Southwestern Advantage

Southwestern Advantage, formerly known as Southwestern Company, is an education material sales company based in Nashville, TN. Established in 1855, the privately-owned company recruits college and university students as independent contractors to sell educational books, apps, and website subscriptions door-to-door using direct selling methods.[1][2] Southwestern Advantage is part of the Southwestern family of companies.

Southwestern Advantage
TypePrivate
IndustryConglomerate
Founded1855
FounderRev. J. R. V. Graves
Headquarters
Nashville, Tennessee
,
United States
Key people
Dustin Hillis, CEO
Spencer Hays, former Chairman of The Executive Committee
ParentSouthwestern family of companies
Websitewww.southwesternadvantage.com

Program

Every year, the company recruits American and European university students to work as independent contractors who sell educational books, software, and subscription websites during the summer months.[2]Students who accept a position complete a free, week-long training program in Nashville, Tennessee. After completing the program, students are assigned a position outside of their home or school states, and are typically responsible for housing costs of about $50/week, usually living with a host family.[3] Sales areas are predominantly suburban or rural.[4]

The company operates on a direct sales platform, where wages are solely determined by sales revenue minus expenses and costs of goods sold; they do not offer employee benefits or guaranteed pay.[5]Direct selling methods have raised questions over the ultimate value of the transactions entered into, both by the consumer as the person purchasing the product, and the individual contractors who make the sales on behalf of third parties such as Southwestern Advantage.[6]As independent contractors, Southwestern Advantage is not subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act's mandates for minimum wage or overtime pay.

Students are responsible for their expenses (like food and gas) while operating in the field during the selling season, and foreign students must pay for their visas and airfare themselves. Some universities consider the program an internship eligible for college credits.[7]The commission rate for most dealers is 40%.[2]Some students report working 80 hours a week or more during selling season, though minimum quotas are not mandated by Southwestern.[2][8]

Students provide the company a letter of credit signed by two endorsers, typically the student's parents, in which the endorsers agree to be responsible for up to $500 each if the student fails to pay any money owed to the company at the end of the summer.[9][10]

According to the charity Polaris, organizations often send their recruiters to target unemployed young people and college students with promises of high profits.[11]

Working conditions and income

Students typically have a host family near their sales area, generally alumni, family of other students, or families found by door-to-door appeals. Housing is not guaranteed by the company.[9][12]

Dealers - who work as independent contractors - report working 72 or more hours per week in the field, making 30 or more presentations each day, in addition to time spent on bookkeeping, talking to managers or at sales meetings held each Sunday.[9] According to the company, in 2010 the average first-year dealer who stayed with the program for over 20 days grossed $2,415 per month before expenses,[8] which usually range from $1,500 to $3,000.[9]

At the end of the summer, products are shipped to the dealers, who revisit the homes where they made a sale to deliver the product and collect any balance due. Dealers generally pay their living expenses out of the down payments they collect, remitting the rest to the company to cover wholesale costs. Dealers return to headquarters in Nashville, where they settle accounts and receive a check for the season's earnings.[9] Some dealers are invited to return in subsequent years as managers, who recruit their own teams during the school year and earn a percentage commission on the sales of their team.

Products

Southwestern Advantage publishes and markets educational books, software, and subscription websites. The main product, Southwestern Advantage, is a series of educational reference books targeted to school-age children. The product line also includes software, college prep material, and others.[13]

Lobbying

In 2007, Southwestern Advantage lobbied against[14][15] the Malinda's Traveling Sales Crew Protection Act,[16] an anti-traveling sales crew bill[17] intended to stop companies from putting their workers in dangerous and unfair conditions.[18][19] The bill was passed, but in a form that applies only to sales workers who travel in groups of two or more.[18]

Controversies

Community disruptions

Some police departments and school officials have used official announcements in order to alert citizens of the company's presence after complaints. In 2013, the police department of Lee's Summit, Missouri issued a warning to residents of the company's employees after Internet users circulated warnings on social media of the company's employees being "aggressive" and asking "suspicious questions." The department's statement confirmed that the salespeople were associated with Southwestern Advantage and that similar questions were asked in order to best serve customers.[20] In 2019, the Liverpool Central School District sent out announcements to parents about a student from the company recruiting in the area after complaints from parents, triggering an investigation by the New York State Police into the company employee.[21]

In 2017, multiple residents of San Diego complained after employees of the company ignored a no soliciting sign and went into the backyard of a resident. Despite the claims, the Chula Vista Police Department noted that although there was no increase in formal complaints about the employees, they had noticed a connection between door-to-door selling and crime.[22] In 2013, online rumors spread of employees selling in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma being associated with child trafficking after the employees repeatedly asked residents about whether they had children. A spokesperson for the company claimed the question was important for gauge a customer's interest in the product and that the claims were unfounded.[23]

