| PRODUCT | 2008 Prices | Current Price | New Price | New Price Increase | % Increase | Total Vitamin E (IU) |
| HealthPak100 | $107.00 | $110.00 | $114.00 | $4.00 | 3.6% | 11200 |
| Essentials | $39.95 | $42.50 | $45.45 | $2.95 | 6.9% | 11200 |
| Body Rox | $17.95 | $19.95 | $22.50 | $2.55 | 12.8% | 5600 |
| Usanimals | $12.50 | $12.50 | $13.95 | $1.45 | 11.6% | 2800 |
| Mega Antioxidant | $30.95 | $32.50 | $35.50 | $3.00 | 9.2% | 11200 |
| Mega Antioxidant without Vitamin K | NA | $30.95 | $35.45 | $4.50 | 14.5% | 11200 |
Poor distributors just got through experiencing a price increase and now they are faced with another. Good thing shipping is free. Oh wait, it's not? So add on about $8 to $10 in shipping and you got yourself a product nobody is going to pay for, except distributors. Looks like USANA simply pulled some numbers out of a hat and thought nobody would notice their inconsistency. USANA even increased the price of the Usanimals by 11%, and you thought it was all about the children.
I believe the reason they increased the Usanimals by 11% is because distributors will continue to buy it as part of their "Charitable Donation". USANA makes a killing on this one. Charge the distributor full price ($13.95) and claim it as a "Charitable Donation". USANA then sends a single bottle of Usanimals to the Children's Hunger Fund charity at their cost (about $2). USANA pockets the rest of the money. That's very sleazy and is proof enough to me that it isn't about helping children. USANA should send $13.95 worth of Usanimals to the Children's Hunger Fund, which might be about 5 or 6 bottles, not just 1.
Now 90% of USANA products sold are purchased by USANA distributors who are paying over $110 to $220 every 28 days to meet their
In order to participate in USANA's business opportunity, distributors must "personally purchase" a certain amount of product every 4 weeks (13 times a year). If the distributor fails to make this personal purchase, that distributor loses (stolen back by USANA) any points they may have accumulated from their preferred customer sales or from their downline distributor's own personal purchases (who also face the same dilemma). The distributor is also no longer eligible to collect any commission. This is the main premise of USANA's pyramid scheme. Your not paid upfront to recruit. However, you are paid commission from your recruit's required personal purchases, which is still a pyramid scheme. USANA would collapse if they removed this personal purchase requirement.
There is some good news though. Retail customers do not need to worry about these price increases because they (the retail customer) do not exist. So at least there is one group of people who will not suffer, imaginary as they are.
I'm all for capitalism and believe companies have a right to succeed and profit. But they should be required to do it legally and legitimately. Running a pyramid scheme is illegal. According to the FTC "...a multi-level compensation system funded primarily by payments made for the right to participate in the venture is an illegal pyramid scheme." It then goes on and states "Modem pyramid schemes generally do not blatantly base commissions on the outright payment of fees, but instead try to disguise these payments to appear as if they are based on the sale of goods or services. The most common means employed to achieve this goal is to require a certain level of monthly purchases to qualify for commissions." So USANA would be a pyramid scheme by this definition.
Hi.. thanks for your hard work putting this together. Just went to the USANA web site and found out a bottle of Usanimals cost $15
ReplyDeletehttp://shop.usana.com/shop/cart/ProductDetails?ProductID=105.010103
1) Where did you get your price of $13.95 from?
2) Why they should send 5-6 bottles if one costs $13.95?
Oh, then I found out it is $12, if you buy to donate..it looks like USANA is knocking off $3, for donations. Look forward to your clarifications, and thanks in advance.
DeleteDon't pay any attention to Wholesale or Retail prices because nobody in the world actually pays those prices. The price people pay for USANA products is the "autoship" price. There are about 1 million USANA distributors enrolled who have access to "autoship" prices. Many distributors dump their inventory at half their cost on Ebay to recover the cost of participation.
Delete1) The current Distributor cost (and Preferred Customer cost) for 1 bottle of Usanimals is $12.50... The $13.95 is the new price USANA will increase it to on January 5, 2013.
