Door to Door anything?

You know I really do respect good salesmanship. I know that a person to do sales has to be assertive, even sort of charismatically pushy. And I am not against all door to door stuff, I know for instance, it was very effective in the election. But right now I am annoyed.

I am home this afternoon, I had jury duty, didn't have to serve so am enjoying a lovely afternoon reading and relaxing with the cat. The door bell rings, and it is a young woman who launches into a bit about trying to achieve her career goals etc etc, and that she is doing something that will help this ... selling magazines of course. Some school program. She does seem earnest and nice. At first I thought I would perhaps donate a magazine (I don't want anymore, barely read the ones i have...) to
a hospital, but it turns out the cheapest one is like $40. I tell her I can't, I have given more to Tsunamai relief etc. She does leave, but then my neighbor came over seeing her leave and told me he blew her off immediately. That he is suspicious that they are just "checking out your place". I have a hard time believing that, but then again, I understand his stance of just slamming the door.

Arrgghh, I mean on one end you don't want to mistrust the world, but on the other, I am starting to think door to door sales should be outlawed.

any thoughts?

We don't get any door to door sales here--unless you count kids selling stuff for school or their scout troops. I suppose there could be scams like that, where they just want to case the joint, so to speak, but I don't know. I tend to think this young woman was legit. I mean, how much can you see from a person's doorway?

Originally Posted by mamacat

We don't get any door to door sales here--unless you count kids selling stuff for school or their scout troops. I suppose there could be scams like that, where they just want to case the joint, so to speak, but I don't know. I tend to think this young woman was legit. I mean, how much can you see from a person's doorway?

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Yeah I do too, I mean I stil thinking asking for $40 for a magazine door to door is a bit much, but you can't blame her for trying.

Originally Posted by mamacat

I mean, how much can you see from a person's doorway?

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I know that when I was touring apartments, looking for a place to live, the landlord used my apartment layout as a selling point - all he could see from the door was the hallway.

Personally, as a young woman living alone, I would never open the door to a stranger. But that's because I've lived in big cities all my life, and because I work for the news and hear first hand everyday what happens when a person opens the door to a stranger. Here in San Antonio over the summer we had a string of home invasions... FIRST the person would knock on the door and when the door was opened to him, he would do all sorts of things to the woman, steal her stuff and leave.

Thats what makes everything so hard these days. I hate being suspicious of everyone, but with all of the news about murders, rapes, burglaries etc.(and having been robbed myself at gunpoint) I just don't feel comfortable. We had a guy come to our door selling a cleaning solution for the carpet. He wanted to come inside and show me how well it cleaned. I said "No, my boyfriend and I are cooking dinner and I don't have time", even though I was home alone, it made me nervous. I know that several communities, residential and business, here in our city prohibit door to door soliciting. Maybe it is a good idea.
Another similar situation, we have had a few stories here of people impersonating police officers even using stolen police cars and pulling people over. A girl near my house was pulled over and raped at 3am. That even makes you suspicious of police officers I hate it.

We get whole groups of them bused into our area with the same stories - ex-con trying to make good, victim of a house fire, etc.. I simply say I never buy anything at the door (not true - there's a handicapped man who comes twice a year and sells cleaning products, and I always buy something from him) and practically slam the door shut in their face - that gives me peace for a while.

It's hard not to be suspicious, these days, especially when you hear so often about home invasions. I'm not that keen on door to door sales, anyway. I figure, if I want to buy something, I'll go to the store, or I'll hit the Internet and do some research and maybe buy online, but either way it will be at my initiative, not because someone I don't know interrupted whatever I was doing to offer something I may or may not be interested in. It's not really any different from telephone solicitations, which we studiously avoid responding to.

