Question about a "no solicitation" sign?

[jenrose66]

If I hang up a no soliciting sign outside my house, does that make it illegal for people to knock on my door? Meaning I can call the police and have them arrested or fined? We get lots of religious solicitors as well as the annoying switch your energy sales people. They are the worst, they will pound and ring the doorbell relentlessly and they come every week! They were just here and my kids were napping and they started pounding on the door AND ringing the doorbell. I can't take it anymore.

I'm going to put up the sign for sure, I was just wondering if it gives me any official legal protections.

 

[sbell111]

Local laws apply, but I believe that soliciting at a home that was posted 'no soliciting' would be tantamount to trespassing. After all, you have notified them that their presence is not welcome.

 

[furb & dez]

Open the door, point out the sign, tell them they are trespassing, and if they don't leave in 10 seconds, you'll turn the hose on them.

You can only be a doormat if you keep lying down for people.

 

[Disney845]

I don't have an answer to your question, but a funny side-note.

One of my coworkers used to be a door-to-door magazine salesman when he was young (20-30 yrs ago). He said that part of their training was to heavily canvas places with signs such as that because it meant that the person had a hard time saying no and they were a good mark.

It came up because we are constantly getting solicitors at our office, anything from water coolers, office supplies, telecommunications, car detailing, office equipment repair, the craziest are guys who say they had a meat delivery cancellation at some restaurant and have a truck full of steak or these groups of Spanish speaking men in bright yellow shirts who travel around in a big passenger van and try to sell Flan! Who the heck would buy baked goods or meat out of the back of someone's vehicle for goodness sake!

 

[jenrose66]

Open the door, point out the sign, tell them they are trespassing, and if they don't leave in 10 seconds, you'll turn the hose on them.

You can only be a doormat if you keep lying down for people.

I agree. Honestly, I don't have a problem saying no and I was nasty to the person today...usually I'm really polite when I say no. I'm never at the door for more than a minute or two.

Most times I don't answer and just ignore the pounding, but when the kids are asleep I have to open the door to get rid of them and the damage is already done.

Few things make me as rageful as naptime interrupted. I have the ringer on my phone shut off, the light blocking shades drawn, that naptime is my only time to get quiet stuff done or take a bit of a breather.

I'm just tired of people bothering me and it seems like it's getting really bad in our neighborhood as of late.

 

[erincon23]

My kids laugh at me - I posted a sign (handwritten) that said "No Solicitors -- If we didn't call you, don't ring our doorbell." I have no trouble getting rid of people at the door, but I'd much rather they didn't ring it to begin with. Roof inspectors after hail, cable TV, alarm systems... go away!!!

 

[moburg]

 

[Squirlz]

I don't think it gives you any legal privileges, as others have said all you have to do is point to the sign and no further explanation is required. They do work most of the time as I've seen people start up the driveway then turn around when they see the sign.

 

[JessicaR]

Even if such signs were legally enforceable:

a) By the time you got police to come out for a trespassing violation, the solicitor would be long gone.

b) It would probably be rather difficult to demonstrate that a solicitor's knocking on your door damaged you to an extent justifying a large award in a civil suit.

- snopes

 

[willowsnn3]

Years ago we lived next to a man who worked 3rd shift. They had a sign on the front door saying something like 'day sleeper--do not disturb'. They don't have to know it's just nap time for the kids, lol. That being said we have a no soliciting sign on our door at work and they just ignore it. We also have a no public restroom sign too and people come in off the street all the time and ask to use the restroom.....

 

[Gigi22]

Easy solution. Open the door, point at the sign and ask with as much sarcasm as you can manage, "Can you read?" When they say they can, politely ask, "Then why are you here?" You may add whichever curses appeal to you at this point, and slam the door as hard as you possibly can in their faces. I promise you, a few good slams of the door in pesky faces works wonders! It worked very well for me with people flogging various types of religions.

 

[Sarah_Rose]

I agree. Honestly, I don't have a problem saying no and I was nasty to the person today...usually I'm really polite when I say no. I'm never at the door for more than a minute or two.

Most times I don't answer and just ignore the pounding, but when the kids are asleep I have to open the door to get rid of them and the damage is already done.

Few things make me as rageful as naptime interrupted. I have the ringer on my phone shut off, the light blocking shades drawn, that naptime is my only time to get quiet stuff done or take a bit of a breather.

I'm just tired of people bothering me and it seems like it's getting really bad in our neighborhood as of late.

I'm with you! My 1.5 year old just passed out and I need to Frog Tape the guest room for painting and then if mama doesn't get a nap too (I'm 5 months pregnant and we spent all morning running around the aquarium - I feel like I deserve it!!!), then she's going to be ANGRY.

No advice on the solicitors, but I was (silently) laughing my butt off at the bolded statement.

 

[minkydog]

Years ago we lived next to a man who worked 3rd shift. They had a sign on the front door saying something like 'day sleeper--do not disturb'. They don't have to know it's just nap time for the kids, lol. That being said we have a no soliciting sign on our door at work and they just ignore it. We also have a no public restroom sign too and people come in off the street all the time and ask to use the restroom.....