ReplyDelete2) USANA asks their associates to donate a bottle of Usanimals to the Children's Hunger Fund. See the following link: http://shop.usana.com/shop/cart/ProductDetails?ProductID=899.010100C
The problem here is that USANA asks their distributors to donate a bottle of Usanimals for $12.00 (going up on January 5). The associate gets a $12.00 tax write off for a charitable donation. USANA then sends a single bottle of Usanimals to the Children's Hunger Fund which only costs them about $2.00... So USANA pockets $10.00 from your donation to the Children's Hunger Fund.
Lets put it this way. Say USANA asked their distributors to send in $12.00 which would be used to help the Children's Hunger Fund. You as the charitable donor would expect the Children's fund to receive $12.00 worth of product FROM USANA. Instead, USANA applies that $12.00 donation as a SALE in their system and sends the Children's hunger Fund $2.00 worth of product. Thus, USANA keeps the majority of the donated funds and applies it as a SALE in their system.
USANA has no business ripping off the Children's Hunger Fund by only sending 1 bottle of the Usanimals when the $12.00 is worth 6 Bottles at USANA's cost. USANA has no business profiting from those donations. Especially 83% of the donated money.
Do you disagree?
That's a good point! Coming from someone who is really a good person. Not like usana who pretends to be good so that people will be touched to buy products. The people that contribute to this blog is actually the positive people who want a positive effect in the economy. People in usana say that people that contribute to this blog are negative. That's not true at all.
DeleteI see your point, and I agree in principal, it looks like, USANA is benefiting from this more.
DeleteAt the same time, people donate food, for example, to the food bank, or toys to a toy drive, instead of cash. Even if you donate cash, then the food bank goes and buys food, so the food companies benefit more. :) So, if you donated the money directly to the fund, and they went and bought the vitamins, they would only get one bottle. I guess, you're just buying a bottle to be given to the fund. It is like I am buying a can of soup to be given to the food bank, because it is me who is making the donation, not USANA.
One other thing I noticed though, USANA says the
"The USANA family has given more than $18 million in cash and donations of Usanimals™ multi-vitamin and multi-mineral supplements to-date."
This is a substantial amount. I wonder how much of it came from the company and how much from the associates, and how much is the cash and how much is the supplement?
In general, do you have any research results that you'd like to share how much USANA, as a company, has given back to the World in donations over the years?
Thanks again with gratitude.
The difference with USANA asking distributors to donate a bottle of Usanimals to the Children's Hunger Fund and a Food Bank charity asking for money or food, is that the food bank doesn't own the store where the food is purchased from. With USANA, they ask the distributors to donate $12.00 on their website by having the distributor purchase a bottle of Usanimals (From USANA) and then USANA sends it directly to the Children's Hunger Fund. USANA profits immensely from the donations that are meant for the Children's Hunger Fund.
DeleteThe Children's Hunger Fund website states that they have received $14.9 million in Usanimals from USANA. This would imply that USANA really only sent over about $2.5 million worth of Usanimals (at USANA's cost) while USANA kept the remaining $12.4 million.
So when USANA claims they donate a million or two dollars to the CHF, you can bet that it was already suppose to have gone to the CHF from the distributors who made that donation in the first place. In the end, USANA still makes out with probably most of the donated funds.
I believe the IRS needs to really investigate this matter.
On their web site, I noticed a distributor can also make cash donations of $25, or $100. So, sending a bottle is only on option. If you want, you can send cash too. And their foundation claims 100% of the money goes to the Children's fund which is I think great because many foundations have an overhead which eats away 30-40%.
DeleteI don't think there is a case for the IRS, because it is the distributor making the donation not USANA. So, it is up to them to buy a bottle, or make cash donations. And if you're working for a company, whose growth is also your growth, what's wrong with using their product for a donation? Again, personally I would make a cash donation.
Keep up the good work.
