How Do I Earn?
Of course, selling the products of the Pampered Chef would be the first thing that would pop out of your mind. Here, you can earn money by selling the products yourself. You got that right, Buddy: direct sales. Pampered Chef is quite clear when it comes to the commissions you’d get from selling their products. The rule is obvious: the more sales you make, the higher the commission you get. Here is the progress of commission depending on the sales that a consultant could make:
- $1-$749 sales/mo 20% commission
- $750-$1249 sales/mo 22% commission
- $1250-$2499 sales/mo 23% commission
- $2500-$3999 sales/mo 24% commission
- $4000+ sales/mo 25% commission
Note: When your total sales reach $15K, your commission rate will increase by 2%.
It is also mandatory for you to at least sell $150 worth of Pampered Chef items a month to remain as an active consultant. Nevertheless, the Pampered Chef doesn’t just basically survive and rely on the earnings it gets through direct sales. And yes, that’s the point we’d like to repeat and pronounce: Pampered Chef is a multi-level marketing company. Capital M, capital L, capital M.
You. Recruit. People.
Given that fact, this gives you wide opportunities to earn more since the Pampered Chef offers various bonuses rooting from MLM recruitments. Here are some of the different ways you could benefit from recruiting other consultants and having your own downline.
- Recruiting Bonus – Obviously, you get this from having your recruits.
- Activity Bonus – This bonus is being generated from the activity of your recruits. As long as you have active hard-working recruits, you’ll have this bonus. So, you better hit the right birds on this one.
- Team Overrides – Do you know what’s sweeter than getting commissions from the recruits you brought in? It’s when your recruits enlist their own consultants making your downline (and source of earnings) wider.
- Leadership Overrides – Do what’s even sweeter than your recruits getting more recruits? It is when these people bring in more individuals to be a part of your downline and form a “generation”.
Sounds tempting, right? Well, if you really intend to take things seriously at Pampered Chef and sell and recruit intensely, you would advance to the ranks listed below:
- Consultant
- Senior Consultant
- Team Leader
- Director Promotion
- Director Maintenance
- Director Re-promotion
- Advanced Director
- Senior Director
- Executive Director
- Senior Executive Director
- National Executive Director
Sounds even MORE tempting, right? Imagine yourself receiving commissions from the sales being generated by the people under you. That must be quite lovely; being pampered by their sweat and hard work. But, really, how would you get to the top just to enjoy such benefits? Simple: sell, recruit, sale, and recruit. But how far can you do it?
Pampered Chef is an MLM: What's the scare?
That shouldn’t sound an alarm. Right. Given the fact that MLM is totally legal and the Pampered Chef offers enticing ways to earn, it appears to be a very tempting opportunity.
But why do people hold back from such a tempting offer? Well, here’s the catch, this MLM shares some features with a pyramid scheme which makes people want to think about it not just once but maybe a couple more times.
A Review: Fine Line Between MLM and Pyramid Scheme
First off, let us get this straight: pyramid scheme is something that we all despise everywhere in the world since it is illegal. Freaking illegal. It is like a dog dung sticking under your shoes until you realize its horrible presence when it starts stinking. Well, that’s a horrible metaphor but just like that, pyramid scheme is undeniably nasty in its own way, too.
Companies performing illegal pyramid schemes earn by recruiting investors who would later recruit more investors and so on until the scheme makes an enormous pyramid of investors. They all earn through the investment of newly hired recruits who are figuratively at the bottom part of the system. Unwittingly, these people put in their funds to something that is non-existent and worst, their finances being sucked dry by those at the top of the pyramid. Soon, without enough individuals to fool, the numbers of the new investors who should sustain the flow of finances would stop. This would then be the start of the entire scheme’s crash and everyone’s loss especially those at the bottom. Boom!
