What industry do you hope won’t exist in 10 years? Some industries feel like they skirt the legal line, like MLMs, better known as pyramid selling. I cannot stand the “boss babe” culture and predatory methods these scams use to prey on stay-at-home mothers.
It’s honestly infuriating that it passes as legal when it’s a pyramid scheme that gets off on a technicality. After asking the internet for their opinions, these are the top-voted industries.
1. Concert Ticket Mafia
The number-one-voted response is the “Concert Ticket Mafia,” a name someone affectionately referred to Ticketmaster, StubHub, and Live Nation without hesitation.
2. Cold-Calling Jobs
Okay, let’s face it, NOBODY likes being cold-called, and as someone who has done the cold-calling (Thanks, T-Mobile), trust me when I say nobody wants to do the job either. Someone joked, “I’ve been trying to reach you about your car’s extended warranty.”
3. Telemarketers
After everyone agreed that telemarketers suck, one shared that they use Tasker to auto-drop any call from a number that isn’t in their contacts. However, one user noted that he receives these calls from spoof numbers, so it looks like your loved one is calling.Â
Someone admitted, “Having worked for both Verizon and AT&T, I can assure you that this isn’t a failure of those companies. On the contrary, it’s a boost to their profit. Telemarketers pay these companies to help telemarketers spoof numbers.”
4. Mommy and Family Vloggers
One Redditor suggested that Family and Mommy Vloggers are “sinister” before sharing the podcast Some Place Under Neith’s seven episodes (56-62).Â
The podcast discussed a woman (Myka Stauffer) who adopted an autistic Chinese baby (Huxley) and ended up being “too difficult.” Hence, she “rehomed” him when he was only three. That was even the language she used. And she didn’t confess until her entire fan base demanded to know where he was because she pretended he never existed.
5. The Troubled Teen Industry
Many in the thread agreed that the Troubled Teen Industry abuses minors for profit. “Abusing minors for money shouldn’t be an industry.” Sadly, several people who had been sent to (kidnapped) these places shared that verbal abuse and grooming were happening. Many had class action lawsuits filed against them.
6. MLMs/Pyramid Schemes
Hey, great minds think alike! I couldn’t agree more with the Reddit community about this one. Sadly, most decided these industries aren’t going anywhere (see Tupperware and Avon).
One elaborated, “I wish, but the fact that MLMs didn’t go out of business decades ago proves that a sucker is born every minute. Perhaps that and their marketing has been good at calling it something else.”
7. Human Trafficking
Someone stated, “Colour me surprised when the top comments are about ticket sponsoring and not about actual slavery.” Many people in the thread were surprised that human trafficking wasn’t the number one voted response. However, one argued, “Out of everything listed, this is the least likely…. this has been going on forever with humans.”
8. Oncology
Everyone agreed they would love to see the oncology (cancer) business cease in ten years. Someone noted that scientists are working on vaccines and praying it eradicate the disease.
However, one suggested, “Even if a single vaccine for all cancers came out tomorrow, it would still take decades to eradicate cancer via vaccination.
Just look at the current attitude towards COVID-19 vaccines or the resurgence of diseases like mumps and measles due to anti-vax attitudes.”
9. Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs)
Someone explained that Pharmacy Benefit Managers are “Basically bloodsucking middlemen that sit between hospitals and health insurers. They were supposedly created to control prescription drug costs and manage formularies, but they drive prices up. One of the many terrible causes of high medical costs in the states.”
10. Social Media Influencers
While over five thousand people suggested they want to see social media influencers vanish as an industry in the next ten years, others argued it would never happen. One elaborated, “It’s advertising, and I don’t think that’s going away soon. It’s freelance marketing.”
Honorable Mentions: US tax preparers, puppy and kitty farms, for-profit health insurance, and fast fashion. What do you think? Did Reddit get this one right? Did they leave any industry out?
The internet inspires this article and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of The Cents of Money.
Feature Image Credit: Instaphotos From Canva.com.
