scam pyramid schemes that I've had to halt acquaintancehips & unfollow or mute multiple social media feeds for.

But the idea kind of amazed me, and when I listened to a recent related planet money episode https://goo.gl/xQPP4B and heard the black couple in Houston talk about their scheme, I immediately knew the two were related.
Then I read the article the pod was based on https://goo.gl/Rusn6V and it explained my inclination in depth. In a few sentences the article explains more about "MLM" than any pyramid recruiter could in any masked recruitment conversation.

So now I'm cautious in my online shopping to avoid middlemen.
I put it to practice and feel like a winner...

This weekend I have an event and need a tux, I've always rented and thought I'd do he same, but on a whim I took a look on eBay. Accidentally, by placing a nominal bid as a placeholder, I bought a Christian Dior tux for $12.99 + $12.00 shipping. Until trying it on I was still planning to rent, but the thing both fits well looks new--even the lining in the pants show no signs of wear. I was so excited about the come-up, I sourced the rest of my tuxedo accessories online and pieced the thing together for a total of about $120.