Door to door solicitation

Is this illegal? I ask because a) I don't know and b) it happens often. Yesterday while walking the dogs, I was approached by a lovely young woman selling home made brownies door to door. She said she was an Essex Community college student and was trying her hand at her business major. Door to door selling baked goods from a stranger is STRANGE to me. When I asked how she decided to pick this 'hood she said she had family / friends here and they thought it would be a good place for her to start. Don't know the truth of any of this but still a little odd. 

I've been interrupted during dinner, homework, a fav tv show, walking the dogs, etc., and I'm a bit tired of it. Mr. K and I used to give to NPIRG but the last person who came to the house wouldn't take "no" for an answer and pissed me off. 

What is the remedy other than not answering the door?

Anybody else try to look up NPIRG and not found?

That's 'cause it's NJPIRG - New Jersey Public Interest Research Group. Non-profit, non-partisan watchdog group.  My daughter spent 2 summers going door-to-door for NYPIRG; they were a big part of the anti-fracking movement and were victorious in getting it banned in New York state.

It's perfectly legal if it's not a fraud; in which case the fraud is illegal NOT the solicitation method.  It's considered Free Speech (junk mail is considered Commercial Free Speech).  Over the decades different towns across the country have tried different ways to stop D2D solicitation  As far as I know every such law/ordinance has been struck down.

It's been a while since we've had a knocker who was obnoxiously persistent or  verbally abusive when we wouldn't come outside to talk/sign petition or whatever.  Still, it's pretty annoying and sometimes difficult to be as polite as I want to be when I ask them to go away, and no thanks, you don't need to come back at a better time.

But I agree selling unpackaged food door-to-door is different and kind of creepy.  That might well be illegal more for health/safety/sanitation reasons.

In Maplewood, a permit is required to solicit door to door.  I don't know if this is the case in other towns in our area.

My dog goes bananas whenever there's anyone at the door, which sucks when friends come over, but is great when it's these guys.

I have stopped going to the door for the Jehovah's Witnesses. Right now they are the only ones who are bothering us. And, not too often. I don't know why, but I have really lost my patience with anyone soliciting anything at my door.

If somebody over the age of, say, 14 is at my door and I don't recognize them, I don't answer. They get the message pretty quick when they see me look at them and walk away.

agreed. I don't answer the door for strangers, period. But I make it known I am home by yelling "not interested" through the door.  I may even call the police depending on time of day and whether you knock once and move on or linger. We got a 2am knock once from a strung-out looking guy looking for " Chris". We yelled to him "wrong house" because we wanted him to know we were home. It's possible it's a break-in attempt so at least make it known someone is home.

ridski said:

My dog goes bananas whenever there's anyone at the door, which sucks when friends come over, but is great when it's these guys.

I hold my dog by the collar when I answer the door to make her look intimidating.  In reality, it's more keep her from slinking back to the couch.

Get yerselves one of these.  It's made a giant difference in my life:

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N2ZDXW2?keywords=ring%20video%20doorbell&qid=1456265433&ref_=sr_1_1&s=hi&sr=1-1

How so?

mumstheword said:

Get yerselves one of these.  It's made a giant difference in my life:

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N2ZDXW2?keywords=ring%20video%20doorbell&qid=1456265433&ref_=sr_1_1&s=hi&sr=1-1

You can see who is at the door by looking at your phone, so you don't have to actually open it or look through a window. It seems as though you can also speak with who is at the door even if you are not home using wifi. So if you are at the super market your phone will go off if someone rings the bell, and using the wifi (or data I'm assuming) you can talk to the person, so they think you are just not opening the door because you are not interested rather than because you are not home, which in theory would help if they were ringing the bell to check if someone was home before attempting to break in.  

spontaneous said:

mumstheword said:

Get yerselves one of these.  It's made a giant difference in my life:

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N2ZDXW2?keywords=ring%20video%20doorbell&qid=1456265433&ref_=sr_1_1&s=hi&sr=1-1

You can see who is at the door by looking at your phone, so you don't have to actually open it or look through a window. It seems as though you can also speak with who is at the door even if you are not home using wifi. So if you are at the super market your phone will go off if someone rings the bell, and using the wifi (or data I'm assuming) you can talk to the person, so they think you are just not opening the door because you are not interested rather than because you are not home, which in theory would help if they were ringing the bell to check if someone was home before attempting to break in.  