We only get two types of door-to-door sales at my place. The kids selling candy, girl scout cookies, etc. as fundraisers for their school/organization. That's fine, although I usually don't have any cash and I certainly don't need any more sweets around the house. The other are the pushy college-aged "don't you want to help me win a trip/acheive my goal/raise my self-esteem (yes I have gotten that one) by buying these WAY overpriced magazines?" I don't particularly like those if for no other reason than that they come by the apartment complex at least once a month. Regardless of how energetic or how great your goal is, I'm not buying another magazine subscription every stinkin' month! And you can tell they are organized because they come out in herds and fan out across the complex.

When I am home alone I will NOT open the door to a stranger.

Originally Posted by valanhb

We only get two types of door-to-door sales at my place. The kids selling candy, girl scout cookies, etc. as fundraisers for their school/organization. That's fine, although I usually don't have any cash and I certainly don't need any more sweets around the house.

The other are the pushy college-aged "don't you want to help me win a trip/acheive my goal/raise my self-esteem (yes I have gotten that one) by buying these WAY overpriced magazines?" I don't particularly like those if for no other reason than that they come by the apartment complex at least once a month. Regardless of how energetic or how great your goal is, I'm not buying another magazine subscription every stinkin' month! And you can tell they are organized because they come out in herds and fan out across the complex.

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Thats the other thing, I am not so much concerned this woman is going to break into my place, as I am that I am encouraging this kind of thing. I think these magazine companies are being so weazely using kids like this, ones you DO feel you can trust as far as your safety but still...

Originally Posted by Marge

Thats the other thing, I am not so much concerned this woman is going to break into my place, as I am that I am encouraging this kind of thing. I think these magazine companies are being so weazely using kids like this, ones you DO feel you can trust as far as your safety but still...

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They're called "Drücker" here, i.e., "pushers", and, as Heidi said, they're definitely organized. If you buy a magazine subscription, the next time they hit your town again, they'll be back at your door.
Another thing to be careful of is people collecting donations door to door. Four weeks ago some teenagers were going around our town with official-looking cans, collecting for the town cat shelter. The thing is - our cat home never does that! Luckily they asked some of the volunteers for a donation, and the police put a stop to it.

when i was fresh out of college and looking for a marketing position (searching for a desk job in marketing design/mgmt/research) I came across a job ad that was just too good to be true.. Saying that i would be doing marketing and promotions and blahblahblah. So then I go in and they give me all these marketing supplies/promo kits and say this is what we do. So I assumed that they designed them and put them together for sale to businesses who use them as marketing materials to then give to clients. Well it was door to door sales.

When I went on the second interview I was unclear about it still, but things seemed very fishy very fast. Long story short, it was explained that they sell these things door to door only in certain communities, mainly communities designated specifically to retired seniors.

So not only was it door to door selling which I felt wasn't exactly on the up and up but it was also only selling to seniors which i thought was just wrong.. Anyhow I ended up telling the person that was interviewing me what I thought about anyone who would do such a thing and I think I really offended him but I couldn't keep quiet. Ew. That was a bad day.

Originally Posted by jcat

They're called "Drücker" here, i.e., "pushers", and, as Heidi said, they're definitely organized. If you buy a magazine subscription, the next time they hit your town again, they'll be back at your door.
Another thing to be careful of is people collecting donations door to door. Four weeks ago some teenagers were going around our town with official-looking cans, collecting for the town cat shelter. The thing is - our cat home never does that! Luckily they asked some of the volunteers for a donation, and the police put a stop to it.

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Ok, thanks! Thanks you all, I now know my stance. No door to door sales.
I will just make that my policy. I do feel safe opening my door in my neighborhood, and I get UPS and other deliverys. But no buying or selling.

The other annoying thing is the religion recruiters, I got that once.

Originally Posted by annabelle33

when i was fresh out of college and looking for a marketing position (searching for a desk job in marketing design/mgmt/research) I came across a job ad that was just too good to be true.. Saying that i would be doing marketing and promotions and blahblahblah. So then I go in and they give me all these marketing supplies/promo kits and say this is what we do. So I assumed that they designed them and put them together for sale to businesses who use them as marketing materials to then give to clients. Well it was door to door sales.

