Meri Brown and her Wet Bar of Tears

[Natalie68]

5 minutes ago, LilWharveyGal said:

Perhaps they can add these to the "Be" values jewelry on clearance at My Sister Wives' Closet - "Bee" Fugly.

If they read here they are totally stealing this idea.  We have a date and timestamp so WE know Lilwharveygal came up with it.  I will take the stand for you!  I might need kleenex though.  Tears would make my testimony much more compelling.

[DakotaJustice]

33 minutes ago, wings707 said:

I can't tell what kind of garment that is.  I don't know why anyone would want to have insects on anything.  The dragon fly craze is long over except at Lularoe and blue striped bees never where and should not be.   Bless their hearts ( read pinheads).  

They're leggings, she had a leggings sale last night...

 

Eta - that's how she does these sales- unwraps them from the plastic bag then holds the item up to her iPhone camera. 

Edited January 19, 2017 by DakotaJustice

[CofCinci]

49 minutes ago, Lsk02 said:

I told my daughter there are many people in a factory in China or Vietnam somewhere having contests to create the ugliest, most ridiculous, crazy artwork ever and cracking up at all the obnoxious Americans as they sew their 2500 leggings, huge t-shirts, and ugly dresses from the contest winners. 

Revenge for Vietnam. 

[Sista Snarky]

1 hour ago, DakotaJustice said:

They're leggings, she had a leggings sale last night...

 

Eta - that's how she does these sales- unwraps them from the plastic bag then holds the item up to her iPhone camera. 

What did Meri  have to say about the leggings?

Did she act like Janelle just walked in & asked her for a big hug? 

[LilWharveyGal]

1 hour ago, Natalie68 said:

If they read here they are totally stealing this idea.  We have a date and timestamp so WE know Lilwharveygal came up with it.  I will take the stand for you!  I might need kleenex though.  Tears would make my testimony much more compelling.

You don't need tissue (or even real tears...).  Just wipe with your finger and look for eye boogers a la Meri. :)

[laurakaye]

Regarding the insect leggings - I assume they are supposed to be whimsically colored bees, but they absolutely look like giant, biting horseflies.  

Is someone coming up with these gruesome prints and LOLOL-ing all the way to the bank as broke, half-crazed LLR consultants attempt to market them as "limited edition?"  It's actually brilliant in a sick, twisted way.

[Kohola3]

All I can think of is those Chinese peasants working for 5 cents and hour and wondering what the hell is wrong with Americans that would wear that kind of crap.

[3girlsforus]

I'm surprised Meri hasn't jumped on the Rodan Farms or whatever it's called band wagon too. It seems like lots of people who are into one are into the other. 

[Kohola3]

4 hours ago, 3girlsforus said:

 

I'm surprised Meri hasn't jumped on the Rodan Farms or whatever it's called band wagon too.

 

Give her time.  That may be next on the agenda.

[ginger90]

Meri suggests people who want to know about when she is having sales join her facebook group and wait to be approved. I wonder what her approval criteria would be.

https://mobile.twitter.com/MeriBrown1/status/823750007002046464?p=v

[CofCinci]

I wonder how many "pieces" Jackie Overton has purchased under different alias.  Meri's whole FB group is probably just her stalker. 

[DakotaJustice]

1 hour ago, CofCinci said:

I wonder how many "pieces" Jackie Overton has purchased under different alias.  Meri's whole FB group is probably just her stalker. 

She's got well over 12,000 members in her group, but only averages around 90-200 viewers on her FB Live pop-ups.  I agree most are stalkers/lookie loos. I'm one of them! 

I doubt JO can afford LLR and she'd have to give her actual mailing address and card info. 

[Rabbittron]

3 hours ago, DakotaJustice said:

She's got well over 12,000 members in her group, but only averages around 90-200 viewers on her FB Live pop-ups.  I agree most are stalkers/lookie loos. I'm one of them! 

I doubt JO can afford LLR and she'd have to give her actual mailing address and card info. 

All Jo would have to do is get a throw away prepaid card and a address at the UPS Store ?

[DakotaJustice]

1 hour ago, Rabbittron said:

All Jo would have to do is get a throw away prepaid card and a address at the UPS Store ?

True but why would she want to? 

She would actually be helping Meri in her business. 

I don't see any way that JO purchasing LLR from Meri would be an issue. 

ETA: it depends on how LLR has their payment system set up. Some merchants won't accept prepaid cards. 

