Ive briefly read on Ponzi and how had stolen investments on his business by promising investors unrealistic returns. I just dont make the connection with how people call certain sales-rep jobs ponzi schemes. For example back in the day I worked at Hansons as a entry level sales rep, even my fellow coworkers would say “oh this is just a big pyramid scheme”. The thing is I never made any investment to the company for the job (had to buy some equipment from local supermarkets but thats about it).
Another random example is a make up company a lot of local acquaintances i have on social media sell make up for. Ive seen people criticizing the company as a pyramid scheme because their sales rep get some bonus for bringing new workers to the company, but isnt this a normal practice in almost every business? I’ve worked construction jobs where youll get a couple extra dollars for bringing a new face around.
I just dont understand why people call these types of things ponzi/pyramid schemes when it sounds nothing similar to me than what ponzi was doing back in the day.