In response to the Direct Selling Association, there would be no problem with MLM, multilevel marketing, if legitimate sales to nonparticipants were the focus. The facts are not so flattering to MLM for those who are recruited into MLM as an "income opportunity." In Utah County, which leads the nation in MLM companies per capita, several top-of-the-pyramid promoters reported huge incomes. However, in a survey of tax preparers in three other counties in the state, not one MLM "distributor" reported an income from MLM on his or her taxes -- ever! We know who is paid from MLM revenues -- and it's not rank and file MLM recruits. One's odds for profiting are far better at craps or roulette in Nevada than in a "recruiting MLM."

The DSA errs in lumping legitimate direct sellers like Avon and Pampered Chef with recruiting MLMs like Quixtar, Nu Skin and USANA. Recruiting MLMs are no more direct sellers than a pig is a horse. Almost all MLMs are scams -- pure and simple.

Jon M. Taylor

Salt Lake City

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