USANA Health Sciences, Inc. has a section on their website that lists
10 reasons why to have a home-based business with USANA. I will list each one of them and explain why I believe they are not true.
1. Low Start-Up Costs
To start your own home-based USANA business, there is very little upfront investment and no qualifying volume or inventory requirements. The only required purchase is USANA’s Business Development System. For as little as $30 US, you get a tried and tested system for creating an income-generating business that can last a lifetime.
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- New associates are also required to activate their business center(s) before they are considered “Active” and be eligible to collect commission. To activate a 1-Business Center plan, associates need to personally purchase about $180 worth of product. To activate a 3-Business Center plan, associates need to personally purchase about $540 worth of product. These
Personal Sales Volume (PSV) purchases do not pay out any commission to the new associate even if resold to a retail customer, however the associate's upline will get paid a commission from your purchase.
- While USANA claims there are no inventory requirements, there are mandatory PSV purchases that associates must make every 28 days depending on the number of business centers they have. For a single business center, this is about $120 every 28 days that the associate must personally purchase. If the associate fails to make this purchase, the associate loses their "Active" status, is stripped of any Group Sales Volume (GSV) that has accumulated up to that point, and is not eligible to collect any commission from their preferred customers or downline associate's purchases. So yes, there is an inventory requirement. This is why it pays to recruit new associates instead of retailing product.
2. Simple Compensation Structure
No previous experience is necessary for you to be successful with USANA—just bring a willingness to learn and a passion for helping others improve their lives. It only takes your efforts and two individuals to do the same for you to start building a profitable downline organization. And, depending on your ambition and efforts, you can start earning commissions in your first week simply by sharing the products with others and ordering some for yourself.
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- USANA's compensation plan is extremely complex, contains vast amounts of requirements that are difficult to follow and understand, and is designed to fail over 90% of participants no matter how hard they try.
- USANA's claim that you can start earning commissions in your first week "
simply by sharing the products with others and ordering some for yourself" is not true. Sharing the products with others implies the associate is giving away samples or even selling product from the associate's own inventory purchases. Don't be fooled however! Associates are not paid any commission from the PSV purchases that USANA requires them to make every 28 days. If a new associate joins, activates a single business center by personally purchasing $180 worth of product, and shares these products with others, that associate will not be paid a dime in commission. In order to be paid a commission like USANA claims, you would have to recruit at least 2 new associates in your downline who spend over $250 each, or find about 5 preferred customers who each purchase $100 worth of product during your first week (Both scenarios will pay you $40 in commission). BTW, there are 1 active preferred customer for every 3 active associates. Good luck on the preferred customers because they have been on a downward spiral!
3. Incredible Earning Potential
Unlike a traditional job that gives you only one way to earn income, USANA’s award-winning compensation plan offers an incredible six ways to earn income, providing a realistic opportunity to leverage your downline’s efforts to earn an above-average commission check every week. To help you succeed, unpaid volume carries over every week, there are no group sales requirements, and you are not limited to levels. In addition, you could potentially save thousands of dollars with home-based business tax deductions*.
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- 99% of USANA associates never make a profit. This incredible earning potential only applies to those who inact boiler room recruiting tactics, unethical
doctors peddling USANA products to patients, and those who have gotten in very early on. Of course someone can join today and make a fortune by recruiting their church's congregation into their downline by placing undue pressure on the church members (See
Operation Promise Land).
4. Your Business Fits Your Life
It’s your business. You work where, when, and how you want. Generally, if you put in a little bit of work, you’ll earn a little bit of income. If you put in more work, your earnings will increase. And, you’ll be free from the typical workweek irritations—no alarm clock, no schedule, no rush hour traffic, and no boss.
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- It is not a business unless you are out retailing USANA's products. Unfortunately, very few associates do so. The real operation is to sell the business opportunity and recruit more and more associates into the scheme. You can be sure that all of USANA's big shot associates making hundreds of thousands of dollars are all doing so because they have a massive downline of associates in their business centers, not because they retail millions of dollars worth of product to customers. It's not about selling the product, it's about selling the dream of making money. You sell the dream of becoming rich and the products are purchased automatically because it is a requirement to purchase in order to participate!
5. You’re in Business for Yourself, Not by Yourself
USANA is behind you every step of the way. You will receive expert training and have access to a wealth of tools to make your life easier: a full Associate-only web site where you can get the latest news, training, free downloads, and business management services; frequent Web conferences; unforgettable events; eye-catching sales aids, professional multimedia productions; exciting publications; and much more. Our enthusiastic and experienced customer service team is available to help in six languages. And, with our Autoship program, you’ll never have to handle inventory—we’ll ship everything directly to you or your customers on a schedule that’s convenient for you.
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- USANA is
in front of you every step of the way. USANA associates must purchase overpriced product every 28 days in order to participate in the opportunity. Because the distributor's prices and the preferred customer's prices are the same, there is no profit margin that can be made on selling the product retail. Then USANA takes 45% of the money you just paid them and gives the vast majority of it to the 1% of associates that are at the top of the pyramid scheme. However, the bottom 99% of associates never make enough of see a profit. USANA's heading for this section would be more accurate if it read
"You're in Business for Your Upline, Not for Yourself".
