Solicitors and uninvited house "visitors"

[vynx]

You say part of your front yard is fenced 3 foot high - fence the rest!

I have a 6 ft fence around the back and side yard and a 3 1/2 footer around the front - I usually hang an open padlock thru the front gate - no one comes into my yard - it helps to put a dog bowl by the front porch too.

I'm thinking of getting a beware of dog sign for insurance/lawsuit purposes but since I have bassets its not really necessary.

Otherwise I'd have real estate agents knocking on my door every day not to mention those guys that get hired to stick flyers in your door jam - now all that junk gets left by the gate. I've seen the kids who sell candy being dropped off by the van (this is a scam you know) and they knock on every door on the street but they don't come thru my gate.

No missionaries ever - although the LDS that I've met in the past (previous residences) were always super polite and nice --- now if a thief was smart he'd canvass the neighborhood wearing a white short sleeve shirt and riding a bicycle!

 

[p35]

Correia-

Nothing wrong with your post IMHO. I have to ask, though: why are they called "Elders"? It always struck me as odd to see some kid who's barely old enough to shave with a badge that says "Elder". Would that mean the "youngers" are the ones still in diapers?

Also, Tallpine-
What's a "Hoot"?

 

[Correia]

It isn't the age, it is the office. Mormons don't have a paid clergy. Rather, all men hold the priesthood.

I used to love when I would be debating a Pastor/Priest/Deacon/etc. and they would read my name tag and I would say that I outranked them. (but like I said, I had a sense of humor).

 

[Sawdust]

NineseveN sez:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Correia
Wow, this is massively off topic. I'm not setting a very moderatorial example here. Sorry.



Actually, I think it was a rather good post.

Brown-noser.

Sawdust

 

[loandr.]

2 tiers of Chain Link Fencing and almost 500 lbs. of puppy with signs accordingly placed make certain we have NO unannounced visitors period . HECK its tough enough for me to get inside the perimeter

LD

 

[ReidWrench]

Keeping them away is easy enough but it requires an entire " system" and unfortunately , a change of venue is in order . What I have devised is much akin to others mentioned above . A 100 yard guantlet from the front gate to the house manned by 3 GSD's and a Blue Heeler . When I arrive home the security detail runs down to check me out , every night .

On the front gate are the posted signs , but at your feet you will find thousands of rounds a spent brass of every shape and size covering the entire driveway entrance . At first glance it looks like gravel , but it offsets well on pure white caliche .

We have had but two ignore the postings take the chain off , open the gate and make it all the way to the house . Both were out for my soul . One rolled the window down about a half inch as the GSD's took positions at each door and screamed at the house DO THEY BITE ??? The wife yelled back " YES !!" , and went back inside . I trust they had left the gate open when they drove in , or they would still be there when I got home .

For #2 The security detail was locked up in the backyard but I was outside as they pulled up , there was a tire cross closeby and on impulse I picked it up , walked over and started "taking" the wheel nuts off the RF wheel of the car . It was for 2 ton wheels , but they couldnt tell from over there . Got all freaked out WHATAREYOUDOINGTOMYCAR !!! It aint your car no more if ya intend on leaving it here much longer . They peeled their pious patoots outta there .

 

[TallPine]

Also, Tallpine-
What's a "Hoot"?

Hutterites. Sort of like Amish except they use modern equipment. Live in colonies which are communal farms. The men dress in black pants and suspenders on the hottest summer days. Speak with a German accent, and I guess members of some colonies speak no english at all.

 

[Il Duca]

If I were caught in the open when my dog was pooping, she would pinch it off and give chase. And come on guys, are the JW cracks really necessary? We're not all pushy.

 

[ChopperKen]

Il Duca, I only had a prob. with JW because I worked 2nd shift.
That and they wouldn't stop coming over Early when told not to bother me. And the signs.
Other than that if they had come over after noon I wouldn't have had a problem talking too them...
Telemarketers on the other hand call all week

 

[Il Duca]

I meant that as more of a good natured prod and I completely understand. Every now and then the Mormons wake US up too.

 

[4D5]

I just don't answer door, but my brother

Well I just peek thru the curtain on the front door. If it's an UIG, I walk away, unless I feel like screwing with them.

Now my brother

Had a rash of JW showing up at his door and he finally had enough so he put a stop to it, in fact for the whole neighborhood.

Well they show up, he answers (he already knows they are JW). They start their sermon, he says just a minute, do you all expect to meet Johava some day? they reply yes we do, he says just a minute then. Goes and gets the O/U, comes back to the door, cracks it open and asks in a most unassuming pleasant voice well which one of you would like to meet Johava first He said they almost broke out in a run. The block must have been black balled because they haven't been back to the neighborhood since

 

[c_yeager]

I blame the marketing dillweed who invented solicitation sales/telemarketing. I've started to not hate the telemarketers and the door to door salesman, but the people they work for. They hire people with no experience and desperate for a job and teach them how to "pressure" people to buy products and maybe...just maybe they get a 10% cut.