Nevertheless, MLM is quite different from that. MLM companies do present concrete products. But the thing is, just like the first one, MLM sales force branches out by recruiting other consultants and profiting from the sales of those who are newly-recruited. Thus, it has a system that somehow resembles the pyramid scheme. Nevertheless, the fact that it has products to sell makes this tactic legally accepted by the Federal Trade Commission (FDA). Sneaky peaches.
Pampered Chef: Pyramid Scheme Hiding Under MLM Alias?
In order for us to answer this question, we need to see first how much earning one could make from joining the Pampered Chef. Would you profit greatly from selling their products? Or would these earnings that are rightfully yours end up in someone else’s pocket? Let’s start with the sign up kits that you need to purchase to become an official Pampered Chef consultant.
They offer three kits: the Starter Kit worth $109 with items having the value of over $450, the Deluxe Kit worth $159 with items having the value of $650 and the Ultimate Kit worth $249 with items having the value of $1000.
I know, I know. Your brows suddenly went into a sharp position by reading that. Does it mean that Pampered Chef obliges the aspiring consultants to buy the products to make more profits? Well, yes. But as we see it, it isn’t just a way to generate additional income for the company, but it also aids the consultants to get a better view of the items that they would be selling.
Upon purchasing these kits, you would be offered with various training to guide you in getting started. In this, you’d be educated on ways to grow your team, submitting your orders, and parties. Oh, are you surprised by the “party” part? Well, get a hold of yourself because I am not pertaining to fun merrymakings you know. Instead, Pampered Chef parties serve as a platform of the company to showcase and sell its products to possible buyers. And that could be a catch for those introverts who hate attending gatherings like this. So, if you’re one of those people who grit their teeth whenever facing a crowd, this could be a problem for you. In these parties, Pampered Chef entices customers to host parties by providing them great discounts on various items. This is where your role comes in as you would be the one responsible in planning and attending the party. Nevertheless, some consultants host their own parties, as well but it isn’t actually quite ideal. Well, the reason is obvious: throwing a party can cause you a lot. It’s quite a good thing for you to get the items at a discounted rate and have some people purchase some items, but just the mere fact that you need to provide some foods and drinks to your guests could consume all the entirety of your target profit. The company wins and you lose. It’s like a suicide. Ouch!
The Success of Pampered Chef Consultants
It is said that the success of the company itself relies on the triumph being enjoyed by its small-time employees. That is true, but that statement is quite the opposite of what is happening to most, if not all MLM businesses. According to the 2017 report by the Consumer Awareness Institute, 99 percent of individuals joining MLM lose their money. You got that right: 9 and another 9. That is quite shocking, I know, especially that almost all of these MLM companies promise nothing but good luxurious life and MLM salespeople posting photos of lavish cars, money, and all. Hmm, does anyone smell the sweet bait?
Let’s take a look at Mary Kay, one of the leading MLM companies nowadays. From the Fraud Files Blog’s post showing the 2018 earning representation of Mary Kay in Canada, only 1743 of 29500 independent salesforce of Mary Kay earned commissions of over $100 for the year. On the other hand, 223 people earned commissions of 20,378 to over $100k and nine people earned over $100K. I know! We know how shocking those figures are!
This is the main reason why most MLM companies fall into their ends. Very few people enjoy the riches being promised by MLM. To make things worse, the commissions of the people at the bottom of the system are being sucked away from them by the people at the top of the system!
How about Pampered Chef? Does it do the same to its people? Well, besides the commissions you could get from making sales, we really can’t provide you the breakdown of the earning representation of the Pampered Chef since it doesn’t release one to the public. Hmm… are you saying something’s fishy? Well, we can’t tell until we see the figures. Nevertheless, we just can’t help but ask why? We could only hypothesize. However, these are figures that you might want to see:
- 2018 $280 million
- 2017 $295 million
- 2016 $310 million
- 2015 $320 million
If the company itself is experiencing some downfall in its revenue, how much more for the consultants at the bottom part of the system. We would leave that thought for you to ponder, Jimmy Neutron.