When I went on the second interview I was unclear about it still, but things seemed very fishy very fast. Long story short, it was explained that they sell these things door to door only in certain communities, mainly communities designated specifically to retired seniors.

So not only was it door to door selling which I felt wasn't exactly on the up and up but it was also only selling to seniors which i thought was just wrong.. Anyhow I ended up telling the person that was interviewing me what I thought about anyone who would do such a thing and I think I really offended him but I couldn't keep quiet. Ew. That was a bad day.

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You know...I live in an area with a lot of seniors. there are a ton of retirees here. Ugh, I will bet we were targeted....

At the house we live in at the moment we don't have a front door so to speak. At the side of our house their is a gate and that is carefully guarded by our 2 dogs and 2 puppies. No stranger has ever come up that path - because the dogs bark at them, which means no annoying sales people or people trying to get me to go to their church! etc etc.

Originally Posted by Marge

The other annoying thing is the religion recruiters, I got that once.

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I absolutely hate that. I am not religious, I do not want someone coming to MY house telling me I am horrible because I don't believe in such and such. And others coming by "Did you read your bible today?" No! "Why not?" When I told her that I don't believe she gave me this shocked look and "Well I don't know what to say to that.." LOL. So far no one comes by this house, yet...

Originally Posted by Marge

The other annoying thing is the religion recruiters, I got that once.

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Ugh! Don't get me started there! Oh wait...too late!

Thankfully they usually come by during the day, so I don't have to deal with them. One day, Earl was working from home on his computer, and the window to that room is next to the front door. The shades were closed, but he did have the TV on in that room. These Bible Bangers came to the door, knocked, and Earl didn't answer because he had seen them in the area. They knocked again, louder. Finally, he hears them shouting at the window..."Open the door! We know you're home, we can hear you!" He still didn't answer the door, but he was still fuming when I got home from work.

I feel sorry sometimes for the people who sell door-to-door, but not enough to open the door for them. If I do open the door at all, it's with both dogs standing next to me behind the screen door (they're pretty good judges of character, and can intimidate people if they need to).

Honestly, there are just too many dangerous & dishonest people out there for that kind of stuff now - I wish they'd do away with door-to-door sales entirely. It's probably dangerous for the salespeople too - someone could grab you & pull you inside. And of course it could be dangerous to open the door - the salesperson could be a criminal & either try to push into your house as Ariana mentioned, or they could be checking out the neighborhood, to see who is home & looking for easy targets. I'm a little paranoid about that because the crime level in our neighborhood has jumped recently, though

Originally Posted by valanhb

Ugh! Don't get me started there! Oh wait...too late!

Thankfully they usually come by during the day, so I don't have to deal with them. One day, Earl was working from home on his computer, and the window to that room is next to the front door. The shades were closed, but he did have the TV on in that room. These Bible Bangers came to the door, knocked, and Earl didn't answer because he had seen them in the area. They knocked again, louder. Finally, he hears them shouting at the window..."Open the door! We know you're home, we can hear you!"

He still didn't answer the door, but he was still fuming when I got home from work.

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Oh my gosh, that is SOOOO bad.

You know, I don't even believe in "popping in" on a friend. I have been tempted but I always call first like from my cell if I am nearing their house.

I was really irritated recently when a friend told a mutual friend he came by and knocked on my door, my car was there but I didn't answer (I really do normally answer the door but...dunno, I coulda been tired,) so he told this mutual friend he was certain I was becoming a "recluse" and they shouldn't bother trying to call me. What a jerk.

Granted, I don't think door knocking is the way to win anyone to your religious viewpoint. I don't do it myself. Never have. However, most those folks are sincere in what they are trying to do. Misguided perhaps, but sincere.

I don't answer the door when I'm alone.