Door to door solicitation (Powder Springs: sales, HOA, lawyer)

[mandmrossi]

Having moved here over a year now in a subdivision, I have found out that there is there is quite a bit of door to door solicitation. I live in Cobb County. Does anyone have any experience with knowing whether permits are required to solicit and if so, can an HOA request to the county to have a subdivision on a list that prohibits solicitation to the applicant?

Thanks
Mike

[JasonPaul]

I live in Cobb also and we have a good bit of solicitation also recently. We had a shop for some kind of Hair Braiding place put their cards on our front door, in or mail boxes and on the windshield of all the cars in the neighborhood. Throughout the day their business cards were all over the street, stuck in trees and in the pool. Anyway HOA called and asked them to come and pick them up and they did, so this might be an option.

[Mattie]

Here in No. Fulton, every development has a sign at the entrance saying "no solicitations". Nobody pays any attention to them. I especially hate the little baggies weighed down with rocks at the bottom of the driveway. I have to wonder, does anybody expect increased business from these things?

[BobKovacs]

You need a permit in most counties, but I'm not sure about Cobb specifically. You should call the county to find out, and if a permit is required, simply ask to see it whenever someone comes to the door. If they can't produce one, tell them you'd like to get their name and phone number so you can report them- that should get them off your porch quickly.

[Shagbark Hickory]

Here's what I did that has worked real well for a few years.

I used to get a lot of solicitors. I had some small (~1"x2") stickers made that say "no soliciting, no flyers, go away" Put it right above my door bell. Not the most welcoming or charming things in the world but it has stopped the solocitors almost entirely. I think I got ONE in the 3 or so years the stickers have been up and it was a parent with her kid from the sub selling something and she apologized up and down.

Still get those baggies and flyers on the mailbox and driveway but not on the front door. Picking up that trash I can handle but I don't like being disturbed so I suggest you try this strategy because they are never going to enforce the permit laws or whatever and none of them are stopped by those signs at the entrance.

[atlantagreg30127]

Sometimes it's the towns and cities rather than Counties that have the restrictions.

Example: Powder Springs requires people to have a permit issued by the City in order to go door-to-door for any reason. Doesn't matter if you're taking surveys, passing out religious literature, or selling something. If you knock, you must have a permit, and technically, you can call the police on them if they don't.

A bit more to type, but other things to remember:

It's not always an innocent thing, either. Gangs will use this as an initiation for wannabee members. They have them knock on a door during daytime work week hours, and if no one answers, they get on their cells and let the "crew" know that no one is home, and then the crew shows up to rob the house. This happened in my neighborhood a few months ago - but the kid didn't realize there were so many retirees, at-home workers, and shift workers on my block. 5 calls were made to police before he made it to the end of the street and he was picked up for it. So while you don't want to be paranoid about it, keep in mind that sales people may not always BE salespeople, especially if they're knocking at odd hours.

HOAs can have "No soliciting" signs at the front of a formal community that has HOA. How it's enforced I'm not sure.

About fliers on mailboxes: It's against the law for anyone to stick/tape/tack a flier or card ON the door of a mailbox, or to open the box and put it into the box. If someone does it, report it to your local post office. Technically the business/person can be fined for each flier they post like that - many times the Post Office will just call them and warn them the first time. Either way, take the time to report it.

Posting fliers/cards on the posts or flaps of mailboxes is not illegal, but here's something a lawyer friend of mine once pointed out to me: Put a "no soliciting" sticker or sign on your mailbox door... If someone sticks ads on your box and you're out of town, it's a highly visible alert to burglars who "case" the neighborhoods, that no one is home to remove those fliers. Your home is then open to a burglary, and technically, you could hire a lawyer to sue the people who left the fliers on your box while you were away. The theory being that in an indirect way, their fliers contributed to alerting the burglars of your absence, and on some level, they could be held liable for your losses. Ask a lawyer for more details on that, but he said no one uses this and SHOULD, if they are a burglary victim and find fliers on their box when it happens.

So if you're the home owner, put the proper "no" signage out. If you're a business, BUY ADS and stop sticking stuff on boxes. It can wind up costing you a lot more than an ad in fines and potential lawsuits!

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

HOAs can have "No soliciting" signs at the front of a formal community that has HOA. How it's enforced I'm not sure.

We've been told to call the cops.

[masonbarge]

Well, from the other point of view: Just roll with the punches. I go to the door, politely tell them I'm not interested. If they look hot and tired I might give them a cup of ice water or even a Coke, LOL.

If someone sticks a flyer on my windshield or mailbox, I throw it in the trash. It takes fifteen seconds.

Life's too short to let little stuff upset you. Most of them are decent people. The few who aren't, well, I don't let them in the house, and you always have to keep control of the situation, especially with young and/or burly men.

[Shagbark Hickory]

Originally Posted by masonbarge

Well, from the other point of view: Just roll with the punches. I go to the door, politely tell them I'm not interested. If they look hot and tired I might give them a cup of ice water or even a Coke, LOL.

If someone sticks a flyer on my windshield or mailbox, I throw it in the trash. It takes fifteen seconds.

Life's too short to let little stuff upset you. Most of them are decent people. The few who aren't, well, I don't let them in the house, and you always have to keep control of the situation, especially with young and/or burly men.

I just rated this post positively because I like your outlook on the situation. It's one of life's annoyances but you're right. Life's too short. Besides, what are the cops going to do two hours later when they finally show up and the people are long gone?

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by masonbarge

Well, from the other point of view: Just roll with the punches. I go to the door, politely tell them I'm not interested. If they look hot and tired I might give them a cup of ice water or even a Coke, LOL.

I commend your easy going attitude.

But if the person wakes me from a nap, I'd still probably pee in their lemonade before giving it to them.