Sales

American Income Life Employment scam

Posted by Rick on in Observances, Scams 215 Comments

American Income Life Employment scam ?

I’m getting pretty good at spotting these people a mile away.

Got a phone call from (503) 639-8735, didn’t recognize the number. Did a quick look up of the number on Google and found that they did this quite often. Less then ten minutes later, got another phone call from them which I decided to answer this time.

From the start it was obvious that the lady was working from a memorized script. She was full of “Um’s” and “Uh’s” and “OK, that sounds good” to every answer I said. It felt like she wasn’t really even listening to me. She asked what kind of job I was looking for, but didn’t mention that the company even had any IT jobs at all. She kept pushing to get me in the door.

Further Google Searching finds on scam.com quite a bit of very interesting information. Many people saying that the company is not a scam, but three times as many saying it is. Apparently unlike other insurance companies, they make you pay for all your classes and books to get an insurance license. After that they pump you leads that are two years old, or in many cases, older. They might be slightly legitimate, but any company that has as high of a turn over as they does, has something going wrong.

For the record, (and Google) their Portland Oregon address is:

15575 SW Sequoia Parkway
Suite #150
Portland OR, 97224

The “HR” person told me the door is on the “back of the building” and simply says AIL on it. To me that was the final red flag. If you’re considering working for this company, I would run away as fast as possible.


Update

– August 15th, 2016. I just got called by these guys again. They said that I applied for the position of Customer Service Manager via one of the career boards. But I track all the jobs I apply for in Excel. They are not there under American Income, or their parent company, Torchmark. Nor are they there under job title. So either they are putting out false jobs under different titles and companies, or they are doing the cold call technique. On the good side, the lady this time knew her script much better, but still evaded the truth when I asked if it was for a management position.

The new address is:
7200 NE 41st Street Suite #202
Vancouver WA, 98662
360-947-0987

Another thing I noticed, they now started “celebrating” all their worker’s success via YouTube. Almost every video has comments closed on it. Why would an company that is legitimate and above board being doing that? Even the largest companies like Nike, Exxon, Coke, etc don’t do that!

Portland Oregon Temp Agencies list

Posted by Rick on in Lists 3 Comments

Portland Oregon Temp Agencies list

This is a list of Temp Agencies and Employment Agencies with offices in the Portland, Oregon area. I do not have experience with most of these companies, nor do I endorse any. But I would be interested in your opinions on them. Please leave any comments (good or bad,) below.

Please also comment below on any companies that should be added to this list!

Portland Oregon Temp Agencies list

Accountemps (Accounting, bookkeeping, collections, general office) 503-244-9311

Accounting Connections (Accounting, bookkeeping, CPA’s, Administrative) 503-228-2335

Adecco Employment (Clerical, light industrial, data entry, drafters, engineers, production) 503-645-5938

Aerotek (Skilled light industrial, general labor, clerical, engineering) 503-403-1900

Ajilon (Accounting, finance) 503.228.0300

All’s Well (Most health care suport positions (no physicians)) 503-265-0542

Apple One (Administrative, sales, management, customer service, technical, call center) (503) 279-8893

Aquent (Creative and Marketing) 503-797-6600

Arrive Staffing Resources (Office, Accounting, Finance) 503-227-2211

ATSI Group (All IT Technical positions) 503-684-9100

Barrett Business Services (Clerical, Light Industrial, Technical) 503-234-2444

BDI Staffing (Heavy Industrial, Production, Assembly) 503.364.5189

BEGINRIGHT Employment Services (Warehouse, light industrial, clerical, production) 503-254-5959

Boly:Welch (Administrative, clerical, legal accounting support) 503-242-1300

Brooks Staffing (General Office, Administrative, Production, Light Industrial) 503-284-7930

CDI Professional Services (Electronics, IT, Administrative, Clerical, Call Center, Management) 503-629-7100

CLP Resources (Skilled Trades people for construction) 503-408-5730

Contractors Employment Service (Construction Industry Only, Commercial, residential, general labor) 503-654-0021

Crdentia Staffing (Finance, Credit, Accounting, Collections, General office) 503-246-8952

Creative Financial Staffing (Accounting, Finance) (503) 552-6717

CSR Personnel (Administrative, clerical, customer service, engineering, technical, production, healthcare) 503-287-4428

De Paul Industries (office, clerical, general labor, warehouse, manufacturing, janitorial, medical production) 503-281-1289