Edited January 24, 2017 by DakotaJustice

[laurakaye]

5 hours ago, DakotaJustice said:

She's got well over 12,000 members in her group, but only averages around 90-200 viewers on her FB Live pop-ups.  I agree most are stalkers/lookie loos. I'm one of them!  

I'm curious how this all works, @DakotaJustice.  How early are you notified that Meri is going to do a pop-up party?  Is it usually during reasonable hours, like evenings or weekends?  Do you just watch her do a live video on FB holding up various items and comment if you want that item?  What if 10 people want an item and Meri only has 2 in stock?

I guess what I'm wondering for any LLR consultant is how do you logistically display items, keep track of who wants what, as well as process incoming payments at the same time?

I'd rather just take a job at The Gap if I wanted to sell clothes.

[AZChristian]

2 minutes ago, laurakaye said:

I'd rather just take a job at The Gap if I wanted to sell clothes.

In which case, you'd probably make more at minimum wage, and you'd have a LOT less work to do.  Once you clock out, you're done with it.  No trips to the post office, etc., on your "own time."

Plus, you'd have a lot more customers!

[MrSmith]

31 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

In which case, you'd probably make more at minimum wage, and you'd have a LOT less work to do.  Once you clock out, you're done with it.  No trips to the post office, etc., on your "own time."

Plus, you'd have a lot more customers!

Not to mention the clothes would be more attractive and better designed...

[DakotaJustice]

10 hours ago, laurakaye said:

I'm curious how this all works, @DakotaJustice.  How early are you notified that Meri is going to do a pop-up party?  Is it usually during reasonable hours, like evenings or weekends?  Do you just watch her do a live video on FB holding up various items and comment if you want that item?  What if 10 people want an item and Meri only has 2 in stock?

I guess what I'm wondering for any LLR consultant is how do you logistically display items, keep track of who wants what, as well as process incoming payments at the same time?

I'd rather just take a job at The Gap if I wanted to sell clothes.

Meri is terrible at scheduling. Inverably she has pop-ups (live FB sales) during normal working hours - and doesn't announce them until a few hours before. I think she just does them right after the UPS guy drops off a new shipment - she's literally opening the box, taking the item out of the plastic and holding each item up to the camera one at a time. If someone wants an item they comment "sold" and the item number. The first sold comment Meri sees gets it, but then afterwards she has to invoice each buyer and chase them down for payment. It's pretty clunky. 

[Christina]

I had been saving my Amazon rewards to purchase a piece of cooking equipment that I decided I had to have, and was waiting for Christmas because I thought it may go on sale. In November, my mom's sewing machine gave up the ghost, and she sews for people for extra money now that she is retired. I decided to use my Amazon points to buy her a new decent one, because I planned on doubling her rent (she lives with me) for forgetting to turn off the oven after baking pie for her brother. Her current rent is $0, and I'm bad at math, but she insists that double $0 is still $0 and got my son to agree with her. Mean old woman. pffft The cooking equipment also didn't go on sale for as cheaply as I wanted, and I don't need it and definitely don't want it enough to pay that much for it.

Anyway, I showed her the LuLuRoe clothing and suggested she make and sell ugly patterned leggings since so many people seem to love them. She refused to put such ugly fabric through her new machine. I'm now tripling her rent for being overly picky. She did say that a lot of the clothing looked pretty simple pattern wise, and wouldn't be difficult to sew. If that's true, then the quality control problems they seem to be having lately must be the result of not using quality thread and fabrics, and is probably a cost-cutting measure from the workforce they are using. I don't know if it has been disclosed where they manufacture the clothing, but there are some sweatshops in some U.S. territories like Saipan and the Mariana Islands that use slave labor and are able to advertise as "Made in America." The workplace protections that exist in the States do not necessarily apply to the territories, since they operate as independent countries. China, Cambodia and India seem to be heavy hitters in clothing manufacturing also, with human rights issues being reported.

In any case, the oversaturation and quality control issues don't bode well for that MLM. I'd have more respect for Meri if she actually went out and got a job at a fast food restaurant. These easy money MLMs that they continue to try and continue to fail at just show an immaturity and disrespect for their fans. They don't bother to tweet the episodes regularly, they lie to the viewers about things their fans watched on the show, and are not even smooth con artists. They're crappy at it. For a short time, my mom sewed doll clothing for a local doll making company, which had limited run dolls kind of like the American Girl dolls. When the sales were getting slow, my mom gave up her work for them so that people who relied on it could get more work. Meri could try something like that if she enjoys sewing like she said she does, or even volunteer her time to some of the charities that help people looking for work get in new to them clothes that have been donated and need altering to fit. I find their continuing MLM businesses distasteful. Meri let a psychopath into her home as a result of one of these, someone who had an opportunity to hurt the kids she claims to love, and she still didn't learn her lesson; she just moved on to a new scam. SMH

[Kohola3]

Your mom sounds like a gem!  She is the type of person destined for heaven - those who treat others with grace and dignity and not simply try and grab as much for themselves as possible.  The Browns profess to be religious but show absolutely no evidence of that.  They are greedy grifters who would have sold their own children for a buck.  

