Calerie operates in the nutritional supplement MLM niche.

The company is based out of California and is headed up by founder and CEO Roy Truett.

Prior to co-founding Calerie, Truett (right) worked as President for Asia Pacific and Africa at Jeunesse.

MLM executive positions Truett held before Jeunesse include

  • President of International [sic] at Nerium (now Neora)
  • COO at Mannatech and
  • COO at Usana

Of note is Truett’s social media profiles citing him residing in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Whether Calerie actually operates from California or Utah is unclear.

Read on for a full review of Calerie’s MLM opportunity.

Calerie’s Products

Calerie markets three flagship nutritional supplements:

  • Calerie SOD + NMN – “combines two powerful free-radical scavengers: Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) & Nicotinamide Mononucleotide (NMN)”, retails at $159 for a bottle of 60 capsules
  • Calerie SOD Priobiotics – “enhanced with two incredible ingredients sourced from the ocean: Aquamin and Blue Spirulina”, retails at $159 for a box of thirty single-serve sachets
  • Calerie Lifespan – “a formulation that works to increase your NAD+ levels”, retails at $159 for a bottle of 60 capsules

Calerie’s Compensation Plan

Calerie’s compensation plan is a relatively straight-forward binary with Matching Bonus.

Pay attention to the Matrix Bonus though, as things get a little complicated. Additionally there’s also a rank-based bonus pool on offer.

MLM Commission Qualification

Calerie affiliates qualify for MLM commissions by meeting first generating 150 PV or 500 CV.

After this criteria is met, a Calerie affiliate must remain active by maintaining a 40 CV balance.

Each pay-period Calerie deducts 40 CV from an affiliate’s account. If the remaining CV is less than 0, that affiliate remains active over the next fortnightly pay period.

PV stands for “Personal Volume” and is sales volume generated by retail orders and an affiliate’s own purchases.

CV stands for “Commissionable Volume” and is sales volume generated from retail customer orders only.

Calerie Affiliate Ranks

There are eleven affiliate ranks within Calerie’s compensation plan.

Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:

  • Brand Partner – sign up as a Calerie affiliate and meet and maintain MLM commission qualification
  • One-Star Director – maintain MLM commission qualification and generate and maintain ten Brand Partners
  • Two Star Director – maintain MLM commission qualification and generate and maintain twenty Brand Partners across fifteen unilevel team levels
  • Three Star Director – maintain MLM commission qualification and generate and maintain fifty Brand Partners across fifteen unilevel team levels
  • Four Star Director – maintain MLM commission qualification and generate and maintain one hundred twenty Brand Partners across fifteen unilevel team levels
  • Five Star Director – maintain MLM commission qualification and generate and maintain two hundred Brand Partners across fifteen unilevel team levels
  • One Diamond President – maintain MLM commission qualification and generate and maintain five hundred Brand Partners across fifteen unilevel team levels
  • Two Diamond President – maintain MLM commission qualification and generate and maintain one thousand Brand Partners across fifteen unilevel team levels
  • Three Diamond President – maintain MLM commission qualification and generate and maintain two thousand Brand Partners across fifteen unilevel team levels
  • Four Diamond President – maintain MLM commission qualification and generate and maintain four thousand Brand Partners across fifteen unilevel team levels
  • Five Diamond President – maintain MLM commission qualification and generate and maintain six thousand Brand Partners across fifteen unilevel team levels
  • Six Diamond President – maintain MLM commission qualification and generate and maintain eight thousand Brand Partners across fifteen unilevel team levels
  • Seven Diamond President – maintain MLM commission qualification and generate and maintain ten thousand Brand Partners across fifteen unilevel team levels

Retail Commissions

Calerie affiliates earn a 10% commission on the sale of products to retail customers.

Recruitment Commissions

Calerie affiliates earn 30% of any generated sales volume when they recruit a new affiliate.