Dear watchdog,
ReplyDeleteYou mention the Usanimals only cost $2.00 for Usana to make. You have also said in some of your previous posts that Usana's SEC filings show that Usana's cost to manufacture their vitamins are significantly lower than their retail price.
I am actually having a debate with a die hard Usana distributor and have been trying to find these SEC filings that show the real cost and less then 2% of resources that Usana devotes to research (which of course is not what they tell the public, they would have you believe they invest the majority of their money into research) to prove to him without a doubt how bad Usana rips off their customers and associates.
Can you please let us know where to find this information on Usana's cost of their supplements and the percentage of monies allocated to research and development?
To the poster above, Usana absolutely tries very hard to make the posters on here out to be negative people. Some in fact are, but the majority of us, speak from personal experience and hardships from attempting to achieve the dreams this company sold us on.
I actually saw a distributor on facebook last night bragging about how yesterday was such a great day because he had an amazing 1 hour training session with his new distributor recruit. When I commented on his post asking him if yesterday really was a good day because of the increase in prices, the report published on the Nasdaq about the declining stock, and resignment of Roy Truett, how did he repsond? He deleted me from his friend circle.
You shed any real solid proof to these Usana maniacs that Usana is full or crap and instead of engaging in an intellectual debate to defend their so called amazing company, they run away.
I feel bad for this guys new recruit. His welcome pack to Usana now includes a high cost for his monthly autoshipment. Now for him to simply recoup his monthly autoshipment cost on a monthly basis, he will need to sell 2,000 gross volume points (1,000 points on his left leg and his right leg) to earn a $200 check which would cover his monthly autoshipment and leave about $50 left.
So to generate these 1,000 points balanced perfectly on both legs to earn $200, he would need to sell at least 20 Healthpacks for $114 each not including shipping/taxes/processing fees so it really ends up being approximately $130 each totaling $2,600 worth of supplements EVERY month just to break even from his monthly autoshipment requirement.
How long do you think it will take him to acquire 20 new customers or new associates (who will also be on the same 100 point monthly requirement and will need to also find 20 people to cover their monthly autoshipment costs)? Unless he is excellent at brainwashing/convincing others, it will take a very long time. What will Usana do to this new recruit while he is working very hard and spending an enormous amount of time to build up his clientele, Usana will keep forcing him to pay for a monthly autoshipment each and every month regardless if he sells anything, or makes any money from his business.
What a great business model huh? Oh yeah thats right, sorry I am being negative according to some Usana folk.
You would find the information you are looking for in USANA's 10K Annual Financial SEC Filings
DeleteQUOTE
In fiscal years 2009, 2010, and 2011, we expended $3.6 million, $3.8 million, and $4.1 million, respectively, on product research and development activities. We intend to continue dedicating resources at similar levels for research and development in future years.
UNQUOTE - Page 8 of USANA's 2011 10K
Also, look of Page 40 for the "cost of sales" for what it costs USANA to manufacture the product.
USANA's Cost of Sales for 2009, 2010, and 2011 were $89.8 million, $95.4 million, and $101.6 million respectively.
Now in 2009, 2010, and 2011 USANA's net revenues were $436.9 million, $518.6 million, and $581.9 million respectively.
This translates into the following:
In 2011, USANA spent only 0.7% of their net revenue toward Research and Development. USANA's cost of sales was only 17.47% of their net revenue.
So if you paid $110 for a Healthpak100, it only cost USANA about $19.22 to produce it. Best of all, only $0.77 goes toward any Research and Development!
That's how usana reps are. They only care about who is in their downline. If you hurt their feelings about something against usana wether it's ethical or not they will block you on facebook. It's actually part of their brainwashing scheme.
DeleteI remember one of my downlines' family member (real family not downline) was hurt at the hospital. Our upline who is a diamond director
said to us "we'll why weren't you giving her any of the vitamins". I guess she/he thought the vitamins heal.
In our minds how stupid can this business be. He is still in selling mode after his family is hurt in the hospital. It just gives me so much hatred towards the brainwashing of usana. They are going overboard and they totally have new rules on what's right and what's wrong. To them praising and worshiping their diamond is top priority at a scale of 10... While feeding your kids or visiting a sick family in the hospital is rated priority of "who cares its not making any points in the DLM". They really got these new associates fooled..
