What is Usana
Usana is an MLM company based in Salt Lake City, Utah (Utah is the mother ship for MLM companies!) that sells health care products. The company’s founder, Myron Wentz, PH.D., began the company in an effort to improve cell health. Although Usana produces dozens of items, they can all be separated into three different categories: skin care, vitamins, and nutritional supplements.

Usana employs a much smaller number of people than other MLM companies like XanGo, but it is still a multi-million dollar company. Unfortunately, Usana stock prices have been falling over the past several years. Several lawsuits and controversy over-inflated executive resumes have probably contributed to this decline.

Quality of Product
As far as product quality is concerned, there are several opinions on the matter. According to Usana, product quality is a paramount concern. During manufacturing, several tests are conducted to ensure uniform product potency, weight, hardness and purity. The company also follows Good manufacturing Practices for pharmaceuticals rather than food. With these guidelines and tests, Usana products have earned a reputation for safety, but effectiveness is another matter.

Some sources claim that more affordable dietary supplements can be just as beneficial as Usana products. There hasn’t been a lot of research conducted to prove these theories though. To establish their own credibility, Usana points to several Olympic athletes who use their products. On the other hand, those athletes are Olympians and they tend to be sponsored by Usana as well.

Compensation for MLM Associates
Usana works on a binary compensation plan. According to Usana, the average associate made about $600 in 2006 and the average commission qualified associate made about $1500. The company clearly states that these numbers are no guarantee of how much an associate will make though. As nice as it would be to have some extra money, these numbers don’t look like a dependable income for a family.

Additionally, many people spend more money on the products than they earn by selling them. According to several recruiting presentations, each new Usana distributor must buy a minimum of about $445 worth of the company’s business tools and health products to get started and then they must continue to buy about $290 worth of its health products every month thereafter in order to qualify for commissions. For avid Usana users, this might be a great deal because they are committed to the product. For someone on board for the money, it can make return on investment a difficult task though.

Conclusion
At the moment, Usana is under a lot of scrutiny. For most people, Usana probably isn’t the number one way to get rich either. On the other hand, their products are safer than many dietary supplements on the market and it might be worth becoming an associate if you like their products enough.

Usana News
Here are some recent news stories about Usana’s bumpy road:

Usana Borrowing $215 Million to Go Private

Usana Wins Best of State Award - Again

Usana CEO Tries to Buy Out His Own Company

If you want to keep up on Usana news, read the Usana blog.

Bob Schmidt was a top-level XanGo distributor who was scheduled to speak at their next convention. He was in network marketing for 33 years and was 63 years old. Already beating cancer, he died while kyaking at Lake Tahoe over Memorial Day weekend.

Here is a tribute to him from XanGo that they showed at convention in Florida:

I’m going to review some of the biggest MLMs in the next few posts, starting with XanGo, a fancy fruit drink MLM spinoff from MLM company Tahitian Noni…

An Overview of XanGo, LLC

What is XanGo?
XanGo LLC is a multi-level marketing company based in Lehi, Utah that specializes in making dietary supplement products out of mangosteen fruit. They have hundreds of employees working on-site and hundreds of thousands distributors across the globe.

XanGo products are sold in Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Quality of Product
As far as product quality is concerned, XanGo products do come in cool packaging and meet ISO standards of safety, but they shouldn’t be categorized as miracle workers. XanGo itself expressly states that their product “is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease” (which is required by law).

This might lead consumers to ask why the product is so special and so expensive. The answer would probably be the monopoly the company has on mangosteen. The two strongest selling points for the drink are its taste and its antioxidant content. Of those two features, the taste is the only unique quality though. After all, most fruits and vegetables are good sources of nutrients and antioxidants. Unfortunately, the taste is a hard to duplicate though.

Mangosteen really is a delicious fruit. It is a regular favorite of tourists and newcomers in Southeast Asia and, having been to Thailand myself, I have rarely met anyone who didn’t like mangosteen. Its flavor has occasionally been described as a sweet and creamy citrusy blend with a hint of peach.

In addition to having a flavor that is difficult to recreate, mangosteens have also been hard to come by because they are native to Southeast Asia and they only grown in very warm climates. That makes is hard to grown them in the U.S.

Importing hasn’t been a viable solution in the past either. In fact, it was illegal to import mangosteen into the U.S. until 2006. Even then, only small amounts were allowed across the border and then sold to specialty restaurants. In 2007, mangosteens began appearing in a few New York grocery stores for $45 a pound, but that price is much higher than it would be in a country like Thailand or Taiwan. Chalk it up to shipping costs, I guess. Such a high price makes XanGo juice look affordable.

Unfortunately, it might be hard to taste mangosteen in XanGo juice too. After all, XanGo juice is actually a blend of mangosteen, apple, pear, grape, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, cranberry and cherry juice. With eight other fruits thrown into the mix, it must be pretty hard to taste the mangosteen. This last conclusion is really an assumption though because I haven’t been willing to become part of the MLM or fork over $37 to buy the product.

XanGo Success Rate
As far as distributor success is concerned, I am sure that some people have made a fortune working for XanGo. I am also sure, that most XanGo distributors (about 70%) merely use their status to buy XanGo juice at a discounted price. This makes them fit better in a loyal customer category rather than the burgeoning entrepreneur category. I guess the most important thing to remember is that XanGo is a legitimate MLM company with a reliable compensation plan; even if it does seem complicated.

Conclusion
Whether XanGo products are really amazing or not, the company is certainly doing well. There are plenty of people who are willing to swear by its beneficial effect on their lives. Personally, I would rather save up and go to Southeast Asia for fresh mangosteens rather than buy the products, but that is only my personal preference.

What is your experience with XanGo?