Door To Door Solicitor Today

[jimlongley]

Feel free to come to my door pedaling magazines, your church, lawn services, etc.

Wear want you like. Suit and tie, shorts, t-shirts.

Have as many tattoos as you want, even one of those little ear lob stretching earrings.

You will all get the same answer through a shut door "Sorry, we will have to pass, I would open the door but I can't trust my dog not to bite, have a good day."

I am a friendly guy, know most of my neighbors (just well enough ), and love my friends. My house is my home, if I don't know you, stay off my land and don't knock on my door.

Period...

Is this you?
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No I usually leave the Garand inside in preference for my Mossberg 590.

[Keith B]

You really have to be careful opening the door. Some of us are old enough to remember when you ask 'Who is it?', if they say 'Plumber ma'am', it may not be the plumber, it really could be the Land Shark!

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[AEA]

Feel free to come to my door pedaling magazines, your church, lawn services, etc.

Wear want you like. Suit and tie, shorts, t-shirts.

Have as many tattoos as you want, even one of those little ear lob stretching earrings.

You will all get the same answer through a shut door "Sorry, we will have to pass, I would open the door but I can't trust my dog not to bite, have a good day."

I am a friendly guy, know most of my neighbors (just well enough ), and love my friends. My house is my home, if I don't know you, stay off my land and don't knock on my door.

Period...

[Ken]

We have all kinds of people coming to the door trying to sell just about anything you can imagine. We also have had several 'smash n grab' break-in's. When they know your not home, they kick the front door in and help themselves. They have been caught on video doing this. So how do they know? I had a 'NO SOLICITING' sign on the front and that didn't even slow them down.

My shop behind the house was broken into while we were asleep in bed, by someone that had to have been to my house. Otherwise they wouldn't have know it was there, since then I always have a S&W .40 with me, just in case. You can't be too careful these days.

[sjfcontrol]

Well, I have two similar stories to relate regarding DtD sales. Keep in mind that I have no interest in buying or participating in any form of DtD sales, and to discourage the salesmen, refuse even actions that might be considered "just being polite". Why should I be polite to what I consider to be "walking spam"?

The first occurred several years ago. I was out in my front yard talking with my landscaper, when a young man walked over from my neighbors, and tried to start up a pitch. One of the first things he did was to offer to shake hands. As I am not, and have no interest in being his friend, I ignored the offer. His reaction was, "What, don't you like black people?" My thought was, "Really? That's your sales technique? Insult me?" Anyway I ordered him off my property and he went on his way. Never did find out what he was selling, nor did I care.

Now, flash forward maybe 5 or 6 years. I'm inside this time, with a "No Soliciting" sign right above the doorbell, and a dog that goes freaking nuts when the bell is rung. The bell rings, the dog goes nuts, I have to chase down the dog before opening the door or she'll run outside. (I can see there is a middle-aged man waiting thru the door window.) Apparently taking a clue from all the commotion and my irritated expression, his first words were that "Mrs. Somebody-or-other" promised that I wouldn't "bite his head off". This created some confusion as I didn't recognize the name, but turned out to be the neighbor he just came from. Anyway, I asked him (rather gruffly) what he wanted, and he started talking about going around talking to my neighbors, and stuck out his hand to shake. Again, I ignore the offer, and guess what his response was... "What, you have something against black people?" He had just enough time to say, "I'm kiddi..." before the door slammed in his face.

A followup to this last guy. He went from my house to my OTHER neighbor's house, and when the 4'6" 90-lb little old lady answered, said he'd been walking the neighborhood all day, and could use her bathroom. She wisely declined, but he could have squashed her like a bug if he'd wanted.

By the way, the above story not withstanding, I have found that the "No Soliciting" signs actually do accomplish some good. I believe they do hold some legal force -- kind of a solicitors version of 30.06. I have seen people approach, see the sign, then turn around and go to the next house. Most likely the only people that would obey the sign are those that are harmless anyway, but it does prevent some interruptions.

Oh, and incase someone should wonder, I would have (and will continue) to refuse to shake hands with any solicitors, regardless of their race. I also don't answer questions like "How are you", "Nice Day isn't it", and other "Get 'em to agree or say 'yes' " type questions. My response to those is usually "What do you want?" I do this for phone solicitors, too.

[magillapd]

I do not like solicitors and myself and my neighbors always call the police when one comes into the neighborhood without a permit visable.