I actually know that guy Roy turret.
It really motivates me to bring more out of the evil of usana reps but I do not want to start a typing war with these reps. Sometimes I post on here because usana has given me so much negative value to my life that I let my emotions on here to vent.
The thing that really pisses me off is that they talked about how powerful Usana products to keep you young. It is just merely Vitamin E as antioxidant. It is abundant everywhere.
ReplyDeleteYet, it is as if only Usana can solve the problem. Don't know why some doctors will recommend it. A 15-year-old teenager who is a science student should understand that you can get Vitamin(s) everywhere.
If you really want to live longer, you should learn Japanese. It is free!! culture, lifestyle, mindset, cuisine, exercise...
Unless they are just stupid, those who join MLM have same characteristics which are:
1) enjoy leveraging own benefits on other people efforts
2) weak-minded, can't resist the temptation of benefiting oneself by hurting others
Want more proof of how greedy Usana is and how they continue to make it so hard for their distributors to make money?
ReplyDeleteUsana has a new reset destination campaign focusing on weightloss and they are marketing it heavily for the new years resolution people.
People who want to participate need to purchase the Transform Kit or the Reset Transform Kit. They both come with the same products and the Reset Transfrom Kit also includes the 5 Day Reset.
The Transform Kit costs $272.95 (not including shipping and taxes and service fee) but only gives 180 points for the distrubutor (each product has an assigned point value that the distributor receives for selling that product. Typically that point to dollar ration is close to 1 point per dollar).
The Reset Transform Kit costs $319.95 (not including shipping, taxes, and service fees) but only gives 200 points to the distributor.
So these weight loss kits cost the consumer a fortune, only give 2 bags of the Chocolate Nutrimeal which tastes so much better than the vanilla, each bag has 9 servings (if you measure exactly) so that in total gives the customer 54 meals and so about 2 weeks worth, and then a months worth of vitamins, and ridiculously over priced snack bars that are very small. At the end of 2 weeks give or take the customer gets to buy another $200 plus dollars worth of products to continue on the program (because people have apparently forgotten how to lose weight the correct way - eat healthier, reduce calories, and excersise, and save a ton of money in the process.)
What does the distributor get for doing all the work to market this campaign, speak with customers, sell the customers on the hopes of following a program consisting of drinking shakes for at least 2 of the regular meals to lose the weight, and convincing them to take out a second mortgage to pay for the weight loss kits? The distributor gets nickel and dimed by Usana and loses over 100 points on the transaction. Furthermore, the distributor won't even make any money on these sales until they can generate over 1,000 points of product sales and balances these points perfectly on both their legs (500 each side) for them just to make $100.
This $100 won't even cover the distributors required 100 point autoshipment each month which costs at a minimum of $120 just to remain commission eligible.
I feel bad for the distributors who think they are actually going to get that highly lucrative residual income their uplines keep selling them on.
You have to have failed in math miserably to continue working in usana. I use to work for forever 21 and made much more income even though I was gold in usana. I had to beg my best friend to hit silver. She had to pay for 4 pro packs just so I can hit gold. We actually begged this army guy to buy a pro pack for my last 1250 points on my gold run. He actually thought he will be rich once he gets out of the army. I actually got out of usana because I couldn't pay for my phone bill. When that happened my upline couldn't contact me and when he couldn't I just gradually let go of usana and everyday it just felt right not to go
DeleteThe transform kit and reset transform kit come with a total of 6 nutrimeal bags (2 chocolate, 3 vanilla, and 1 strawberry) with 9 servings each. Total meals = 54.
ReplyDeleteNow USANA is targeting Philippines as their market. Since the government is not strict against scam, and with the high number of different religious cult members, it is an easy target. Lots of people are unfortunately gullible enough as long as they hear that they can earn in dollars.
ReplyDeleteLots of people had been victims of Ponzi schemes, and other pyramid scams, but they don't seem to learn anyway. Therefore it is a good marketplace.