Dental Medical Staffing, Inc (Dentist, hygenist, assistant, office manager, xRay technician, receptionist, veterinary technician) 503-641-1176

Edgelink (technical) 503-246-3989

Edwards Enterprises (Construction, Assembly/Fabrication) 503-466-2171

Emerald Staffing (secretarial, clerical, accounting, word processing, sales, warehouse, customer service) 503-941-4788

Employers Overload (clerical, light industrial, technical) 503-624-8000

Experience Works (Staffing for mature workers 55 and over) 503-526-2761
Filter/Talent (Creative, advertising, design, marketing, public relations) 503-228-6892

Generator Group (exclusive high-end professional positions in apparel, footwear, sporting goods, retail, insurance, banking, IT, risk management) 503-224-4811

Goodwill Personnel Services (office suppport positions for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment) 503-239-1734

HR Extra (HR Executive, manager, HR support staff, recruiter, benefit administrator) 503-885-9875

Instant Labor (general labor, construction, assembly, production, moving, janitorial, warehouse, painting) 503-643-7028

Insurance Overload Services (Insurance, Administration) (503) 293-7650

Integrity Staffing (labor, warehouse, material handling) 503-692-1300

Interim Healthcare (Hospice, Health Care,) (503) 761-6050

Jones Partners (technology) 360-693-0181

Kelly Services (clerical, administrative, technical, light industrial, healthcare, management, engineering, sales) 503-643-1614

KForce (accounting, finance, technical) 503-244-2700

Labor Ready (light industrial, unskilled construction, assembly, freight handling, maintenance, warehouse) 503-641-7858

Legal Northwest (paralegal, legal secretary, legal administrator, records manager) 503-242-2514

Madden Industrial Craftsmen, Inc. (carpenter, welder (certified and non-certified), machinist, laborer, mechanic) 503-690-0641

Mainz Brady Group (Information Technology, Human Resources, Sales & Marketing and Accounting,) 503-688-1900

Management Recruiters (Management) (503) 287-8701

Manpower (light industrial, production, general labor, administrative, clerical) 503-641-6992

Maxim Staffing Solutions – (Admin, Healthcare including physicians) 503-452-7979

Medical Placement Services (nurse, front office, billing, medical records, CNA, CMA, customer service, affiliated with the medical society of metropolitan portland) 503-222-9977

Medical Staffing Network (nurse, medical technician, radiology, pharmacy, rehabilitation) 503-295-7828

Medical Society Staffing (Healthcare) 503-227-2737

Northwest Staffing Resources (administrative, customer service, light industrial, accounting, IT, medical, legal) 503-323-9190

Office Team (administrative, receptionist, customer service, data entry, clerical, executive assistant) 503-594-2000

OPTI Staffing Group (light industrial, clerical, office skilled trades, customer service, data entry, office manager, administrative assistant) 503-594-2000

The Personnel Department (office , clerical, technical, marketing, technical) 503-626-0311

Portland Habilitation Center (provides education, training and employment for people with disabilities) 503-261-1266

Resource Staffing Services (Logistics, Commercial Transportation, Production, Admin, Call Center) – (503) 261.8822

Randstad (office, executive office, industraial, call center, creative, technical, finance and accounting) 503-246-5342

Remedy Intelligent Staffing (light industrial, assembly, customer service, clerical, warehouse, forklift driver, administrative, data entry) 503-646-0400

Resources in Food (Hospitality) 407.248.1066 x105

Rose City Personnel (administrative, financial, legal, management, clerical, marketing, technical) 503-968-1100

Securitas Security Service (security) 503-243-1620

Sedona Group (office Support, light industrial, clerical, engineering, IT, medical, production) 503-466-9999

SFI Staff Finders Inc (Technology) 503-617-2979

Spark Pro (Technology) 503-684-9100

Staffing Partners (all types) 503-644-1945

Staffmark (Professional, administrative, Assembly, Warehouse, technical, customer service, skilled trades) 503-251-0004

Summit Staffing (production, light industrial, office, technical, medical) 503-639-9292

Today’s Office Staffing (office, legal, customer service, accounting and finance) 503-452-8400

Ultimate Staffing (Clerical, Customer Service) (503) 227-5582

Uniforce/Labforce (Medical, scientific, technical, clerical) 503-968-1311

Vanderhouwen & Associates (IT, Engineering, Accounting) (503) 299-6811

Volt Services Group (light industrial, reception, manufacturing, clerical) 503-221-8797

Westaff (Entry level clerical, light industrial, customer service, call center) 503-224-2401

Time to legalize illicit drugs?

