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Seriously. Like, I want someone to come to my house with a loving vacuum cleaner and pour dirt on my floor. You know and then he'd be all like, "check out this sweet vac-o-matic" and I'd be all like, "wow, and it really really works." I mean, one time I had some shady dudes in a white van attempt to sell me steaks from the back of said white van but it just wasn't the same. They should have brought like a little hibachi or something. They weren't even wearing cheesy dime-store suits. They were dressed like dudes that work for a moving company. No spiel. Just, "hey you want meat." Not your meat, sir. Not your meat. Bring back the WOW. You know, the spectacle. I might buy some steak knives. If I see you cut a loving boot in half with one RIGHT ON MY DOORSTEP.
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Oct 22, 2018 18:03
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They still exist and door-to-door is still a widely used sales technique, most frequently in trash MLM jobs but also in surprisingly legitimate marketing positions, like health insurance or pest control sales. It is somehow both miserably boring and loving terrifying at the same time because you’re sweating your rear end off driving down random roads and could end up with a crazy with a gun, an angry dog chasing you, or a creepy guy who lets you in because he’s really interested in your...product
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Oct 22, 2018 18:07
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extra row of teeth posted:They still exist and door-to-door is still a widely used sales technique, most frequently in trash MLM jobs but also in surprisingly legitimate marketing positions, like health insurance or pest control sales. This sounds more desperate and sad than fun.
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Oct 22, 2018 18:13
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Really busy loving MILFs according to some documentaries I've seen on xvideos.
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Oct 22, 2018 18:13
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Kinda was going for fun.
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Oct 22, 2018 18:13
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Literally A Person posted:Seriously. Like, I want someone to come to my house with a loving vacuum cleaner and pour dirt on my floor. You know and then he'd be all like, "check out this sweet vac-o-matic" and I'd be all like, "wow, and it really really works." I mean, one time I had some shady dudes in a white van attempt to sell me steaks from the back of said white van but it just wasn't the same. They should have brought like a little hibachi or something. They weren't even wearing cheesy dime-store suits. They were dressed like dudes that work for a moving company. No spiel. Just, "hey you want meat." Not your meat, sir. Not your meat. LOL I used to sell meat door to door. I actually put my wife through two years of college and paid for our wedding and ring that way. I had to hustle my rear end off but that was the early 90's and I was young and good at it, well most of the time anyway. Seemed like there were some days I could sell ice to an eskimo and others I couldn't give it away. Saw some poo poo though my God!
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Oct 22, 2018 18:18
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Literally A Person posted:Kinda was going for fun. Door to door sales and sadness are inherently intertwined, sorry If you’re not doing an MLM though it felt way more fun cashing in a commission from a successful sale at the end of the day than slogging through the office days counting down to your next paycheck.
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Oct 22, 2018 18:21
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They are a lot less common for two big reasons, one economic and one social. 1) The middle class is shrinking, the poor are growing. The middle class is the prime market for door to door sales, because they have money to spend and are accessible (they live in neighborhoods you can just walk around in). The rich aren't accessible, and the poor don't have enough spending money to draw a profit off your time. 2) People used to be ok with unexpected guests at their door, but now they aren't. In decades past people often knew many of their neighbors and would be accustomed to an unexpected but not unwelcome visitor. Also, the limits of technology (no cell phones, no digital route guidance) meant that strangers looking for directions, help with car trouble, or other mundane matters weren't unheard of. Now it's all different. Most people barely speak to their neighbors and rarely visit each other. Technology has enabled the common traveler to get to their destination, or to summon help for car trouble, without ever having to rely on assistance from locals. And of top of that, modern advertising and the abundance of spam bombards the average person so constantly these days that we're conditioned to ward off unexpected communication from unfamiliar sources. We're too weary of ads and wary of spam/scams to favorably receive an unfamiliar face at the door.
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Oct 22, 2018 18:28
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I know it's a sad comment on society nowadays but if you knock on my door who the gently caress are you and go the gently caress away, period. And ? aren't I in the majority?
