Settling Down

After rocketing to 9 cents a share on the news that Coach was fired from the Board, YTBLA has now settled back down to where it was before.   It certainly seems like the markets don;t have too much confidence.

Just Some Thoughts

I had a conversation with a YTB Director this weekend and he was insistent that YTB was travel focused. He chided me about the post about Shop YTB and them proceeded to tell me about all the juices and slimming clothes that were sold out as a result of Shop YTB. Not too much mention about travel.

As he was explaining the Shop YTB mall to me it dawned on me that indeed YTB seems to have just shuffled the deck chairs once again.  His comment which was my "aha moment"  was "with the money you can save in your own personal shopping, it more than pays for your monthly YTB fee."

There you go! A few years back, YTB was using travel as the hook to get people to sign up into the recruiting/pyramid/endless chain scheme. They portrayed jetting across the globe at pennies on the dollar and travel suppliers fawning over them. Well, we all know how well that worked out as is evidenced by the lawsuit in California, IATAN, RCCL, NCL, Illinois lawsuit, million dollar fines, etc.

So what does YTB do? They get involved with one of the multitude of online "shopping malls". Initially it was Aisle 19 and now they are partnered with someone else but privately branded. This is no different than Market America, Aisle 19, and many others.

So what is the hook? How does YTB convince people to pay them $49 a month for something that they can get for free almost anywhere else? They promote the personal savings and the "incredible commissions" when people buy from your mall. And I am sure that very little non-selfsold merchandise is purchased through the portals.

But to get these wonderful discounts/cash back and commissions because your friends and family will want to buy from you (that worked really well in travel didn't it?), you MUST have a YTB travel site at $49 a month. The pitch is that it will pay for itself with cash back. The hook is that you will have a travel business.

Once again, YTB has found a way to make a whore out of the travel industry!

What Happened To Aisle 19?

Did Aisle 19 fire YTB?  It sure seems so according to their CEO who set the record straight on this forum on October 8, 2009. So, Aisle 19 is no longer the power behind YTB? Can someone explain?

Hello All, maybe I can set the record strait. I am the CEO of Aisle19, Inc. Aisle19 is not a MLM or network marketing company. However, Escape, a company that markets for Aisle19, is a network marketing company...a darn good one. Escape and Aisle19 are owned by the same parent company, thus the confusion sometimes.

However, Aisle19, is not an MLM company it is simply an online savings portal. Of the 600,000 plus members of Aisle19, only 50,000 of them are involved in the partner company- Escape International, Inc.

Aisle19 provide its FREE members with a FREE saving's portal where they can shop at their favorite stores. When they do, they get exclusive sales (about 15% of time) and Cash Back on their purchases (avg. 5% cash back).

They pay the same price as they would by going to Target, etc. direct-but they get cash back and sometimes better prices than target direct.

If someone is simply a customer, they never join Escape. If someone wants to earn money by giving Aisle19 away. Then they can join the Escape income opportunity. When they do, they become Escape IBO (independent bus. owners) as well as Aisle19 members.

If part of Escape, an IBO also gets paid a percentage when one of their customer shops online via Aisle19.

Pretty simple! A customer uses Aisle19 and saves and gets cash back. An Escape IBO also earns for giving that Aisle19 membership away.

Scam? No.

So, to answer the original questions. Aisle19 is not a scam, and Escape is the finest Income opportunity in the home based business world.

Also, as an answer to another question: Aisle19 is no longer providing YTB with access to the Aisle19 online mall.

If you have a question and want facts by someone who is liable for what they write. Write my offices directly at david@aisle19.com. I'd be happy to have someone (or myself) answer your questions directly.

Thank You,

David Rutz
CEO
Aisle19, Inc.
Escape International, Inc.

Plagiarism 101

Even if you don't write for The Examiner, you too can plagiarize right on Coach Tomer's Facebook Page. Go ahead, they won;t care!

On Saturday, disciple Independent Marketing Representative Andre Hackley came up with this gem:

No other city comes close. It may no longer be caput mundi (capital of the world), but Rome is an epic, bubbling-over metropolis harboring lost empires. One visit and you’ll be hooked. Rome has a glorious monumentality that it wears without reverence. Its architectural heirlooms are buzzed around by car and Vespa as if they were no more than traffic islands.

