A word of warning to young people from the state's Consumer Protection office about traveling sales crews.
It's that time of year. Traveling sales crews are starting to recruit young people in Wisconsin.
Consumer Protection's Glen Loyd says his office has already seen the ads in the Eau Claire area and that means they'll soon be all over the state luring people into a summer job of door-to-door sales.
Loyd says the ads are easy to spot. They may include the phrase "Publisher's Representative". They often entice young people by asking if they like a certain kind of music and if they like to travel and have fun with kids their own age.
But Loyd says the experience is often no fun at all. He says some young people on these crews have been killed, maimed, arrested and generally mistreated while earning very little money.
In 1999, seven young people on a crew were killed near Janesville when their van went out of control late at night.
There's a bill in the legislature that would regulate traveling sales crews in the state.. hoping to make the companies more responsible for their employees but in the meantime Consumer Protection's advice is simple: Don't sign up with these traveling sales crews.