Posted by Rick on in Politics 0 Comment

Is it time to legalize illicit drugs?

Listening to NPR can elicit some sobering thoughts sometimes. It’s becoming more and more obvious that the United States really needs to become more practical about a lot of issues, and less emotional. One of the biggest issues that affects our country much more then most people realize is illicit drug use.

According to the White House.Gov budget web pagethe Drug Enforcement Agency’s budget was $1,761,000,000 in 2007. The page gives estimates $1,937,000,000 for 2009. There are several other agencies who overlap into the drug trade on that page too. Add in the FBI, Marshals service, Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force, BATF, and Attorney’s and we’re talking about another $1,196,400,000. If we use an extremely conservative 10% of their actual budget is directly related to drug enforcement, that still comes out to $119,640,000

Now, according to Criminal Offenders Statistics half of all prisoners are serving for violent or drug related crimes. Again, being conservative lets say half of those are drug related crimes. Going back to the Federal Budget, $5,534,000,000 is for the Federal Prison System. A quarter of that is $1,383,500,000.

So on the Federal level we have an extremely conservative number of $5,081,500,000. This is the direct MINIMUM cost of the Drug War to taxpayers in 2009.

Now, according to White House Drug Policy report, US Citizens spent $63,700,000 on illicit drugs of all types in 2000. Other sources state that drug use has stayed steady since 1993, so we can assume this number is still pretty close. So at a Federal level, not including individual states, we’re spending over five billion dollars to stop sixty million dollars of trade.

In Mexico, over 10,000 people have died in the drug war violence in the past few years. There are no hard numbers for drug related deaths in the United States, but no doubt a huge number of those violent crime statistics I mentioned above are drug related.

In 2003, Alcohol and Tabacco Sales were $115,900,000,000. Without any other hard data, lets assume that sales are the same in 2009, although they’ve most likely increased since then. With an average (low-balled) tax of 5%, all the states are making a combined $5,795,000,000 from the sale Alcohol and Tabacco products. Yes, these may not be the same as the hard drugs, but they all come into the same class of Luxury products in their recreational use.

After Prohibition ended, the cost of illegal alcohol decreased to ten percent of it’s Prohibition-era costs. Let’s assume the same would happen if the current crop of illegal drugs were legalize and we find that the drug trade would decrease to $6,370,000 over the entire United States. At the same 5% tax increase we’d see a mere $318,000 in tax revenue.

To break it down:

Cost of “Drug War”: $5,795,000,000 (Federal Level Only)
Tax revenue generated off legalized drugs: $318,000
Cost of education at Federal Level in 2009: $45,400,000,000
Cost of Iraq War, 2009: $136,000,000,000

Now, I didn’t add in costs of rehabilitation from drug use which is already factored into our current health costs. Nor did I also factor in the cost of putting in a legal distribution system (free to tax payers), tax enforcement system (minimal and covered by IRS as part of regular duties,) any age limit enforcement laws that would need to be taken care of before drugs were legalized, and of course drug tests for employment. There is also the current cost of cleaning up illegal drug production sites, especially in National Forests. Such costs would be rolled up into the production and manufacture and thus taken away from the Taxpayer.

It’s interesting to note that after Prohibition, the consumption of alcohol went DOWN by 30%. While there is no reason to believe drug consumption would decrease also, it’s hard to imagine it would increase by more then ten or fifteen precent.

I have also not mentioned any monies that would be generated by commercial hemp production as product demand would likely remain fairly low. Although Hemp seems to be one of the best plants to convert into biofuels, so those revenues could potentially increase dramatically.

The last thing we have to factor in is the affect legalized drug would have on other countries. To take Mexico for an example as their citizens are responsible for a huge percentage of illegal drug production, in addition to their own savings in having to decrease drug enforcement program, there would be more money flowing into their overall economy. Small scale farmers could afford to cultivate currently illegal products and raise their own economic level to name just one example.

Economically I think we really only have one choice. The moral arguments against currently illegal drugs is the exact same as it was against alcohol during Prohibition and will probably never be solved. But having just under six billion more dollars, a decreased prison population, less pollution, and most of all, less violence seems to counter just about any moral argument one can make.