Funny but that seems very close to this gem published here:

No other city comes close. It may no longer be caput mundi (capital of the world), but Rome is an epic, bubbling-over metropolis harboring lost empires. One visit and you’ll be hooked. Rome has a glorious monumentality that it wears without reverence. Its architectural heirlooms are buzzed around by car and Vespa as if they were no more than traffic islands.

   

A Cult? You Tell Me.

Too Funny!

Tony Ytb

Coach Is In Italy Eating Great Italian Food, But Still Thinks About Us & Want's Us To Eat Good Food Too!! Monge!! Monge!! Everyone!!

The RTA Attrition Continues

If you will recall, for the last quarter, YTB was losing a net of 149 RTAs per day which showed some improvement over their full year attrition of 178 RTAs per day.

It seems that the 3rd quarter is continuing the trend of losing less RTAs per day than the previous quarter, but the attrition is still very alarming.

At the end of the 3rd quarter, YTB has only 52,000 RTAs.  This represents a net loss of 95 RTAs per day.  Moreover, any decline has a direct impact on the income since most of the income is derived from the RTAs paying their monthly fees.

To illustrate, at their peak of 138,000, at $49.95 per month, this scheme was generating $6.8 million dollars per month. Now at 52,000 that income has been reduced to $2.5 million dollars per month.

Of course the latest push has been to Shop YTB and not travel. YTB  is making a decided push to other retail outlets to make up the money that they are not earning selling the travel websites.

It is only a matter of time until travel will leave the portfolio entirely. This will get the travel professionals off their backs, it will get the attorneys general off their backs, and quite possibly may give YTB as a corporation a chance at survival.

I have said many times that MLM and travel do not mix and one of the main reasons is the narrow margins in travel. You can only split a penny so many ways.

More info on the upcoming 10Q as it becomes available.

No More Sweetheart Deals

It is interesting that only now that Coach Tomer has been ousted that Travel Pro admits that under the Tomer's guidance, the Board was stacked with cronyism and neoptism.

All in all, it’s a great move for YTB, especially with the way this all this developed. This isn’t some band aid or hasty move that didn’t have input or thought put from everyone involved. Not with the Board of Directors YTB now has. Gone are the “good ol’ boys” and “buddy system” and in with some very promising and talented executives. 

Wow, it was not too long ago that he was cheering on the same Board filled with "good ol' boys" and "buddys".  What has changed? Is this an admission of a complete failure of corporate governance?

But be clear, the deal Van Patten got was not the same deal that Tomer got. The base salary was slashed by nearly 15%. Tomer still is the Top Director in the company and earns off of every recruit. Tomer still retains the overrides on sales from the IBCs (Internet Business Centers).  But look at the two base compensation programs:

Van Patten:

The Company and Mr. Van Patten have executed an employment agreement with a term of twelve months, beginning October 6, 2009 and expiring October 4, 2010.  The Company has agreed to pay Mr. Van Patten an annual base salary of $300,000.  Mr. Van Patten will be eligible to receive an annual performance bonus equal to 2% of the Company’s annual earnings before taxes if the earnings are greater than $500,000 but less than $1.5 million, 2.25% if the earnings before taxes are greater than $1.5 million but less than $3.0 million, or 2.5% if the earnings before taxes are greater than $3.0 million.  The Company has also agreed to provide Mr. Van Patten with a monthly car allowance of $1,000, and he will be eligible to receive management-level employee benefits.  Either party can terminate the agreement at any time without recourse.

And Tomer:

Under their employment agreements with the Company, each of Messrs. J. Scott Tomer, J. Kim Sorensen, J. Lloyd Tomer and Michael Y. Brent will serve in their positions for five-year terms, earning starting annual base salaries (in fiscal 2008) of $325,000,which shall increase in increments of $25,000 for each successive year under the agreements. Each employment agreement automatically renews for additional one year terms at the then-current base salary upon the expiration of the initial term or any successor term if either party does not provide notice of non-renewal at least 90 days prior to such expiration. Each of Messrs. J. Scott Tomer, J. Kim Sorensen, J. Lloyd Tomer and Michael J. Brent will be eligible for a cash bonus equal to a percentage of the Company’s net pre-tax income for each year in which such income surpasses certain thresholds, in the following percentages:(i) 2.0%, if net pre-tax income is at least $500,000, but less than $1,500,000; (ii) 2.25%, if net pre-tax income is at least $1,500,000 but less than $3,000,000; and (iii) 2.5%, if net pre-tax income is at least $3,000,000.

