Amway Co-Founder Jay Van Andel Dies

AP via Fox News ^ | 12/7/04 | Unknown

[Pest]

Amway Co-Founder Jay Van Andel Dies Tuesday, December 07, 2004 GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Jay Van Andel (search), the co-founder of Amway Corp. (search) who helped parlay neighborhood soap sales into a billion-dollar business and later became a leading philanthropist for conservative causes, has died.

[Pest]

I'm trying to check out your link, but it's dead.

[Bluegrass Conservative]

*curtseying* Thank you very kindly.

[vikk]

Ooof. Post of the day.

[usafsk]

Thanks for living up to your name. Since we're on the scams topic, all the Kiyosaki fans can get a dose of reality at http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html

Cheers.

[Radioactive]

Your idea of multi level marketing shows that you are ignorant of what it is.

If you really want to see what a pyramid is...

Look at how your boss bills out your hours.

He's at the top and makes all the money. You are somewhere underneath him getting the scraps.

Have fun in your world....I'm making the big bucks in mine......and not having to spend hours in traffic.

I'm an MLM'er and have many people in my downline that make more than I......and I love it!

[Darkwolf377]

Will they rent a funeral home or bring the casket to your door?

[dead]

You're more sensitive than a ingrown toenail.

[RedWhiteBlue]

I would liken it to a religon, too, regarding their tactics for keeping the recruits fired up. Anbody not interested was labeled as "negative" and put down as someone that was a loser and would always be a loser. If you quit, the not-so-subtle implication is that you, too, will be a loser and you will never be anything but a loser. And I say this as someone that was involved in Amway for a few months when I was in college.

However, during the few months I was part of it, I attended a conference for the Amway distrubutorship network that was built by a specific couple -- and I cannot recall their name but I'm sure I would recognize it now if I saw it. It was held in the Charlotte Colliseum, and it was completely packed. Imagine that -- only one couple's network and there were 15,000+ people there. This was either in fall of 79 or spring of 80.

On one of the mornings of the conference, we were told that we were going to have a very special guest. Soon, some very interesting guys started to show up. They wore a certain type of suit, sunglasses, and had communications devices. They stood at entrances to the floor and seating areas, and just looked around with stone-sober serious looks on their faces, observing everything. They were obviously very different from the Amway attendees, who were also nicely dressed but had a rah-rah enthusiastic demeanor.

Then the surprise guest was announced, and he came to the podium. It was none other than Ronald Reagan himself. The crowd went absolutely nuts, and his speech was far more inspirational than anything I heard from any of the Amway speakers.

Today, I wouldn't touch Amway with a ten foot pole, but I will never regret the opportunity I had to see Ronald Reagan.

[Awestruck]

Well at least a couple of people on here aren't afraid to tell the truth...the man was no saint.. just calling yourself a Christian does not make it so. He will have a lot to answer for before the Lord.

[the invisib1e hand]

didn't know he was conservative. have to stop dissing Amway, then.

[fso301]

Amway was never for me as much to the distain of my yuppie colleagues, I'm happy to purchase through garage sales, Ebay and thrift shops. However for others, Amway seems to provide an important social network.

[fedupjohn]

The truth about AMWAY is ugly. The entire wealth of the founders and their top recruiters was built not on the sale of products, but of inspirational tapes and books they produced. Giving away some of his ill-gotten gains might have eased his guilt, but the guy made enough on others gullibility and insecurity to fatten up the camel he's got to ride through the eye of the needle.

EXCUSE ME BUT IGNORANCE IS NOT BLISS...If you have no knowledge of what you are talking about, then,SHUTUP. The AMWAY Corp was founded as the product development and manufacturing arm of the American Way Association. These Association members distribute products at both wholesale and retail levels; wow what a revolutionary concept in a capitalist society.

I am now in the insurance industry and use the same tapes and books to train and motivate the sales force assigned to me. Our team is one of the top producing teams in are area; wonder why..FYI, no were not MLM, just a conventional sales force:

By the way, just some of the people the Van Andel's,DeVos' and the Yeager families brought in to indoctrinate us.

Ronald Wilson Reagan, George H.W.Bush, Neut Gingrich, Steve Forbes, Elizabeth Dole, Alan Keyes, Robert Kiosiki, Sugar Ray Leonard, Coach Tom Landry, Coach Lou Holtz, a Marine that lost an Eye, Arm and Leg in the first Gulf war; not withstanding the multitude of Evangelical Ministers.

Forgive me for my rant..but while I was building the business, I met people with more integrity and who cared for my success then anytime in my life. And if it wasn't for a 3.5 year divorce battle, I would still have a successful business.