Charity?  Forget it.  Good works?  Forget it. It doesn't get them an $$$$,

[Roslyn]

31 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:

They are greedy grifters who would have sold their own children for a buck.  

In a way...haven't they already?

[Kohola3]

Yep, that's why I crossed out the "would".  They auctioned off all of those kids for the almighty dollar.

[answerphone]

I'm watching a recording of the clips compiled into a Brown travel special. Meri was so much happier when the series first started. And it was fun to see all the pre-teen kids interacting.

All of the dreary catfish story lines have been so depressing and drawn out.

[laurakaye]

I forgot all about Meri liking to sew...wasn't she the one who made each kid new pajamas for Christmas?  Why not get a job at a fabric store?  I don't understand why Meri insists on not using her strengths - or any of the wives, for that matter.  Meri should not be shilling LLR, she should be working at an antique store, a fabric store, or be a party coordinator of some sort.  Janelle should not be writing a fitness blog  - she should be working in an office.  Kody needs to stop with the Green Goo and get ANY job to support his enormous family.  And who decided that Robyn had any experience or background to be a joolry designer?  PLEASE.

These people need to wake up and smell the peanut-butter Fritos.  Each adult needs to start adulting ASAP and get real jobs that bring in a real, consistent income.  This show is on its last legs, and eventually the entire fam'ly is going to have to consolidate and move into Meri's house when all four houses go into foreclosure.  But, as Robyn says: "We shoulda all been together from Day One."  Careful what you wish for, Sobbin.

[AZChristian]

Even if they got REAL jobs, the month that TLC pulls the plug is the beginning of bankruptcy.  No way they can maintain this lifestyle on what they could "earn" with real jobs.

[Roslyn]

44 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

Even if they got REAL jobs, the month that TLC pulls the plug is the beginning of bankruptcy.  No way they can maintain this lifestyle on what they could "earn" with real jobs.

I have often wondered if the real reason behind the marriage restructuring really had something to do with lining up a better bankruptcy.  I don't know how Robyn has the online "business" structured, but with her and Kody married there would be a larger total with combined assets than just Robyn alone.  Put it on camera how it's for the family, and for the kids...but deep down I thought that it was a move for future financial reasons.  That's a good reason to keep it hush hush and set things up before hand.  They had revolving bankruptcys before the show, all of them, so I'm sure Kody still thinks about things in that way.

[DakotaJustice]

MSWC has most likely never turned a profit, they've never bothered to make the checkout page secure, and last time I went onto the site it was infested with spam. They're done with it, the site served its purpose as a plot line. 

I think there are two reasons that Kody married Robyn: 

• She has the most children under 18 - tax deductions/dependents
• Robyn strongarmed Kody into it by refusing to get pregnant again until they were REALLY married. 

[AZChristian]

1 hour ago, DakotaJustice said:

• Robyn strongarmed Kody into it by refusing to get pregnant again until they were REALLY married. 

I think it was more than refusing to get pregnant.  I think she refused to participate in any intimate behaviors until they were REALLY married.

[Kohola3]

55 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

I think she refused to participate in any intimate behaviors until they were REALLY married.

Gotta hang onto those cookies until the papers are signed, sealed, and delivered.

[Wings]

55 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

I think it was more than refusing to get pregnant.  I think she refused to participate in any intimate behaviors until they were REALLY married.

Oh good grief. 

[ginger90]

LuLaRoe is a blessing, just so you know

https://www.instagram.com/p/BP0cQSgj-cD/

[MonicaM]

Anything that gets her away from Kody and the cul de sac probably is a blessing to Meri.  

[AZChristian]

So I was sitting in church this morning, and this was the scripture the pastor spoke from:

There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphitea from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

=================

And all I could think about was, "Hey . . . wait a minute.  Wasn't this (with name changes) an episode of SisterWives?"  Except the "would not eat" description of Meri/Hannah.

[CofCinci]

He won't even save her from a fire.  What the hell are you doing there Meri?!