Bans from campuses

In 2019, student dealers represented over 240 college and university campuses around the world.[7]

Harvard University banned Southwestern from recruiting on its campus in 1977 for "irregular recruiting activities", though four years later Southwestern resumed recruiting despite this ban.[1] In 2005, the University of Maryland banned Southwestern from recruiting on its campus; as of 2009, however, the University continued to receive complaints against the company.[24]

In the UK University of Durham's campus in 2005, the Durham Students' Union, stating that the "Southwestern Company 'experience' is not marketed as openly as it could be, and some students may be misled", banned Southwestern from Dunelm House and mandated the union president "to liaise with Southwestern Books to work towards marketing which is clearer and to ask the company to develop its recruitment process to ensure Durham students are aware of the risks and pressures that the job entails."[25]

The Guild of Students at the University of Birmingham passed a motion in May 2006 banning the company from its premises and encouraging the University to do the same.[26]

In 2010, the University of Idaho announced that Southwestern Advantage is prohibited from recruiting on campus due to misconduct and violation of University and Career Center policies after several complaints were issued, which were deemed "valid" by the campus' career center director.[24] She explained, "I don't really think students understand the implications of an independent contractor," referring the company policy of registering student employees as independent contractors.[27]

A non-binding motion was passed at the 2010 AGM of the Students Association at the University of Edinburgh, banning the company from all union premises.[28]

Proposals to ban from campuses

In 2020, controversy arose at Purdue University after the company visited the school in order to pitch to students. One sophomore on campus initiated a petition to ban the company from campus, which received over 120 signatures.[29]

See also

References
  1. The Harvard Crimson: Book Company Recruiting Despite Ban By Harvard Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Summer interns make bank selling books". 27 February 2020.
  3. "Program Expectations". Southwestern Advantage. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
  4. What about student safety? Archived January 15, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Southwestern Advantage Questions & Answers". Southwestern.
  6. Wotruba, Thomas R.; Tyagi, Pradeep K. (July 1991). "Met Expectations and Turnover in Direct Selling". Journal of Marketing. 55 (3): 24. doi:10.2307/1252145. JSTOR 1252145.
  7. O'Neill, Nora. "Direct-sales company Southwestern Advantage continues to recruit UF students despite complaints". The Independent Florida Alligator. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  8. "Southwestern Fact Sheet" (PDF).
  9. BBB Review of Southwestern Company in Nashville, TN Archived October 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Better Business Bureau
  10. Letter of Credit – The Southwestern Company Archived September 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  11. "Knocking at Your Door: Labor Trafficking on Sales Crews". Polaris. 2015-07-08. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  12. Living Arrangements/Where will they be going? Archived January 15, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  13. Marshall, Victoria (2020-02-27). "Summer interns make bank selling books". Hillsdale Collegian. Retrieved 2022-02-09.
  14. Student keeps door-to-door sales alive Archived August 8, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  15. "Wisconsin: Father, group upset about sales bill". Archived from the original on 2012-09-19. Retrieved 2010-03-04.
  16. Malinda's Traveling Sales Crew Protection Act Pounded By Out-Of-State Company Archived March 21, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  17. "Wisconsin Legislature: 2013 Wisconsin Act 361".
  18. "Wisconsin Tightens Rules on Sales Crews - NYTimes.com". archive.ph. 2013-01-30. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  19. Bill To Regulate Traveling Sales Crews Considered At Capitol Archived March 21, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  20. "Company sets the record straight amid kidnapping rumors". FOX 4 Kansas City. 2013-08-08. Retrieved 2022-01-27.
  21. CNYCentral (2019-06-25). "Door-to-door salesman creates unease and confusion in Liverpool school district". WSTM. Retrieved 2022-01-27.
  22. "Door-to-door scarier now than ever | San Diego Reader". San Diego Reader. Retrieved 2022-01-27.
  23. Griffin, David. "Online Claims Of Human Traffickers Going Door-To-Door In BA Unfounded". News on 6. Retrieved 2022-01-27.
  24. "Direct-sales company Southwestern Advantage continues to recruit UF students despite complaints". The Independent Florida Alligator. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
  25. Durham Students' Union - Policy - Southwestern Books Archived August 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  26. University of Birmingham - Guild Council Motion - Southwestern on our Campus
  27. Schlake; Samuels (March 23, 2010). "UI bans Southwestern". The Argonaut (University of Idaho). p. 1.
  28. AGM attracts few, refuses to condemn Millbank violence Archived December 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  29. Reporter, NATHANIEL SHENK Staff. "Direct-sales organizations spark controversy on campus". Purdue Exponent. Retrieved 2022-02-09.
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