[Jaysun]

Jay Van Andel beat us to heaven. May God comfort his grieving family.

[VOA]

Much of Van Andel's giving went toward Christian causes


Maybe so.
But Amway (or perhaps the misuse of it) created some nasty problems in the congregation
I attended as a boy.

And caused problems with some foreign missions, according to fairly devout friend.

I'm not saying Amway was bad, per se.
But some bad outcomes were part of it's offspring.

[usafsk]

Wow, touched a nerve there, didn't I? Are you seriously going to tell me that Amway is just a normal distribution structure? Please. That shows your ignorance of basic retail product distribution. You've been fleeced simply because you needed some bucking up from people who sold you a bunch of tapes. Don't lecture me about your insecurities, pal.

Do you have the guts to got to the website I mentioned and read up on your beloved Amway? And selling insurance through the same kind of cult-like tactics is hardly a step up in life. I don't care who they paid to speak to you, it doesn't make it a real business. But, hey, you're in denial. Enjoy yourself.

[birbear]

From my experience there were two (or more) totally different forms of AMWAY. I think Van Andel and De Vos basic idea was genius. I sell to my friends and family, they sell to their friends and family, they in turn sell to their friends and family, and voila you get a network of sales going. You, being at the head of the chain (or the middle of the network) get a commission on all the volume the passes through you up to the corporation.

Nothing wrong, illegal, immoral, or fattening about that concept at all. In fact, makes a lot of sense. Why buy soap from the grocery store when you can buy it from your aunt Emma and help her out a little?

Somewhere along the line, the concept became corrupted...and I don't think it had anything to do with Van Andel or De Vos. Also about the same time frame, somebody introduced religion into the mix. Add a few big egos from some "rubies" and "emeralds" who hadn't made "Diamond" status yet, and you ended up with the Amway of the late 70's - early 90's -- the Amway culture that became "cult" like. More money was being made on the sign-ups, motivational tapes, seminars then on the actual selling of the products. (Not that there was anything really wrong with that.)

When I entered Amway in the mid-90's a couple of different factions of Amway were still fighting for control, and they had differentiated into -- Business Amway and Religion Amway. But by then the name Amway was verboten. I was told not to volunteer the name Amway. And if somebody said, "Is this Amway?" I was told to reply with, "Well, which Amway do you mean, the old Amway or the new Amway?" and then explained how Amway was in the middle of reinventing itself.

It never really took off. Didn't Amway change the name of their multi-level marketing business to something else in 98 or 99? I don't remember what they are calling to now.

But a word about the motivational stuff -- most of it was pretty good. I spent three years reading every motivational/self help book I could get my hands on. Eventually a buddy and I designed our own motivational program and we presented it to some kids in Juvenile Hall. I don't think we had much impact, but it was cool to try.

[Puppage]

Gee.....get serious do ya? Lose what little hunor you had? I guess so

Relax, mega business man.

[fedupjohn]

Wow, touched a nerve there, didn't I? Are you seriously going to tell me that Amway is just a normal distribution structure? Please. That shows your ignorance of basic retail product distribution. You've been fleeced simply because you needed some bucking up from people who sold you a bunch of tapes. Don't lecture me about your insecurities, pal. Do you have the guts to got to the website I mentioned and read up on your beloved Amway? And selling insurance through the same kind of cult-like tactics is hardly a step up in life. I don't care who they paid to speak to you, it doesn't make it a real business. But, hey, you're in denial. Enjoy yourself.

Yea you did. I was on my way out of the office for a meeting and did not expect a response so fast. But I promise you a well detailed comparison of the business plans from the Software Development Corp I ran in the 80's, the Major Construction Division, in Manhattan, I ran in the 90's and the Insurance Production team I am running in the 2k's.

[Radioactive]

Yeah...you're right.

It's just that I hear that all the time and when I do, I go off.

You ought to look into it.

It's fun and profitable.

I'm getting a free car from my company and I'm getting pretty good checks from my activity.

See, here I go again....trying to get you invovled in my PYRAMID

[Pablo64]

Thanks for posting this, although it appears that there are quite a few people all too eager to post snide comments. My wife and I were in Amway some years back, and although we never really built up our business very high, we were fortunate enough to get to know some wonderful people (who are still our friends to this day). Yes, there are people who gave Amway a bad name (as in every type of business), but Jay Van Andel was certainly a class act.

I find that most people who speak ill of Amway were never actually involved in it (it's just the "thing to do" to make fun of it). Anyway, I have the greatest respect for both Van Andel and De Vos. If you read their biography's you will see a true American success story. And no, I won't try and sell you any soap!