I used to work the night shift too, and I made a sign for the door that said " Warning: baby sleeping. If you wake her up, there will be HELL to pay." Even the neighborhood kids could understand that one!

 

[MIGrandma]

I understand your frustration. I would like to put such a sign on our door too, only with an addition..."No Jehovah's Witness solicitation." But would that be discrimination?

We've lived in this house since 1980, it used to be we'd get a Jehovah's Witness person maybe once a year, if that. I would answer the door and just politely tell them we are Christian and already have a church that we belong to, thank you, and then shut the door.

But for the past couple of years they have been coming much more often. Like every couple of months. I'm tired of answering the door.

DH is a farmer and we do get farm type salesmen sometimes, so I hate to put up a sign that just says "No Solicitation" as sometimes he does want to talk to them. But the JW's are just getting so annoying.

And speaking of them, we were seated across from a table of them at a restaurant recently. They handed their waitress one of their religious tracts when she came back to see if they wanted dessert. Then they flagged down the hostess to give her one, and flagged down the manager to give him one as well. Did not see any $$$ on the table when they left.

I used to wait tables and quite often JW's would leave their tracts on the table when they left, but always with $$$ inside as well, and never as intrusive as handing me one personally.

I'm thinking next time they stop I will answer the door (I haven't the last few times they've been here) and just ask them point blank to please take our house off their route.

 

[happygirl]

You can put up the sign, I don't think it would do much legally

 

[EMom]

It warms a Texan's heart............

Seriously, a relative of mine (whom, I admit, was not quite "right") decided the best course of action was to pull a gun on a magazine salesman. Said relative was a bit paranoid and felt threatened by the mere presence of the solicitor. Word spread and the relative was not bothered again by salesfolk. But.....I cannot recommend the approach.

 

[KristaTX]

Our city has an ordinance that door-to-door salespeople (adults) must have a city permit that is visible on a lanyard, and that if anyone has one of those "no solicitors" signs up, it is against the law to solicit. No one is permitted to solicit after dark, either. The city publishes information about this in our monthly water bill newsletter, and encourages us to notify them of any violators.

After a woman in our town was shot and killed at her front door (the killer has never been caught), I made a cute "No solicitors please" sign and put it right under our doorbell. I have seen lots of solicitors hitting my neighbors, but walking away as soon as they spot my sign. I figure if it keeps most of them away, then I can deal with the tackiness of having a sign.

Since the city came out with the ordinance, I've had a couple of questionable people ring our doorbell that I answered the door for. The first one was one of those "I'm selling magazines for charity to fund my educational trip to who-knows-where" kind of people, which I've been tricked by before. She had no permit, and I told her about the city ordinances. After she left I called the police because that tactic is known for being fraudulent. They showed up right away, talked to her, took her information, told her of the ordinances, and to leave. They came by my house after they talked to her and told me what they did, and said to call again if anything else happened like that in the future.

I had another guy come by who supposedly worked for an alarm company. He had no permit, and he disregarded our sign. I told him about the ordinance, too. I wish I'd called the police on him, but I didn't . I have read that sometimes those are just thieves staking out your house to find out more about your alarm system situation.

 

[Juliet25]

I agree. Honestly, I don't have a problem saying no and I was nasty to the person today...usually I'm really polite when I say no. I'm never at the door for more than a minute or two.

Most times I don't answer and just ignore the pounding, but when the kids are asleep I have to open the door to get rid of them and the damage is already done.

Few things make me as rageful as naptime interrupted. I have the ringer on my phone shut off, the light blocking shades drawn, that naptime is my only time to get quiet stuff done or take a bit of a breather.

I'm just tired of people bothering me and it seems like it's getting really bad in our neighborhood as of late.

IKWYM. Nap time is sacred and I have no problems whatsoever saying no to whomever comes to my door. For many reasons, I do not want them there.

 

[furb & dez]

I don't actually have a sign, by the way (I was just answering what I would do *if* I had a sign). My method is to simply ignore all knocks/rings at the door.

If you know me, you know I won't answer, and will have called first. No call == no open door. I don't even care if solicitors can see me, I simply will not answer the door.

 

[KerriSue]

Recently I had one of those sales people come to the door, you know the ones that are recently off drugs and are trying to get things straight in their life. Now, I am all for people getting their lives in order, but I dont want to hear their 10 minute sales pitch. This might sound rude but I normally just ask them to just give it to me straight, no pitch, what are you selling?

Well, after I told the young man that I wasnt interested (magazines) he proceeds to say to me "So is there anything you can give a guy, I have been out here all day!" I said "Are you serious?" He said that he was so I laughed and told him that if he had the nerve to ask for stuff I can give him something to get him through the end of the day. I ended up giving him a can of soda and a snack. I was completely taken in. Im a total sucker! Next time Im not answering the door