OpTree

Wellness International Network has just completed its annual “Summer Shape Up” Weight loss competition. We first told you about the competition at the end of April. The annual competition required its participants to lose at least 25 lbs to be eligible for the grand prize.

During the four month competition, Wellness International kept track of its participants through its website so that its consumers could follow the progress of the participants. Now, after four months, Mona Albiola has been named the winner.

Albiola lost 40 pounds and more than 20 inches along with 7% percent body fat by including Wellness international products, including top seller, BioLean into her diet and exercise regimen.

“Before I was in a deep hole with my weight and didn’t know how to get out,” says Mona, a hairstylist in Allen, Texas. “When I was introduced to Wellness International Network’s products, I was given the ladder. All I had to do was climb up. I have lost a lot of weight, and I feel good. This has changed my life.”

As this year’s winner, Mona will receive a professional makeover, a magazine photo shoot and a $500 dollar shopping spree.

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Tupperware Brands (NYSE: TUP)announced second quarter results and for the fifth straight year, has seen double digit sales growth.

Second quarter sales in 2008 grew 18% to $584 million. Tupperware Beauty Segments sales grew 17%. The company, which has five diverse sales segments saw increase in sales in all five segments.

Tupperware was also thrilled that the number of active representatives grew 10% percent this quarter, probably due to the faltering economy, and the need for second jobs and supplemental income.

Rick Goings, CEO and Chairman of Tupperware was very happy with the second quarter results,”We are pleased to report another quarter of double-digit sales growth with contributions from all
segments. Even with a back drop of spotty economic conditions in some of our markets, we are optimistic entering the third quarter with a double-digit sales force size advantage. Our geographic and product diversity coupled with our emerging market presence continues to act as a natural hedge to help mitigate challenges we see in isolated markets.”

Tupperware has had higher than normal manufacturing costs this year, as natural oil and gas prices went up, so did resin prices. Tupperware uses resin in the making of many of their plastics.

A full report on the second quarter sales and earnings are available on the Tupperware website. For those of you who read this in time, Tupperware will hold a call at 10 AM eastern Thursday the 24th, but for those who cant make it, the call will be archived and available online as well.

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The announcement yesterday that USANA has promoted Dave Wentz to CEO from President seems like good news for the company but also may require some further examination into other positions Wentz has as well.

As we reported last month, Wentz was appointed the Direct Selling Association’s new Chairman. While the news seemed a bit harmless at the time (Wentz was President of USANA when the announcement was made and not an officer of the Company) it does now represent some questions as to whether or not there may be a conflict of interest or questions about corporate governance with him now serving both roles.

While the overall role of the DSA remains a bit sticky to us (after the Weekenders debacle and the DSA having no information to provide at all about what happened - even after several repeated requests to the company), it does beg to ask, should an active CEO of a publicly traded company that also serves as Chairman of an organization that lists its competitors as members be acceptable?

The DSA does not list any information on its site about what it takes to be the Chairman of the organization, nor does it disclose how much money any of the organizations donate or pay over the year for the privilege to say they are part of the DSA other than to vaguely express that membership dues are based on the yearly total of direct sales a company generates. This does not include any retail or catalogue sales a company may have, only the direct selling portion of the business.

In a show of good corporate governance and disclosure, I absolutely think that the DSA should list (or at least provide access to) how much money a participating organization donates/gives to them on an annual basis - especially those that are public. What is a bit more ironic is that the DSA announced a “DSA Ethics and Self Regulations Committee Teleconference” is scheduled for next week but of course, no media is allowed. Then again, why would any media be allowed to a Self Regulation conference?

Which gets me back to the original question…as the CEO of a publicly traded company things like ethics and regulatory issues are all public information and fall under the guidelines of corporate governance. While I recognize that the DSA is neither public nor demanded to make any of their financial information public, since they are organized to not only “protect and serve” the interests of the public and the companies in which they are made up of, why be so secretive and not make the information available - especially since its new Chairman must do so in his other job. The joint positions that Dave Wentz now holds do raise questions of a conflict of interest. We have no question about his ability to serve in his current roles nor his ability to do so at the highest level and garner great success, however as the newly appointed CEO and officer of a publicly traded company, should he also be the Chairman of an organization that determines whether or not companies which are competitive to his own are accepted or rejected? hmmm

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We have not let this story go since we broke it weeks ago. There is no question that since we started opTree, this story has elicited more emotion and outcry than any other.

In an effort to try and offer any assistance to those who were burned by the Weekenders debacle, we were going through the Direct Selling Associations site to find out what recourse sales representatives have.

We came across something very interesting which hopefully serve as some help. According to the DSA site in the FAQ section,

Q. I am a sales representative with a DSA member company. What benefits does DSA provide for me?
A. As a representative with a DSA member company, you receive the benefit of your company’s pledge to abide by the DSA Code of Ethics. You are encouraged to share your affiliation with a DSA member company with all of your customers as DSA membership is a symbol of the highest possible business ethics. You can expect your company to:

• Provide you with legal and accurate information on the company’s pay structure, products and sales methods.
• Refrain from any unlawful or unethical recruiting practice and exorbitant entrance or training fees.
• Base all actual and potential sales and earnings claims on documented facts.
• Abstain from encouraging you to purchase more inventory than you can sell in a reasonable amount of time.
• Repurchase 90% of the marketable inventory and sales aids you have purchased within the past 12 months if you decide to leave the business.
• Explain the repurchase option in writing.

Additionally, you may be eligible to participate in DSA’s Gold Identification Card program and/or insurance plans for representatives/distributors of participating DSA member companies. Please contact DSA or your company for information about your company’s participation in either of these programs.

We imagine this would hold true for Weekenders sales reps since Weekenders was part of the DSA when it shut its doors.

Its worth a shot. You can call the DSA at (202) 452-8866

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