And one other item the press release did not address was that Andy Cauthen was also forced from his President and COO position within the company (YTB International) and will remain as Secretary of the Corporation as well as COO and President of the subsidiary YTB Marketing reporting to Scott Tomer.

Coach Fired From His Own Pyramid Scheme

COACH IS FIRED!

According to a press release issued this morning, it appears that our sources yesterday were indeed correct.

Coach Tomer no longer has a position in the Corporation and is now the the top Rep in the Pyramid and has been replaced by "Consultant" Bob Van Patten.

It will be interesting to see how this impacts the issues facing YTB including their cash flow situation, their declining enrollment and more importantly the civil lawsuit filed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

I suspect that with Coach out of the corporate picture, YTB may be in a better position to negotiate a settlement with Illinois. But, then again, the suit charges Tomer individually and corporately.  And one wonders how and if the insurance will cover him.

Watch the stock carefully!

Big Discussions In Wood River

UPDATE:  From a comment, there is speculation that Coach Tomer has been forced from either the Board of Directors of YTB or forced from his seat as the Chair. We are trying to get some verification of this and we are reporting it because it may make sense with the discussions of taking YTB private once again.

I am the first to admit I have no idea of the full ramifications of this, but there are rumblings that YTB may indeed be moving to take itself private once again with an open share buyback program.

Certainly the big plus of being a private entity is that 100% of your business dealings can be held private. There no longer would be SEC scrutiny and to a great extent, no more fodder for critics.

The downside is that the Reps will no longer be able to use "publicly traded" as a "guarantee" that it is not a scam.

I also have no idea how a buyback will work. At what price do they buyback shares? Current market value?  What if I was awarded 100,000 shares at $1 for a Director bonus--am I expected to just accept the $5000 and be happy?  If it is not at market value, where will the money come from? Their cash position was very weak at the last 10Q and they just refinanced a loan with not so tremendous terms. I doubt there is a line of Venture Capitalists queuing up behind all the travel vendors to become involved with YTB. This also makes more sense with all of the SEC background that Bob Van Patten reportedly has under his belt.

I also imagine that we will see the release of the 3rd Quarter 10Q to see if it is even feasible and maybe it will happen in the Fourth Quarter...you don't suppose.....

YTB Goes To A Consumer Show

Caption: My YTB Outdoors sign. The brown papers are ShopYTB stores and the black and brown writing on the board are some of the MANY trips YTB Outdoors can offer.

Congratulations To YTB

1,014  / 60,414 = .017

Congratulations to YTB. 1.7% of their Travel Store Owners have decided to complete the Mancini E-Campus Modules.  That means that 59,400 have not.

A special congratulations goes to Doug "TravelPro" Bauknight who paid for and completed the curriculum. Notably absent was another "Travel Pro", Candy May. And also absent were some of our old friends who claimed to be serious about selling travel--Regina and Gail.

But, it does appear that there are at least 1000 people in YTB that are indeed interested in learning the industry. Now imagine the productivity these 1000 could do if they aligned with a legitimate host? One where they could make a lot more than a 75% split--which they had to pay to obtain.

YTB Refinances Loan

When the bank used by YTB (and owned by YTB Board Members)  was seized by the FDIC, the loan on their office had to be renegotiated or paid in full. They could not pay it so they renegotiated it and were able to do so at 8% interest  according to the SEC Filing. Alternately, with a $200K payment they can get Prime +4%. Wow, quite a difference from the sweetheart rates they had when they were dealing with a bank controlled by their Board members.

But 8% is certainly on the high side of commercial interest rates according to RealtyRates.com. I am not familiar with commercial loans, but I imagine like a consumer loan, the interest increases with the risk. Hmmm.

Whoops!

Statue Still Homeless

On September 27th, our DAD Member TravelCop informed me that YTB was in talks with the Olympic Committee to provide the statue for the 2016 Olympiad.  The actual news indicated that Beryl-Martin (Coach, Scott, and Kim's little tax shelter) was willing to offer it to Chicago. But that did not stop TravelCop from his spin.

Well, now that the Olympiad will be held in Rio, it seems that the FLL is still nothing more than an expensive stage prop purchased on the backs of the naive.