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Oct 22, 2018 18:31
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Chomp8645 posted:They are a lot less common for two big reasons, one economic and one social.
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Oct 22, 2018 18:34
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spinderella posted:I know it's a sad comment on society nowadays but if you knock on my door who the gently caress are you and go the gently caress away, period. I like visitors 
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Oct 22, 2018 18:35
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Compton. 
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Oct 22, 2018 18:37
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You need to stay home when normal people are out working. I get people on my door step who are authorised by $energycompany to offer me a amazing deal on my electricity and gas price if would just be willing to switch my supplies to $energycompany. But you are right services are a bit lame, where are the people trying to sell me a 26 volume encyclopedia?
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Oct 22, 2018 18:41
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ncumbered_by_idgits posted:LOL I used to sell meat door to door. I actually put my wife through two years of college and paid for our wedding and ring that way. I had to hustle my rear end off but that was the early 90's and I was young and good at it, well most of the time anyway. Seemed like there were some days I could sell ice to an eskimo and others I couldn't give it away. Saw some poo poo though my God! Post stories!!
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Oct 22, 2018 18:41
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There’s a bunch of shady companies that lurk about college campuses trying to convince naive middle-class kids that they can get rich as door-to-door salesmen spellings knives and vacuums and all manner of household appliances. The trick here is that they make you buy the stock (which you will of course make back when you sell them!) and encourage you to sell to your family (so you can get practice when you start going door-to-door!). They also ask you to pay money to go to special conferences (where you can learn from the experts in our suspiciously pyramidal organization!) I had three cousins who came home one day raving about how they were going to make it big selling CutCo knives. They were able to load off a few sets on some sympathetic relatives but lost a bunch of money because no one in their right mind is going to buy a bunch of knives from some kid off the street.
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Oct 22, 2018 18:41
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in my country the only door to door salesmen I've seen are those piece of poo poo bastard scammers that try to get you to sign a contract to buy gas or electricity from another power company because it's cheaper (they of course then raise the prices through the roof 3 months after you've signed and have you pay a ridiculously high "contract cancellation fee"). They typically lie about what company they are with or even carry fake credentials from another gas company so people open their doors when they say "have you heard about our new, lower prices?" and typically prey on the poor, the elderly or those who don't speak french very well. I think they should be hunted down for sport
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Oct 22, 2018 18:43
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I once got a dude knocking on my door trying to sell burglary alarms. I declined. In China a guy was selling insect poison door to door and I bought some as I had cockroaches, but then I never used the poison anyway.
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Oct 22, 2018 18:46
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For awhile it seemed like every homestuck pothead i knew sold kirby vacuum cleaners door to door.
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Oct 22, 2018 18:51
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iirc, they would advertise with flyers like, “Wanna make $28.00 an hour learning valuable marketing skills instead of flipping burgers for minimum wage? Call 555-555-1234.” Then it would turn out that the $28.00 estimate was based around the assumption that you would sell a packet of knives every hour for nine hours every day, which is insane. I imagine that the weird Facebook “buy my Mary Kay make-up” subculture fills the same function for these kinds of scams, except more targeted at young women.
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Oct 22, 2018 19:02
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QuoProQuid posted:iirc, they would advertise with flyers like, “Wanna make $28.00 an hour learning valuable marketing skills instead of flipping burgers for minimum wage? Call 555-555-1234.” Then it would turn out that the $28.00 estimate was based around the assumption that you would sell a packet of knives every hour for nine hours every day, which is insane. They're officially called MLMs or pyramid schemes and yes, CutCo door to door and Mary Kay facebook marketing all fall under the MLM umbrella. They have a host of horror stories associated with them that range from hilarious to depressing. Long story short, unless you are a company founder it’s a scam and you could lose thousands of dollars trying them.