Residual Commissions

Calerie pays residual commissions via a binary compensation structure.

A binary compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a binary team, split into two sides (left and right):

The first level of the binary team houses two positions. The second level of the binary team is generated by splitting these first two positions into another two positions each (4 positions).

Subsequent levels of the binary team are generated as required, with each new level housing twice as many positions as the previous level.

Positions in the binary team are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of affiliates. Note there is no limit to how deep a binary team can grow.

Sales volume is tracked across both sides of the binary team.

When a Calerie affiliate generates 250 CV on one side matched against 500 CV on the other side, a “cycle” is generated.

The 250 CV from the weaker binary team side can be matched with up to three 500 CV groups from the stronger side.

Once this 3:1 threshold is reached, matched volume from both sides of the binary team is flushed (250 CV (weaker side) and up to 1500 CV (stronger side) per cycle).

Calerie pays $25 per cycle generated through the binary team. Thus the maximum residual commissions one 250 CV weaker team side cycle can generate is $75.

There is a global cap of 6000 cycles during each fortnightly pay period.

Note that to qualify for residual commissions, each Calerie affiliate must recruit three affiliates.

Matching Bonus

Calerie pays a Matching Bonus on residual commissions earned by downline affiliates.

The Matching Bonus is paid out via a unilevel compensation structure.

A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1):

If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team.

If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.

Calerie caps how many levels the Matching Bonus is earned on based on rank:

  • One Star Directors earn a 10% Matching Bonus on level 1 (personally recruited affiliates)
  • Two Star Directors earn a 10% Matching Bonus on levels 1 and 2
  • Three Star Directors earn a 10% Matching Bonus on levels 1 to 3
  • Four Star Directors earn a 10% Matching Bonus on levels 1 to 4
  • Five Star Directors earn a 10% Matching Bonus on levels 1 to 5
  • One Diamond Presidents earn a 10% Matching Bonus on levels 1 to 6
  • Two Diamond Presidents earn a 10% Matching Bonus on levels 1 to 7
  • Three Diamond Presidents earn a 10% Matching Bonus on levels 1 to 8
  • Four Diamond Presidents earn a 10% Matching Bonus on levels 1 to 9
  • Five Diamond Presidents earn a 10% Matching Bonus on levels 1 to 10

Matrix Bonus

The Matrix Bonus is a separately filled infinity 2xx matrix.

This matrix looks like a binary team (see “residual commissions” above), however it is one structure as opposed to two sides.

The 2xx matrix fills left to right as a Calerie affiliate’s downline grows through direct and indirect recruitment.

For each MLM commission qualified placed in the matrix, a $1.50 commission is paid each fortnightly pay period.

There are two Matrix Bonus qualification tiers

  1. earn residual commissions on 150 PV = receive Matrix Bonus on five matrix levels
  2. earn residual commissions on 500 PV or more = receive Matrix Bonus on all available fifteen levels

Here are some additional notes pertaining to Matrix Bonus qualification:

  • affiliates meeting criteria 1 can upgrade to tier 2 if they generate another 500 PV or 2500 CV within 180 days
  • the above earning requirements are ongoing and tied to fortnightly pay periods
  • if a new Calerie affiliate generates 500 CV within their first fifteen days, they receive an additional Matrix Bonus level (increased to 6 or 16)

Rank Global Shares

Calerie takes 3% of company-wide sales volume and places it into a quarterly Global Bonus Pool.

Calerie affiliates earn shares in the Global Bonus Pool based on rank:

  • One Diamond Presidents receive one share
  • Two Diamond Presidents receive two shares
  • Three Diamond Presidents receive five shares
  • Four Diamond Presidents receive ten shares
  • Five Diamond Presidents receive twenty shares
  • Six Diamond Presidents receive fifty shares
  • Seven Diamond Presidents receive one hundred shares

Note that although the Global Bonus Pool is paid out quarterly, shares are calculated and accumulated each fortnightly pay period.