6. A World of Possibilities
If you’ve always wanted to travel the world, USANA is your ticket to a successful international business. USANA responsibly expands by choosing promising markets around the world in which to open for business. With our seamless compensation plan, you can build your organization in multiple countries without having to worry about different compensation plans or currency conversions. USANA takes care of everything while you work in exotic locations, discover exciting cultures, and make a world of new friends.
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- New associates don't stand a chance at doing business internationally. This is because the big shot associates (top 1%) already have their feet planted firmly in new territories just prior to the official openings. What USANA really means by their statement here is that there are no territorial boundaries in which you can recruit preferred customers or new associates. In other words, everyone in your neighborhood could become an associate just like you, and if they are not in your downline, then you are pretty much out of luck. But consider this, if 25 different McDonalds restaraunts existed on a single block, would any of them make a profit? No, of course not. In fact, they would all go out of business except one. That last remaining McDonalds would then be able to profit and stay in business. This dilemma is known as over saturation. USANA wants to pretend as though saturation does not apply to their recruitment operation.
7. Growing Health & Wellness Industry
For many years, wellness-related businesses have been one of the fastest growing segments in direct selling. Renowned economist Paul Zane Pilzer identified wellness products and programs as the economy’s next trillion-dollar industry. As a large portion of the world population ages, they are looking for products that make them look and feel better, and younger generations are looking for ways to maintain their health and energy levels to meet the needs of their busy lives. USANA is poised to meet those needs.
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- About 99% of the world cannot afford USANA's expensive products. If USANA did not force its associates to purchase over $100 worth of product every 28 days to participate in the compensation plan and be eligible for commission, then USANA would vanish because the people who would purchase the product would be those who actually want it. Associates who quit the business opportunity also quit purchasing USANA products. Over the past 18 years, USANA has had over one million associates. However, only 210,000 are considered "Active" as of July 2010. Most of these currently active associates joined within the past year. Thus, over 80% of USANA associates left the business opportunity and also stopped purchasing the product. This is indicative of the fact that the net sales for USANA change proportional to the number of currently active associates. USANA is
NOT poised to meet the world's needs.
8. The Leader in Quality and Innovation
USANA’s quality products are formulated by a world-class scientific team based on cutting-edge, proven science and Dr. Myron Wentz’ expertise in keeping cells healthy through optimal nutrition. The company also collaborates closely on research with the Linus Pauling Institute and other notable institutions. Additionally, most products are manufactured and packaged in USANA’s own state-of-the art facility, allowing USANA to guarantee the quality and potency of every product.
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- USANA spends less than 1% of net sales in Research and Development. Simply readjusting dosages in their products is not innovative. As far as quality goes, USANA
claims to manufacure according to
Pharmaceutical GMP. However, USANA refuses to allow any agency or organization to test USANA's facility according to Pharmaceutical GMP. Only the standard Food GMP has been tested at USANA's facility. Manufacturers like USANA can claim to manufacture according to drug standards, but never have to prove it because they are not required to. You cannot call yourself a leader in "Quality" when you refuse to allow testing of your products to the Pharmaceutical GMP quality like USANA claims. BTW, in order to be Pharmaceutical GMP like drugs have to be, USANA's ingredients would have to be exactly 100% to what they claim is in the pills. Not 10% over or 10% under. Can you imagine a prescription drug that calls for exactly 30 mg is slightly over or under the printed dosage
9. Worldwide Credibility
A member of the Direct Selling Association, USANA is a solid, publicly traded company that has attracted people of all ages, genders, and education levels from across the globe. World-class athletes, best-selling authors, respected scientific institutions, leading health and wellness experts, and experienced business professionals across the globe have all recognized USANA’s commitment to excellence.
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- The Direct Selling Association has no credibility. The DSA board members consist of executives from Multilevel Marketing companies, not Direct Selling companies. The hijacking of the association has destroyed the credibility of network marketing by promoting product-based pyramid schemes called Multilevel Marketing. And just because individuals from all walks of life join USANA does not mean anything. Some people will do anything for a buck. Credible people also recommended and stood behind Enron, Worldcom, and Bernie Madoff's scheme.
10. Experience You Can Count On
Founded in 1992, USANA has years of experience in perfecting not only products that set the gold standard in the industry, but also a duplicable home-based business model that is stable in a good economic climate or bad. Under the direction of USANA’s solid and experienced management team, the company is positioned for a future of continued growth and success.
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- Whether constantly changing dosages in their vitamins constitutes a perfecting of the product or whether it is done just so associates cannot return the product for a refund after 3 months (instead of 12 months as required), I guess USANA does have experience, but you don't want to count on it. The claim that USANA set the "Gold Standard" in the industry was given by
Lyle Macwilliam's Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements. I have written much on this subject.
- Pyramid Schemes can sustain themselves as long as you can attract new participants. Pyramid Schemes are successful in both good and bad economical times. Probably more so in bad economical times because people are desperate and looking for ways to make some money. Currently, USANA is growing only in their Asian market, mainly their Hong Kong region. Over the past several years, USANA has
NOT been able to grow in their United States Region, Canada Region, Mexico Region, New Zealand Region, Australian region, South Korea Region, Japan Region, Taiwan Region, or United Kingdom Region. So much for continued growth.