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Oct 22, 2018 19:06
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No one likes to hear a knock on their door. I had a city school board candidate knock on my door the other day and it scared the poo poo out of me because I was high as poo poo and thought it was the cops coming to shoot me It's 2018... send me an email that I can ignore, jesus.
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Oct 22, 2018 20:02
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Creamed Cormp posted:in my country the only door to door salesmen I've seen are those piece of poo poo bastard scammers that try to get you to sign a contract to buy gas or electricity from another power company because it's cheaper (they of course then raise the prices through the roof 3 months after you've signed and have you pay a ridiculously high "contract cancellation fee"). They typically lie about what company they are with or even carry fake credentials from another gas company so people open their doors when they say "have you heard about our new, lower prices?" and typically prey on the poor, the elderly or those who don't speak french very well. This happens in New York all the time. Their opening line is usually some kind of lie about how they are with Con Ed. I've had two experiences from these companies: the first one tried to bully and threaten me into changing my gas company, and the second one, who seemed like a good salesman, tried a little more finesse. But it's the same scam either way.
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Oct 22, 2018 20:38
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Chomp8645 posted:They are a lot less common for two big reasons, one economic and one social. Yeah, it's this.
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Oct 22, 2018 21:06
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This thread is on a one way bus to Downersville. How about a jolly door-to-door sales story? Someone has to have one. Also, if you give me a minute to charge my camera I will show you guys a rad business card from an mlm lady. She was p. cool and I think I am not cool enough to buy her products.
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Oct 22, 2018 21:12
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Here, look at this and laugh:  Dudes, Increased Bioavailability  
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Oct 22, 2018 21:19
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Literally A Person posted:Here, look at this and laugh: Meth?
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Oct 22, 2018 21:29
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My Mum used to buy meat from door to door salesmen - this was before your average supermarket would have duck or pheasant breasts, wood pigeon and the like. They were not "cheap", but were good quality. You could buy a whole, barely dead duck if you wanted, to pluck, dress, and hang it for a few days. Long gone now... all she does is buy dishcloths and stuff from the "Learning Disabled" people that some gangmaster sends out.
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Oct 22, 2018 21:29
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we can talk about death of a salesman if you want, op door-to-door salesman gigs have always been kind of garbage/ metaphors for the destructive illusion that is the american dream QuoProQuid fucked around with this message at 21:36 on Oct 22, 2018 |
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Oct 22, 2018 21:31
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They're in MLM schemes, are almost exclusively women in their 30s-50s, and they're on Facebook instead of going door to door.
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Oct 22, 2018 21:33
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QuoProQuid posted:we can talk about death of a salesman if you want, op Just don't whistle on the elevator.
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Oct 22, 2018 21:44
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Chomp8645 posted:They are a lot less common for two big reasons, one economic and one social. this and also how many stay-at-home parents are there nowadays? you knock on my door at six when i'm trying to eat dinner and/or drink a beer and there's zero chance of me listening to you. back in the day my dad's tactic was to be so over-the-top creepily interested in the salesperson's personal life ("oh, i don't care about what you're selling- i care about you") that they would suddenly find all kinds of reasons to gtfo
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Oct 22, 2018 21:45
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Maybe if they could get the new leads they might be more successful.
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Oct 22, 2018 21:48
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Literally A Person posted:Seriously. Like, I want someone to come to my house with a loving vacuum cleaner and pour dirt on my floor. You know and then he'd be all like, "check out this sweet vac-o-matic" and I'd be all like, "wow, and it really really works." I mean, one time I had some shady dudes in a white van attempt to sell me steaks from the back of said white van but it just wasn't the same. They should have brought like a little hibachi or something. They weren't even wearing cheesy dime-store suits. They were dressed like dudes that work for a moving company. No spiel. Just, "hey you want meat." Not your meat, sir. Not your meat. that's a lot of damage
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Oct 22, 2018 21:53
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ncumbered_by_idgits posted:Seemed like there were some days I could sell ice to an eskimo and others I couldn't give it away. Saw some poo poo though my God! Please share your true life door-to-door horror stories. The more WTF the better.
