Please do yourself a big favor and avoid working for Kirby Vacuum. I am an ex-dealer who just left and was able to get a partial settlement of what was owed me. You probably won't be as lucky unless you like confrontation. I'm going to give my whole story from the beginning and then you can judge for yourself whether you would like to work for them.
They like to recruit new people by placing misleading ads in local newspapers. It's typical bait-and-switch. The simple fact is that nobody would respond to the ad if they knew they would be selling Kirby vacuum cleaners door-to-door and then being paid by commission only. If you knew this would you call them?
You will see something about carpet cleaning and the fact that demand is overloading them and they need people. They brag you need no experience and that money flows to you weekly with paid vacations, benefits (whatever that means) and cash bonuses. They provide all transportation and materials and you make $500 per week. Take a look at the Lincoln Journal help-wanted ads under "General Help" and you will see this ad. This is just one example, they have many more.
You call the number and they immediately schedule you for an interview that day or maybe the next. When you go to your interview in Lincoln, Nebraska, you will be interviewed by Willy Novak, the Kirby Distributor's son-in-law. Lance Schroeder is the owner of LS Enterprises, LLC and the Kirby Distributor. You won't ever meet Lance (or anybody else that works there) until you sign on and become a "Dealer" (salesperson). This is why they have two doors into the office. One is for "interviews", and the other is for those already working there.
What you come away with after the interview is the total sense that they care nothing about your past. They don't care what level of education you have, what work experience you have, or even if you are a convicted felon (more on that later). All they care about is your desire for money. If you tell them you need a job and you're broke and that you would like to make some money, then odds are you will get hired.
Slowly, Willy will reveal the fact that they don't need carpet cleaners. They need salespeople to go door-to-door and sell Kirby's. But not to worry shocked interviewee; people make thousands selling Kirby's in this office and you can join them.
Willy will tell you not to worry because you will make at least $1,600 your first month. This is your "guaranteed" base salary. All you have to do is 48 "demos" (Showing the Kirby vacuum in a private home is considered a "demo".) your first month and the money is yours. It doesn't matter if you sell a single vacuum. What matters is your "attitude" and work ethic. Show up for work every day and do what is asked of you and you can do no worse than $1,600 your first month.
Well, like most people, I figured what's the worst that can happen? Even if I don't like the work, or believe the vacuum is way overpriced, if I show up and work, the worst case scenario is that I make $1,600.
On your first day of work, two things will likely happen. First, you will begin working as an independent contractor. You are not an employee of LS Enterprises, LLC. (Gosh Lance, what about the great benefits you advertised?) The reason for this is obvious: if you get fired he doesn't have to pay unemployment. With the turnover in "dealers" approaching 90% per month, what do you think his unemployment insurance premiums would be if you were an employee?
After you quickly finish the paperwork (which nobody is allowed to read), the second surprise is your first road-trip. Surprise, you are going out-of-state to sell Kirby's. You have 30 minutes to go home and pack and be back at the office. You then get to ride in a crowded, dirty van for 5 - 8 hours, stuffed with Kirby vacuum's and the rest of your "crew".
Your "crew" consists of a "Team Leader" (Sales Manager), maybe a Canvasser (A girl who will knock on doors and try and get a demo for you) and 2 or 3 other dealers like you. Sit back and enjoy the crude and offensive language in the most unprofessional work environment I have ever personally experienced.
After a wonderful trip to the backwoods of some hayseed town in South Dakota, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Missouri, or Texas, you get to check into some flea-bag, roach infested motel that most people wouldn't park there car in overnight for fear it would be gone in the morning or sitting on cement blocks. Also, nothing like sharing with two other guys in the same room. Yes, it's that bad.
And the wonderful surprise you find out later is that you get to pay for this trip. Oh wait, Willy never told you? And during your training nobody ever mentioned this? Gosh, must have been a simple mistake by Lance and his troops.
Then, it's a trip to the local WalMart for some grocery shopping. Every day, your breakfast and late night dinner will be a microwaved TV dinner or pot pie.
For the next 5 days (Tuesday through Saturday) you get to work from about 9:00 A.M. To somewhere around 10:00 PM to 11:00 PM. You won't get to have lunch or any meal breaks, unless you consider a candy bar and soda from a Casey's General Store a meal. If you beg nice, you can go to the restroom while you get your candy bar. It makes no difference if you are sick or if it is 120 degrees outside. You will knock on doors all morning, all afternoon, and all night (until 8:00 PM when most jurisdictions, by law, make you stop) to get demo's.
Laundry you ask? Better bring clean clothes because no effort will be made to see that you can do laundry. For those crew members who don't have 5 days of clean clothes it becomes a little raunchy.
Once you do get a "demo" in somebody's home, your "team leader" will come in and start cutting the price to get the sale. Congratulations, you sold a Kirby! ; too bad you didn't make any money. Your Canvasser, Team Leader, Willy, John (the other guy in the office) and of course Lance all made money. But you didn't make anything - so sorry, maybe next time.
At some point you stay in Lincoln to sell, and you need a peddlers permit from the city.in what I can only describe as a huge red flag, I was there when a fellow crew member was informed by one of the city clerks that his application for a permit was denied. The reason? His felony conviction for burglary and home invasion 6 months prior. I'm totally serious.
Another time I asked where a crew member was and was told this is the month that he does his "house arrest" time (you know, the bracelet around the ankle). And as if you hadn't already guessed, even "Team Leaders" are convicted felons.
Here's a serious question to ask at your interview: "How many convicted felons in my crew?" I'm thinking you might want to know.
Here are my facts. I worked four (4) 70 hour weeks, which comes to about 280 hours of work. I received less than $600 in commissions for all of the vacuums I sold during my first month. $2 AND SMALL CHANGE PER HOUR, summer heat, and life on the road eating TV dinners and staying in the worst motels they can find. Great huh? But what about the guarantee of $1,600 per month? Doesn't that come into play?
The dirty little secret is that you MUST do 48 demos (or more) your first month. If you do 47 or less, then you get nothing but your commission LESS EXPENSES. If you do 52 and think you are safe, you get might get informed by Lance or Willy that there were some demo's that your team leader thought were sub-par and therefore don't count.
So, if they think your attitude is waning, or if you aren't selling enough units at a high enough price so that your commissions aren't covering their $1,600 exposure, then you are going to find your demo count stalling as you approach 48. So sorry, you don't get squat.
In essence, he gets slave labor to sell his Kirby's. Many fresh new faces buying into the Kirby hype, only to discover that you worked the whole month for way less than minimum wage.
To my knowledge, he has no crews working for him where everyone has more than a month or two of experience. There is one person I know who is a dealer that has been there longer than a few months, but he has issues I won't get into. Lance has been selling Kirby's for many years; where are all the experienced crews filled with happy sales people? Sorry, I don't see them anywhere, and all the crews I saw when I was there were newer than me.
Bottom line is that when people find out about all this they either get fired (like me), or else they quit in disgust at being lied too about the many things I have stated so far.
They tried to intimidate me at the end, but it didn't work. I called them out on what they were doing to me, and what they do to MOST everybody else that works there. They screamed the F-bomb at me dozens of times and tried to tell me it was all my fault because my attitude was "wrong".in the end, I got a few more bucks because they probably thought I could be bought off and probably not say anything.
So, want to work for LS Enterprises, LLC selling Kirby vacuum cleaners?
Duped
Lincoln, Nebraska
U.S.A.
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