Our city has an ordinace requiring permits. Here is my city's rules on it. http://www.nrhtx.com/DocumentView.aspx?DID=255

My city forbids people from either knocking or leaving hand bills if the home is posted "no soliciting" The people who actually get a permit know this and when they walk up to the door and see the sign, they turn around and go to the next house.

Like has been mentioned before, many are not there for the purpose they say. I had one guy get real pushy with me when I asked him to see his permit. He kept talking over me and trying to push his magazine or whatever it was. I finally told him to get off my property. He still didn't move. I told him one more time to get off my property or I would be calling the police. He finally turned to walk away..he said to me "I hope Satan blesses you". He walked down the street and kept glaring at me. I went ahead and called the police anyways and they made contact with him. I was sitting in the garage with my wife when he came walking back past the house after talking with the police down the street. He grabbed his crotch and made jestures towards my wife. I stepped out of the garage into my driveway and he walked away again cussing and flipping me off. The officer drove up to my house and asked if the guy did what he thought he saw him do...I said yes. The officer said ok, we'll be back, then took off after him again. They came back 30 mins later and said that the guy was warned to not solicit without a permit and that he warned that he would be cited with disorderly conduct if he acted up again.

The police have told me that they keep a list of all persons warned for soliciting and that they only get 1 warning. After that they get citations.

The door hangers are also annoying, I hate the litter on my front door. With that, if I see the people actually doing it, I'll call the police and they come out to either warn or cite the person doing it. If I don't see them, I call the city secretary and they call the companies doing it and warn and or cite them.

We have some crime in our neighborhood, and we try to do what we can to look out for each other. It may seem minor compared to burglaries, robberies, rapes, murders, etc...but many of these folks are crooks, so any chance to get them ID'd and run for warrants is a good thing. Citations bring in revenue for the city as do permit fees...(keeps property taxes lower)

It's a quality of life issue and I'm glad that my city takes is seriously.

[WildBill]

Too bad for the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, High School Bands, etc., but unless I am expecting someone, I usually don't answer the door.

[Bart]

1. Put up a "NO SOLICITING" sign and video cameras.
2. DIsconnect the doorbell and rig the button to trigger bear spray.
3. Post the videos on youtube.

[A-R]

1. Put up a "NO SOLICITING" sign and video cameras.
2. DIsconnect the doorbell and rig the button to trigger bear spray.
3. Post the videos on youtube.

Texas Penal Code Sec. 9.44. USE OF DEVICE TO PROTECT PROPERTY. The justification afforded by Sections 9.41 and 9.43 applies to the use of a device to protect land or tangible, movable property if:(1) the device is not designed to cause, or known by the actor to create a substantial risk of causing, death or serious bodily injury; and(2) use of the device is reasonable under all the circumstances as the actor reasonably believes them to be when he installs the device.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Put a sign near the button that says "push for pepper spray" and you also have their consent if they push it.

[matriculated]

Of course, you could always use the DtD variation of my favorite telemarketer tell-off. When somebody comes to your door selling you something, tell him: "You know what, I'm busy right now, but if you'll be kind enough to give me your home address, I'll make sure to stop by some day completely unannounced so you can tell me all about it. Deal?" That should get the message across. The telemarketer version is that you ask for the person's home phone number and promise to call them back when they least expect it or want it so they can tell you all about their wonderful offer.

[Hoosier Daddy]

That sounds like it would work better on the phone where the BG can't kick open your door while you're talking.

[Excaliber]

Seems a little overboard to call the police in that situation. Assume these two really were just out soliciting and trying to raise money for a trip, how are they supposed to know they need a permit?

I've done some door-to-door soliciting for my church and I didn't know needing a permit was even a possibility so if that had been me at your door today, you would have gotten me a ticket... thanks alot.

It's not overboard at all.

More places than not require a permit for door to door solicitation to reduce the issues with people casing houses, taking money for things they don't deliver, defrauding people on driveway and roof repairs .... the list goes on and on. Legitimate solicitors know this and comply. Illegitimate ones don't. Asking to see the permit is an easy first screening question when one shows up at your door.

The dress and presentation of the two individuals in this story don't add up to their far out excuse for being there. That's more than enough reason to suspect that they're up to no good. I would have called the police too under those circumstances - after I had told them I wasn't interested through my intercom without opening the door.

[rubio]

If you have a no soliciting sign, they're trespassing and they know they're trespassing. Calling the cops is the right thing to do.

[speedsix]

...instead of a "ribbet" frog in the flower bed, I'd like a recording of a vicious attacking dog that would play when I wanted it to...the peephole I have will tell me all I need to know about who's at the door...and I can laugh silently...