Joining Calerie

Calerie affiliate membership is $29.95.

Conclusion

As the company’s name suggests, Calerie’s nutritional supplements are geared towards weight loss.

Calerie the following additional benefits over the obvious;

Longevity research shows that a calorie restricted diet, without malnutrition, reduces the incidence of age-related conditions.

In fact, a clinical trial called Comprehensive Assessment of Long-Term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy (CALERIE), shows that Calorie Restriction (CR) affects many processes that regulate the rate of aging.

CALERIE supplements support longevity and healthy weight management with ingredients that mimic CR and exercise by boosting NAD levels and activating Sirtuins.

I originally thought the company was trying to be cute with their name. Turns out they’re named after a study.

In summation, not being overweight is healthy. The delusional fat acceptance movement aside, I’d have thought this would be obvious to most people.

Anyway, what you’re left with is fancy sounding names that essentially boil down to weight loss supplements.

It’s unfortunate that Calerie markets their products as a substitute for maintaining a healthy diet and exercise.

I’m not doctor but regardless of your age you should be mindful of your diet and remain active. Again, pretty obvious stuff.

With that in mind I think the $159 asking price for Calerie’s products is a bit much.

Especially if they’re supposed to compliment each other, which then comes to $477 a month.

Bit of a hard sell in my opinion but your experience might vary.

Based on the questionable retail viability of Calerie’s products, I was expecting to find a recruitment heavy compensation plan.

Instead, if Calerie hold true to their provided definitions, the company runs with a pretty strong retail focused plan.

You’re looking at a binary plan with a matching bonus. Calerie calculate residual commissions based on CV, which in their own words is

volume generated from Valued Customers’ products purchases.

Calerie defines Valued Customers as true retail customers, in that they are ‘not entitled to earn any commissions or bonus’.

This makes Calerie’s residual commissions particularly interesting, as the company is only paying out on retail commissions.

Typically residual commissions are paid on GV, which would include affiliate order volume.

If Calerie haven’t made a mistake with their definitions, restricting residual commissions to retail volume only is a great incentive to drive retail sales.

MLM commission qualification also drives retail sales, requiring affiliates to generate at least 40 CV a month (again, this is retail sales volume only).

Not so great is the initial Brand Partner qualification, which requires either 150 PV or 500 CV.

If affiliates have to generate 40 CV a month to remain MLM commission qualified, why have such a large disparity between PV and CV requirements (PV remember includes an affiliate’s own spend).

Then there’s the Matrix Bonus, which gave me a headache wrapping my head around.

I get the initial 500 PV qualification. What I didn’t get was the 150 PV qualification.

Unless someone signs up and immediately purchases 500 PV of product, aren’t they going to hit 150 PV first by default?

Then what, they have 180 days from the date they signed up to generate another 500 PV or 2500 CV?

Again, why penalize CV qualification by a factor of 5?

With respect to what the Matrix Bonus pays out, thank god Calerie provides a dollar equivalent further down.

Otherwise I have no idea what this sentence is supposed to convey:

You earn 40 CV as Matrix Bonus on each active Brand Partner under your team.

CV is retail customer order volume, so how are you earning that on downline affiliates?

Yeah, forget the above and just go with $1.50 per MLM commission qualified affiliate placed in your matrix.

Although Calerie’s compensation documentation is complete, I think the company can certainly tidy it up a little.

All in all I think Calerie’s product offering is its weak spot. Especially when you read the descriptions and compare to alternatives out there.

For example blue spiralina supplements are nothing new and typically don’t cost anywhere near $159.

Superoxide Dismutase supplements cost less than $20 a bottle. You can get pouches of nicotinamide mononucleotide (99%+ purity) for $10.

Calerie’s SOD + NMN supplement again is $159.

Definitely do your homework on what you’re buying from Calerie and whether the price hike is worth it.

If not then you might be better served looking elsewhere.