Exactly.  Right now, I'm a bit incapacitated, awaiting surgery.  So every time the doorbell rings, I have to slowly get myself out of bed and walk to the front of the house as whoever it is is now banging on the door, assuming I didn't hear the bell.  Now I can just see who it is and if I'm going to answer the door, I can tell them to hold their horses until I get there.  I'll also be able to see what's going on while I'm in the hospital and rehab.

ah, got it. Didn't read far enough to see that you could talk to the person at the door

Mumstheword:  Best of healing on your upcoming surgery.  Hope you get well quickly.  

actually SELLING may require a permit and selling edible items may require a health certificate and approved kitchen.

joan_crystal said:

Mumstheword:  Best of healing on your upcoming surgery.  Hope you get well quickly.  

Thank you, Joan!

I hate, hate, hate people coming to my door. Especially in the evening. If I'm home I'm either in the middle of dinner prep/bedtime chaos or my kids are asleep. Either way I will be annoyed. And if I'm alone I'm definitely not answering. 

Our front door has a very large window that looks straight into our kitchen, so there's not a good way to "hide." And if someone sees me I feel awkward not answering. We really need to figure out some kind of non-ugly window covering. 

So many contractors, etc have asked me didn't I want to open my kitchen up with the dining room. And all I can think of is what an invasion of my privacy that would be. Of course, the truth is, I' m pretty messy in the kitchen. I am so happy I can keep that all closed off. 

Glad to read I'm not alone. I'm not rude but I can be if needed. My dogs also go nuts when someone's at the door which is good, but even when I call through the door to them that I'm not interested, the persistence is overwhelming. Some of these solicitors are young women, alone, in the dark and often the weather is bad. I don't get the lure of going door to door in the dark solo. Maybe they have mace? Tasers? 

Although I like what NPIRG represents, the only reason I gave to them (never heard of them before) was that many moons ago Mr. K worked for them while in college. He said the NPIRG van dropped off these multi racial group of kids from the boroughs and they'd knock on swank doors on LI or sometimes upstate. He says all the people were so nice to him and listened closely as he explained the future of their lead pipes, drinking water, etc. Kinda pulled on my heart strings. 

The chick with the brownies totally threw me. Who the hell would eat a stranger's brownies? She could have meth in them or worse -- have roaches in her kitchen!   

Accidentally eating meth brownies sucks if you're supposed to go to work the next day but otherwise really aren't that bad said a friend of mine.

I suppose it's possible that there is some form of mental illness that would compel someone to buy meth, bake it into brownies and sell them door to door without telling anyone of the contents. But given the extraordinarily slim odds of you actually encountering such a situation, there are probably better things to worry about.

joan_crystal said:

Mumstheword:  Best of healing on your upcoming surgery.  Hope you get well quickly.  

This! Good luck and fast/easy healing!

As for the D2D SALES, I'm very pleased we now live in an area where the salespeople would have to be marathoners to do door to door without dropping in an exhausted heap after one neighborhood. We get to choose our own causes to donate to. 

But I love the idea of that wi-if peephole thing. The commercials are enlightening. They show a woman at the store or at work, and when a strange guy is at her door telling her he's giving free estimates on painting work, she tells him she is bathing her kids and can't come to the door. He goes away but believes people are home. Terrific idea.

The brownie thing is crazy. Who in their right minds would either try that or recommend that someone else do it??? Unless I personally knew the cook, there is no way I would sample baked goods on the street.

TarheelsInNj said:

Our front door has a very large window that looks straight into our kitchen, so there's not a good way to "hide." And if someone sees me I feel awkward not answering. We really need to figure out some kind of non-ugly window covering. 

We solved that problem with a pocket door.

Keep a deactivated shotgun in the kitchen. When the doorbell rings, pick it up and start polishing the stock.

joan_crystal said:

TarheelsInNj said:

Our front door has a very large window that looks straight into our kitchen, so there's not a good way to "hide." And if someone sees me I feel awkward not answering. We really need to figure out some kind of non-ugly window covering. 

We solved that problem with a pocket door.

That's a thought but I don't think we have the space on either side of the kitchen entry to put one in. We have a beautiful front door so I hate to replace that either.

imonlysleeping said:

I suppose it's possible that there is some form of mental illness that would compel someone to buy meth, bake it into brownies and sell them door to door without telling anyone of the contents. But given the extraordinarily slim odds of you actually encountering such a situation, there are probably better things to worry about.

Hence the problem. Sadly, many are mentally ill. Someone doing this (not saying this was her) is not that far fetched. And...she thought going D2D was a good idea. She doesn't live around here and assumed that we (the 'hood) would take her word that she was a business student and buy the brownies for "whatever" we thought they were worth. Had she cased this area ? Thought that the people were predominately friendly? Giving? 

She gave me a sample. Wish I had taken a pic of it before I tossed it. It was nicely packaged in shiny foil like material and was tied with a decorative pink ribbon. Both ends were OPEN so anything could get into it. It's a possible health hazard.