Hello! I am from Philippines and I am really curious how much does a gold director earn on a monthly basis on this MLM? Can anyone answer me? Thank you guys :)
ReplyDeleteGold doesn't make any money. You mainly get points from pro packs. If your team stops recruiting then a gold will make zero dollars. If you keep paying autoship then you will actually be losing money. I seen gold directors with only 3 people in their team. Or golds with 30 people in one leg and nobody on their other leg which means no cash out. In slang this is called "the one legged nhi act". Most golds are in management trap because in the beginning they maxed out their warm market list with their gold run and also maxed out their bank account paying for points when they are only short a few points. For example on your 3rd week of silver if you have 3000 points on one side on a Friday and 5000 on your other side of the leg. You have no choice but to beg all your friends to buy a package or pay for some healthpaks. Trust me I know. I have talked to so many golds that quit and they told me this. Don't ask a gold in usana but ask one that has quit a year after then you will get a straight answer.
DeleteYup! This is not a business for the distributors. In a real business, you invest in a product or service and when you sell the product or service you get paid. Usana is not a business, it is a liability. You continue to put all your money into something that won't pay you anything and you get deeper and deeper in debt.
DeleteI can only hope that more and more distributors realize this and get out before they lose everything, and that new potential recruits don't fall for the glamour and promises of riches. Never will happen.
1502k annually on the high end. Interesting. All comments are approved by admin but none of the positive comments get through.
DeleteTiz the season of giving or in Usana's case, taking. They just announced today that the costs for shipping will also increase due to increased costs in shipping (fed ex, usps, ups). The two things we can count on every year with Usana; Usana will increase the prices on their supplements, and increase the costs on shipping.
ReplyDeleteThey are really making it hard to continue consuming these products. And I love how the Usana distributors say "expensive, compared to what?". The vitamins are already expensive and these distributors conveniently forget to add in the cost for shipping and the service fees Usana also charges in their "compared to what" defense.
If Dr. Wentz really wanted to make the world a healthier place, he wouldn't make the product so darn expensive so more people could afford them.
USANA has been a huge boost to my daily health and finances!
ReplyDeleteYou have any proof of that? You sound like you just came out of a presentation and was sitting down and taking notes.. Most of the people taking notes don't make enough money to earn a living.. The ones on stage yes but at the expense of everyone's autoship.
DeleteIt's difficult to try to explain something to those that are already set on the negative aspect of it. Anyone who is in Usana as an associate and trying to post here is already a fool for trying to convince these people.
ReplyDeleteI would think USANA associates would want to post here to try to convince the tens of thousands of readers who read this blog every month who are trying to decide whether to join or not...
DeleteUSANA is a product-based pyramid scheme. That isn't simply a negative aspect. It's simply backed by mathematics.
I guess MLM company Fortune Hi Tech being shut down earlier this week by the FTC was simply a whole lot of negative aspect.
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ReplyDeletewhy are you guys worried of the company.Just stay away from it. this is real life.People they do get rich and if you dont well maybe you didn't work hard. This is so negative,you are not successful then.Be with people that they are positive and that they want the best for you. Real life is a game and well if this is a pyramid mmm is a good one,see the positive way.I hope that you can see the reality that you post this thing and people still are in the company,dont waste you time in this,waste in something that is going to get you in a future,because is you time and it values. Thank You
ReplyDeleteYou're missing the point. This blog is to inform the public that Usana is a product-based pyramid scheme where 99% of participants do not make a profit.
DeleteYes, a very small number can make a fortune but they do it through recruiting more associates with lies and deception, NOT by selling the products to retail customers.
Actually, I'm now with USANA though I don't have any downlines but I still believe that I could get one of these days.
DeleteI don't think that this is a pyramid scheme, it's just that I believe the products and the company. Why the products because it helps me to manage my ailments of my body. If there's a business on this, then I'll go for it. For me, this is a good company with a beautiful products for anyone there who wants to have a business in Network Marketing. Please choose a company who is stable one and I choose USANA because I really believe the company and products. THAT's IT!