Point Blank: Scam or Legit?
Pampered Chef, with the products it offers, is considered as a legitimate MLM business. However, the fact that some of the earnings being used to sustain those at the top of the system come from the sweat of the new recruits is a feature it shares with the pyramid scheme, which somehow breaks the natural justice of the world.
It is true that it is favorable for you if you are good at recruiting people. This would give you a sufficient downline. The commissions of people under you would directly go to your pocket. Hooray! But this isn’t a good thing if you are at the bottom and a N-E-W-B-I-E since the commission you should have been receiving would just be sucked away by the people above you. Dang!
This is one of the reasons why there is a high rate of failure in MLM companies. Many individuals tend to quit as it is obvious that they are not being compensated well despite the hardships they are braving just to make sales and gain commission. Recruiting other individuals could be a great option. That’s if you want to climb into another level, but providing continuous flow of these recruits could be a challenge once the market is already infiltrated by consultants like you trying to bait their own recruits.
Weighing Things: Pros and Cons
Before you decide whether you would join Pampered Chef MLM or not, let us wrap things up by having the list of the company’s pros and cons:
Pros
- The Pampered Chef has been around for quite a long time now. Its origin dates back in 1980. It is also one of the most well-established MLM businesses.
- If we still haven’t told you, the company’s products are ensured by a 30-day money back guarantee.
- It has a clear compensation plan though it isn’t quite impressive.
- The company offers products with good qualities.
- Despite being an MLM, the Pampered Chef doesn’t suck earnings from down 10 levels
Cons
- The prices of the products are quite expensive and you can actually find the same products from other stores that have the same quality but have lower prices.
- You really need to invest time to earn well and get fair commissions. And don’t forget about the parties you need to attend!
- Pampered Chef uses parties to promote its product. This is quite outdated given the fact that there are other platforms (like social media) that you could use to save more money in presenting the products.
- Despite being one of the well-established MLMs, Pampered Chef is STILL an MLM that has a 99 percent chance of failure- or so, Consumer Awareness Institute 2017 report says.
Should I Join?
Given the facts above, it is clear that anyone planning to join an MLM business like Pampered Chef should invest a lot of time. With lots of competitions around nowadays, promoting products of Pampered Chef could be quite a challenge. This would probably require you a heck lot of time if you really want to get fair commission.
Again, we all know how MLM entices to gain continuous flow of recruits. Well, we admit that it is possible for you to earn six figures AS LONG AS you dedicate everything to be on top. And that’s the part everyone needs to realize; climbing the peak of an MLM business is truly hard.
Now, if you are willing to start with little compensation and most of it your earnings going to those at the upper part of the system, give it a try. Nevertheless, we all know that we need to invest in things that could guarantee us enough compensation for all the hard work we are doing. That’s how you spot a company honoring your dignity not just a worker trying to make a living, but as a person with value.
With this, we are leaving this decision for you to answer. We believe that you have the sound mind to weigh these things.
Conclusion: The Verdict
It is obvious that despite the fact that MLM is legal, we, here at LegendaryWallet, warn you before diving into such business. Though Pampered Chef shows better images than other MLM businesses, the high possibility ending up with nothing is still there. Yet, in any case you really want to give this thing a try, just make sure to push your way to the higher level, as that is the only way to enjoy your compensations. In MLM, it takes an out-of-the-world perseverance to defy the possibility of failure waiting somewhere along the way.
We do hope that we enlightened you with the right insights before making up your decision whether to join this company or not. After all, we all just want the same thing: to earn well while being respected and valued.
Do you have other ideas on your mind that seems to be a better way to make ends meet? Well, we do! We actually do and we are more than thrilled to share it to you! We have been earning quite well from this business for quite some years now and we want to tell you how. Just click here and learn how.
If you have any thoughts, suggestions and comments, let us know by leaving your message below. Also, don’t forget to share this page to help others see the truth behind MLMs!