[laurakaye]

On 1/28/2017 at 3:57 PM, ginger90 said:

LuLaRoe is a blessing, just so you know

https://www.instagram.com/p/BP0cQSgj-cD/

I've read a few blogs from people who have left LLR, and it seems as though they all have to participate in somehow "blessing" their new sellers.  I don't know what kind of time commitment this involves, but I recall one former LLR seller talking about how she was frustrated with her low sales, and her superior told her it was because she didn't spend enough time blessing the newcomers.  Which makes it sound slightly cult-ish, IMO.

[MrSmith]

7 minutes ago, laurakaye said:

I've read a few blogs from people who have left LLR, and it seems as though they all have to participate in somehow "blessing" their new sellers.  I don't know what kind of time commitment this involves, but I recall one former LLR seller talking about how she was frustrated with her low sales, and her superior told her it was because she didn't spend enough time blessing the newcomers.  Which makes it sound slightly cult-ish, IMO.

Has anyone read LLR's Income Disclosure statement? When I looked last week, their 2015 ID statement was still on their site. That had interesting little tidbits in it. First, they had 5,085 total US consultants in 2015. Of those, 87.04% of them (fully 4,426 individuals) earned zero bonuses, which means that whatever income they had from LLR was purely from sales. Since LLR is an MLM, this most likely means those 4,426 people ended 2015 either with a net negative in profit from LLR or breaking more or less exactly even. Generally, if you're making enough sales in an MLM to earn an income on those sales (looking strictly at cost of product and revenue earned from sales of product, and ignoring all other expenses), then you're going to be earning bonuses/commissions from the company itself. Second, LLR had one consultant who generated enough sales throughout their team organization to reach the rank of "Mentor". That person earned $204k in bonuses from LLR that year. And there are other things you can learn from their Income Disclosure, too. Most people don't know to go look at that before deciding to start working with/for an MLM. They just listen to the pitch and decide whether they think they can make money from it.

As a side note, the very first MLM I ever did programming for, the owner kept trying to put me into the compensation matrix. Granted, the guy was paying me waaaaaay below market wages, but I kept refusing being put into the matrix. (I worked the job because I was changing careers and that job has given me some stellar talking points in interviews over the years. It's actually been my favorite programming job so far - both positively and negatively.) I think he was trying to get me to help sell, but I'm a terrible salesperson. And I don't think he ever had to put out an Income Disclosure because I don't think he ever managed to get the company going in a positive direction, such that he would have had income to disclose.

[CofCinci]

2 hours ago, MrSmith said:

Has anyone read LLR's Income Disclosure statement? When I looked last week, their 2015 ID statement was still on their site. That had interesting little tidbits in it. First, they had 5,085 total US consultants in 2015. Of those, 87.04% of them (fully 4,426 individuals) earned zero bonuses, which means that whatever income they had from LLR was purely from sales. Since LLR is an MLM, this most likely means those 4,426 people ended 2015 either with a net negative in profit from LLR or breaking more or less exactly even. Generally, if you're making enough sales in an MLM to earn an income on those sales (looking strictly at cost of product and revenue earned from sales of product, and ignoring all other expenses), then you're going to be earning bonuses/commissions from the company itself. Second, LLR had one consultant who generated enough sales throughout their team organization to reach the rank of "Mentor". That person earned $204k in bonuses from LLR that year. And there are other things you can learn from their Income Disclosure, too. Most people don't know to go look at that before deciding to start working with/for an MLM. They just listen to the pitch and decide whether they think they can make money from it.

As a side note, the very first MLM I ever did programming for, the owner kept trying to put me into the compensation matrix. Granted, the guy was paying me waaaaaay below market wages, but I kept refusing being put into the matrix. (I worked the job because I was changing careers and that job has given me some stellar talking points in interviews over the years. It's actually been my favorite programming job so far - both positively and negatively.) I think he was trying to get me to help sell, but I'm a terrible salesperson. And I don't think he ever had to put out an Income Disclosure because I don't think he ever managed to get the company going in a positive direction, such that he would have had income to disclose.

Thank you for that research. I hope that someone researching LLR will find your post and recognize that it's just another scummy MLM. 

Sadly, it's the only source of friendships and socialization for Meri at this time. :/

[DakotaJustice]

@MrSmith have you read this yet? 

http://www.pinktruth.com/2017/01/18/lularoe-scam-review-a-bad-business-for-women/

[MrSmith]

@DakotaJustice I had not. I'm in a meeting right now and you've just saved me from falling asleep. Thank you!

