The odds are more than 8,000 to 1 against Amway distributors earning enough money to quit their jobs.

Distributors are nearly twice as likely to draw four of a kind on their first hand of poker.

Amway documents show that the average monthly income for distributors was $88 in 1995. That doesn’t take into account the money distributors spend on motivational tapes, gasoline or conferences.

Nor does the figure include the 59 percent of Amway’s 2.5 million distributors who are considered inactive and made nothing.

Those inactive distributors didn’t try to make a sale, recruit newcomers or attend an Amway meeting during the month they were surveyed. Some got into the business so they could buy products at wholesale prices.

About 2 percent of active distributors become “direct” distributors. At that point, they qualify for significant bonuses, and should earn at least $25,000 a year, according to Amway figures.

A direct distributor leads an organization of at least 79 successful distributors.

“Going diamond” and being able to quit their jobs is the goal of most new Amway recruits. The designation means the distributor has recruited six others who have beat the odds to become direct distributors.

Only about .01 percent of Amway recruits become diamond distributors, according to the company figures.

The Amway Sales and Marketing Plan reports that a diamond distributor will earn at least $71,000 a year, but probably would make much more.

Theoretically, a distributor could reach the diamond level by recruiting just six highly motivated people, each of whom will recruit six others until there are 475 people in the organization.

In reality, most diamond distributors lead armies that number thousands, or even tens of thousands, of distributors.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: The Amway plan