Some background information is in order: It was back in 1969 when Bill Britt was City Manager of Carrboro, N.C. a small town right across the street from Chapel Hill. He had just gotten into Amway and to be quite frank, was having a difficult go at it. In his own words: "Nine people in a row turned it down flat."
It was time to call in the troops. Dexter Yager scheduled a meeting at Bill Britt's house, and in the meantime, Bill Britt had invited his prospects over, and Dexter showed the plan to them.
One of those men listening to Dexter was Robert Oakes. He was about fifty years old at that time and a member of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen. He was very much admired and respected in the community, known to be a fine Christian gentleman, and a man of absolute integrity! Even Bill Britt and Dexter Yager will concur with me on this.
During my time as an Amway distributor, I got to know Robert Oakes. He was a regular at the functions, but said little, and never stayed too long at the rallies. He greatly impressed me because there was a lot that was different about him. He wasn't like the other Amway distributors.
People didn't gravitate to him the way they did to Dexter. On the contrary, they treated him with kid gloves. You see, Robert Oakes was already a successful businessman in his own right. While the rest of us were in Amway trying to get rich, he was already rich! He owned a great deal of real estate, and I believe he had an interest in the Dunkin' Donuts franchise, although I don't know this for a fact. He and his wife Dot lived in a comfortable but modest home located near the apartment complex which he owned and managed himself. There was a late model Cadillac and a motorhome in his garage, but that was about it. No fancy clothes, no flashy jewelry. In rancher's terms he was "All Cattle and No Hat!" He was attracted to Amway because of its eco-friendly products. Also he truly believed that the Amway opportunity was a way to aid other people in improving their lot in life. I don't believe he developed his business much beyond the Direct Distributor level. He didn't need to or want to.
It was the latter part of 1972 that Robert Oakes told me some pretty disturbing things. I needed some products in a hurry, and everybody in my upline was out of town! So I stopped by Robert Oakes's house and asked him if I could buy some
In the course of the transaction, he noticed me looking longingly at his motorhome. I had never been in one before, and he asked me if I would like to go for a ride. I said sure. It was an electrifying experience!
I was always under the impression that everything was hunky-dory in the World of Amway. Dexter always spoke of Rich and Jay in the most glowing of terms, and there was, of course, a very flattering article about Dexter and Birdie in the Amagram. Robert Oakes turned my world upside down!
"Dexter Yager," he informed me, "is considered by Amway Corporate to be a rebel, and a loose cannon. They don't like the way he does business. They are completely opposed to his "curiosity approach" and his downgrading of retail sales. On the other hand, his organization generates a huge percentage of Amway's business, so they are in a real quandary about what to do about him."
"How do you feel about Dexter?" I asked.
"I like Dexter very much," Robert Oakes replied, "he was very articulate, very professional in his presentation. But initially he left a bad taste in my mouth. I showed up for the meeting, and he had the balls to arrive five minutes later. Now I believe in being punctual. I'm a busy man, and if we agree upon a time to get together, and if that person shows up late, he doesn't get to see me. Period!"
He continued: "I know you are familiar with Rick deVos's speech SELLING AMERICA. It's a great speech. Rich DeVos thought so too; to the extent that he had it copyrighted. Dexter also thought so. So much so that he copied it and sold it to members of his organization. Now Dexter should have known better. Didn't even ask Rich if he could do this, didn't even offer to pay him any royalties. Just thought this was a great idea and went ahead with it."
"Well when we were in Ada, Rich was holding a meeting with us Directs, and he told us the whole story. He was furious. He let it be known that he did not appreciate this one bit, and that any distributor who tried a stunt like this in the future would have his distributorship terminated!"
"There was dead silence in the room. Everybody knew who that distributor was. All eyes were on Dexter!"
Apparently the dispute between Dexter and Rich was settled amicably. Rich DeVos probably made the business decision not to prosecute. After all, Dex was one of his biggest customers. To do so Rich would have been slitting his own throat! Anyone else though, would have probably not have gotten of so easily!
Robert Oakes has been dead for several years, so there is no way this story can be proven or disproven. You only have my word. But obviously this seems to be a recurring problem within the AMO's, as evidenced by the lawsuit against Amway filed by the Association of Recording Artists. For all their pontifications about integrity, they don't seem to understand that it is a crime to record and sell copyrighted material without permission of the copyright owner.
the web address for this page is http://hunza1.tripod.com/amway/oakes.html