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ABUSES BY DOOR-TO-DOOR SALES OUTFITS ALLEGED By Steve Goldberg Dateline: WASHINGTON Copyright: Media General News Service This story ran: April 7, 1987 Richmond Times-Dispatch Edition: City Section: Business Page: A-6 Article Text: Barbara McKnight, a shy 18-year-old, answered a newspaper ad for a job that promised travel -- Hawaii, Paris and Rome -- and lots of money. Instead, she wound up in a nightmare world that congressional investigators characterize as "slave labor," 90-hour work weeks selling magazines door-to-door through Western states. There was illegal drug use, sexual harassment and physical abuse, according to Miss McKnight. The only money she says she made was $10 a day, which went for meals, laundry and other personal needs except for the motel bed her employers provided. When her magazine sales were below par, she didn't even get the $10. "I am not a thief, but one time I sold a magazine for cash (and) ripped up the receipt," she testified yesterday before a Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing on exploitation of youth in door-to- door sales. "I know that other agents did this too because they just did not have enough money to eat." Miss McKnight is not alone. Senate staff members and other authorities said that thousands of young people each year are enticed into joining hundreds of crews selling magazines and cleaning products door to door. Many feel like prisoners as they are shuttled from town to town, most end up earning little or no money and few return home unscarred. Some are arrested for selling without a license and even their employers sometimes fine them for misbehavior. Horace Robertson, a crew leader for a door-to-door sales firm, admitted that of 418 sales agents he employed last year, only five made any money after deductions for room and board. What's more, there is little law enforcement agencies can do to stop what Sen. William V. Roth Jr., R-Del., who was chairman at the hearing, called "profiteering by the few and slave labor for the young." New York Attorney General Robert Abrams said that his office is investigating 40 companies that sell magazine subscriptions and all-purpose cleaners door to door. Each recruit is asked to sign a statement saying they are an "independent contractor," Abrams said. "In reality, the salesperson is not independent at all." But the document helps firms skirt minimum wage and overtime laws. The crews move so quickly from state to state that, Abrams said, it is often nearly impossible to track them down. Roth said it is difficult to pass laws to prevent unscrupulous practices without also hurting legitimate door-to-door sales outfits. But he said the government should enact legislation to prevent physical abuse and intimidation, to ensure that sales agents are paid and to require full disclosure by firms in advance of working conditions. Three former sales agents who testified yesterday said they were hired and sent out of town so quickly that they had little time to think about their decision. Once on the road, they said, they were too exhausted much of the time to think about leaving. They said they were afraid to leave and that they were browbeaten into staying. "I had a lot of pride and did not want to go home without any money, especially in view of my mother's initial suspicions about the job," said Jeffrey R. Medved of Easton, Md. "But even more, the combination of the long working hours, lack of sleep, fast food, financial dependency, intense pressure to make sales, verbal abuse and fear of physical harm really got to me." The pressure to sell was unrelenting, he said. High producers slept on motel beds while other sales agents slept on the floor if rooms were crowded. At morning sales meetings, agents who made mistakes repeating their sales pitches were forced to do jumping jacks, he said. Though he was promised he could earn $300 to $350 per week, Medved said he got nothing but his nightly meal money and a bus ticket home for two months' work. Medved, 21, said he wanted to warn others and to help stop the practices."I am sure most Americans would be shocked to know that there is a type of modern slavery operating in this country and that the station wagons roaming their neighborhoods are like slave ships carrying their own children." Rebecca Fox, 21, said she tried to quit several times before finally running down a hotel staircase to escape. She testified she was caught outside the building and held against a wall. She only got away because a passing ambulance crew stopped and threatened to call the police if she wasn't freed.Miss McKnight, who is from Port Angeles, Wash., said a manager supplied drugs to the crew. On one occasion, she was slapped for asking a question. She also testified that she was sexually fondled by a supervisor and was criticized for not having sexual relations with a customer to sell him a magazine subscription. Supervisors of the sales agents make better money. But congressional investigators said the real money is at the top. One firm, Mecca Enterprises Inc., had gross receipts in 1985 of $3.9 million from door-to-door sales of magazines and cleaning products, according to its tax return, which was subpoenaed by the subcommittee. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Media General Inc. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission. |
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