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Oct 22, 2018 21:57
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funkybottoms posted:this and also how many stay-at-home parents are there nowadays? you knock on my door at six when i'm trying to eat dinner and/or drink a beer and there's zero chance of me listening to you. Yeah this kind of constitutes a third factor, albeit less major than the first two I think. Homemakers and home ownership. When single-income families were more common, and easy entertainment less common, salesmen could thrive. Under the old paradigm of "dad goes to work, mom keeps the home", mom would be home on most days with plenty of time and little to do. A person can only watch so much TV (especially before digital recording and streaming), and some families only had one car, which the partner would have taken to work. This could actually make the salesman's appearance at the door a welcome distraction, obviously a huge boon for the trade. Today the average middle class family won't even have someone home to answer the door on a workday, and if even if they are home they probably have a plethora of digital entertainment, or a car to take them someplace interesting, and are just less likely to have abundant free time. The welcome distraction has become an unwelcome one. Additionally, many traditional door-to-door sales products were based on selling to families and homeowners. Life insurance, homeowner's insurance, house siding, kitchen tools and appliances. With reproduction rates and home ownership rates plummeting, these buyers for these products are evaporating. Many houses today are occupied by childless couples, couples that have children but both work, or by roommates that don't constitute a family unit. Without children, a couple is far less concerned about life insurance, especially if both are capable of working in the event of their partner's passing. Dual-income also means they probably cook a lot less and eat out more, especially without children to feed, meaning kitchen tools and appliances are harder sells. And renters, which make up a larger and larger share of home-dwellers every year, will never buy things like homeowner's insurances or property upgrades because they don't own the property. The person who would buy those products is simply not on the premises, making a door to door tactic useless. Meme Poker Party fucked around with this message at 22:08 on Oct 22, 2018 |
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Oct 22, 2018 22:05
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ncumbered_by_idgits posted:LOL I used to sell meat door to door. I actually put my wife through two years of college and paid for our wedding and ring that way. I had to hustle my rear end off but that was the early 90's and I was young and good at it, well most of the time anyway. Seemed like there were some days I could sell ice to an eskimo and others I couldn't give it away. Saw some poo poo though my God! That is called pimping, I heard it's not easy.
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Oct 22, 2018 22:10
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A few years back I was visiting my folks and this vacuum cleaner saleswoman stopped by with her fifteen hundred dollar vacuum, tried showing us how much dirt was in our carpets and there wasn't any since mom had cleaned that morning. Then she said our house would be even cleaner if we kept our 16 year old dog outside. We politely ejected her from the house shortly thereafter.
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Oct 22, 2018 22:10
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Mr.Pibbleton posted:A few years back I was visiting my folks and this vacuum cleaner saleswoman stopped by with her fifteen hundred dollar vacuum, tried showing us how much dirt was in our carpets and there wasn't any since mom had cleaned that morning. Then she said our house would be even cleaner if we kept our 16 year old dog outside. We politely ejected her from the house shortly thereafter. Now if she had a dog vacuum that might be a different story.
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Oct 22, 2018 22:14
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Who would want door to door meat? Hello there, I'm a random stranger without the credibility of being able to maintain a brick and mortar store front. I've been wandering the streets with this highly perishable foodstuff. It is possibly the hardest type of food to visually determine quality, edibility or even source of. It is widely available literally everywhere, but why not buy it from me? It's convenient because I'm already standing before you, holding this blood stained dripping paperbag.
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Oct 22, 2018 22:22
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Shortly after we moved in this guy came to the door saying he lived down the street and noticed a lot of solicitors in the neighborhood lately. So he made some no soliticing signs as a hobby project and would I like one? They were free, but a donation of a few bucks for materials would be cool. 95% of the neighborhood has them, including my friends who live 15 miles away. Other than that it's just kids raising money for sports or pest control businesses who just finished a job.
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Oct 22, 2018 22:25
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