[MrSmith]

14 minutes ago, DakotaJustice said:

@MrSmith have you read this yet? 

http://www.pinktruth.com/2017/01/18/lularoe-scam-review-a-bad-business-for-women/

OK. That was fascinating. I love those kinds of break-downs. I don't have the time to do that research and I'm grateful for people who do. This quote, I thought, was particularly telling:

Quote

So again, you’ve got to spend about $3,500 in a month on clothing to be eligible to receive that month’s portion of your $85 annual commissions.

The bolded portions are the parts that I hope really jump out at any prospects who are reading that take-down of LLR.

Oh, and I'm planning on starting work on my MLM web application again in the next couple of months. The idea is to create a nearly turn-key site for MLM companies to use, for which they'd pay me for use of the code. I'm not creating my own MLM, though. I just have to get an additional hard drive, a graphics card, and one or two more monitors.

[DakotaJustice]

My pleasure @MrSmith - you and this article are there only two sources I've seen that cited the income statement. 

2016 is going to look interesting - IF they in fact post it. They must have signed up thousands of people last year. 

[3girlsforus]

1 hour ago, DakotaJustice said:

@MrSmith have you read this yet? 

http://www.pinktruth.com/2017/01/18/lularoe-scam-review-a-bad-business-for-women/

This is absolutely insane!!! Why does anyone do this? Even setting aside the startup cost and what I am sure is well hidden information that you won't make money, what lunatic agrees to pay thousands of dollars when you don't even get to pick your inventory?!?!?!?

[DakotaJustice]

2 hours ago, 3girlsforus said:

This is absolutely insane!!! Why does anyone do this? Even setting aside the startup cost and what I am sure is well hidden information that you won't make money, what lunatic agrees to pay thousands of dollars when you don't even get to pick your inventory?!?!?!?

Because they see people seemingly selling tons of leggings and think it's easy money so they buy into the bullshit. Big time! 

The cheapest startup package is $4900+ and it doesn't come with leggings, the item they're known for. You have to pay $7k minimum to get leggings in the startup. 

http://llrteamuplift.com/2016/11/lularoe-onboarding-package-november-2016/

[athousandclowns]

I had not heard about this clothing line until reading it here  ( over the years there have been several similar home sales clothing)

So after reading the above cost thinking people probably throw in the towel after awhile and went on E-bay to take  a look. There are truckloads of the leggings people trying to unload. 18-20 bucks. You have to take what they send for both pattern and plain. 

[athousandclowns]

sorry double post

Edited January 31, 2017 by athousandclowns

[CofCinci]

When women sell LLR, Pampered Chef, or Tupperware they're really just trying to find friends.

[Kath94]

4 hours ago, MrSmith said:

OK. That was fascinating. I love those kinds of break-downs. I don't have the time to do that research and I'm grateful for people who do. This quote, I thought, was particularly telling:

The bolded portions are the parts that I hope really jump out at any prospects who are reading that take-down of LLR.

Oh, and I'm planning on starting work on my MLM web application again in the next couple of months. The idea is to create a nearly turn-key site for MLM companies to use, for which they'd pay me for use of the code. I'm not creating my own MLM, though. I just have to get an additional hard drive, a graphics card, and one or two more monitors.

Oh, @MrSmith, you've REALLY got to get with the program.  What you do is offer your proprietary code to a select set of other programmers, that they can turn around and sell to THEIR clients.  Then you reap a percentage of their profits as well as your own!  It's an MLM Inception! 

[3girlsforus]

2 hours ago, DakotaJustice said:

Because they see people seemingly selling tons of leggings and think it's easy money so they buy into the bullshit. Big time! 

The cheapest startup package is $4900+ and it doesn't come with leggings, the item they're known for. You have to pay $7k minimum to get leggings in the startup. 

http://llrteamuplift.com/2016/11/lularoe-onboarding-package-november-2016/

Just yikes..... Is this Rodan Fields stuff an MLM too?

[DakotaJustice]

2 hours ago, athousandclowns said:

I had not heard about this clothing line until reading it here  ( over the years there have been several similar home sales clothing)

So after reading the above cost thinking people probably throw in the towel after awhile and went on E-bay to take  a look. There are truckloads of the leggings people trying to unload. 18-20 bucks. You have to take what they send for both pattern and plain. 

Check poshmark - there's tons of LLR.

[DakotaJustice]

56 minutes ago, 3girlsforus said:

Just yikes..... Is this Rodan Fields stuff an MLM too?

Yup. 

And there are several other MLMs riding the leggings fad. Agnes & Dora, and Buskins are two of them.