I sold framed posters for a year or so. The way it is set up, a branch owner rents space in an office park where they can warehouse the merch and build a crew. They run classified ads that aren't very specific, basically be your own boss and make money type of ads. Pretty much anyone who responds gets called in to an interview, which is not very specific either. They just want to know if you have your own vehicle and are receptive to doing something outside the lines of a 9 to 5. Eventually the new folks learn they are setting up a sole proprietorship that sells posters on consignment.
From there, they have daily meetings that are hype sessions, and the new people ride with a trainer for a week. Each person on the crew has certain territory to work in, it's door-to-door on businesses only. I suspect they don't do residential because there are already a number of groups who do that, like the steak guys and the magazines, it's usually not good to follow those guys to the same doors. The way we did territory was to hit everything until an intersection, then always make right turns. When we see one of the other crews who did go to businesses, we usually skipped ahead of them. There were friendly rivalries- the scene in the movie where they were talking shop with another crew in the parking lot, I've done that before. Always BSing about how much money we were making, too.
I had a truck, so I would stand them up in the bed like they do with windshield repair trucks. Laying glass down is a very bad idea, as is not strapping them firmly. The other issue with using a truck is water damage. I had a tarp, but sometimes they got damaged from excessive humidity, so I had to find ways to deal with that. Having 6 or 7 damaged could wipe out whatever I made for the day, because we had to pay for those.
Every couple months, we would go on road trips for a week to cities that did not have a local branch. This helps to keep from burning out our home territory. We would go in a convoy, with a U-Haul carrying 500-1000 pieces. Depending on how big the crew was, we would get motel rooms with around 4 people per room. The ones who sold the least got the floor and last in the shower. One room is for the branch manager and his assistant, very similar to the movie (minus the lotion); this room is also where some of the merch is offloaded. Early in the week, it could take up half the room, so room service is canceled.
We eat somewhere for breakfast and have the hype session in the parking lot, go out to our assigned area, then meet back at the motel at a specific time. Then we go somewhere for dinner. Those who didn't have a good day could optionally go out at night, always in pairs. I usually did better at night than I did in the daytime; I had a special talent for seeking out the strip clubs and massage parlors, hang out there most of the night and trade stories with the girls. That's very similar to what Star was doing in the movie. She found a niche with people who aren't really paying for the magazines, she is just an interesting person to hang out with, and they are paying for the experience.
I eventually left because it is a very exhausting lifestyle, and whatever I made did not last very long due to partying. There were days when I went out there with nothing but a truckload of merch and knew I had to sell just to have enough gas to make it back, but that's also what attracted me to it. I found myself in a lot of strange situations, and definitely learned a lot from it.
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