I suspect that your going to have to travel to a time before the birth of Christ if you want to nail the guy that invested door to door sales.

 

[DBR]

We have a 1400' driveway. About 200' from the street is a flourescent green "no traspassing" sign that sites the trespassing statute: "6mo in jail, $250.00 fine for first offense". In my state illegal trespass can be reported up to 60 days after the offense. It does not have to be witnessed by LEO. There is a second identical sign about 600' from the street.

Very few uninvited people ignore those signs. The few people who have shown up without some legitimate purpose were immediately ordered off the property and told to call and make an appointment before they return. This recently included the town appraisers who never returned.

I am on the "do not call list" and have filed three complaints. It seems to work. My phone is always on "answer machine" with the ring turned off. I always return legitimate calls promptly. I am not pavlov's dog. I do not respond to a bell ring. My Wife's phone is our public phone and unsolicited sales calls result in an immedialte hangup.

We feel very comfortable being extremely rude (not threating or obscene) to anyone who violates our privacy.

I keep a digital camera next to the door and the first thing I do if there is a strange person at the door or in the parking area is take several pictures of them making it obvious I am taking the pictures. I think this is a good prevention measure against latter problems.

Sound paranoid? I don't think so. We have the right to control our property and our privacy. I would much rather discourage a future problem than confront it. At this point in our lives we really don't care who we offend.

We are in the middle of 200 acres in semi-rural Vermont so some things that are normal in the suburbs are not so normal here.

 

[NineseveN]

Brown-noser.

Sawdust

He, he owns a gun store, of course I want to be on his good side!

 

[Sheldon J]

A warning to all solicitors

I do not want you on my property.
If I want to buy something I will go and buy it at a store.
If I cannot buy it at a store then I will go on-line or call on the phone.
You will not be welcomed.
You will not be greeted kindly.
You will not be allowed access to my home or my precious time so do not ask.
If I have to repeat myself when I say I am not interested please leave, I will get angry and order you off my land just before I dial 911 to have you arrested for trespass.

The only exception to these rules are Girl Scouts selling cookies (love the Somores) Boy Scouts selling Popcorn (they have the best microwave) and Kids with enough initiative to get out and go door to door raising money for a school project. PERIOD

 

[#shooter]

For entertainment value and a little satisfaction watch Secondhand Lions. They do what you wish to do.

 

[mpmarty]

We live in Rural Oregon. My driveway is half a mile up a mountain. I have PIR detectors spotted in trees along the driveway and as a person or vehicle moves up the driveway they trigger a series of warning tones in the alarm modules in our dining room and bedroom. At each sensor the number and frequency of the alarm tones in the house increase. My dogs ignore the first two then go on full alert long before anyone can even see our home. All the windows are facing down the driveway, are tripple glazed and dark tinted in hot weather and they clear to nearly zero tint when cold. We have firearms in every room of the house and since it's over 3600 sq ft on one level that's a good thing. We have never had a missionary, god squad, sales person or any other kind of soliciter come to our door, however we have had a couple of "I'm lost can you tell me where so and so lives?" come all the way up the mountain. They are told we are only watching the house for the owners and don't know anybody in the valley below us and order them to leave immediately. By the way, all the time the "lost souls" are in sight of the house they see me with my mossberg persuader pointed down and my wife on the porch with her Browning over/under pointed up. Seems to work darn well for us.

 

[Axman]

Sheldon, what about those pesky beggars that come around every October looking for hand outs all while in disguise? TRICK OR TREAT!!!!

 

[Just_a_dude_with_a_gun]

I have had many a "tresspassers" or streetside annoyance.

Last weekend, I was out in front of my apt. building having a smoke (as I no longer smoke inside) and there was a 40-ish couple with two children standing around, ringingthe buzzer to every apartment sequentially.

I asked them if they needed help, and then I saw it.... the Watchtower! I told them, no I did not want one, they shouldn't be trying to sell anything buzzer to buzzer, as people will just hang up on them anyway. They left, but 10 minutes later they got to my buzzer, and I told her so, and hung up.

I'm an understanding fella, and to each his own, but I do not care for the witnesses much.
I don't really like anyone that will typically only associate with people exactly like them, unless they trying to MAKE someone else exactly like them.

'The Elders' approached me once while I lived in Boston. It wasn't in a nice area, so I kindly declined to speak faith with them, and told them they ought to go elsewhere for their own good. I sent them to Simmons College, which is all girls.

Years ago a guy in backhoe pulled it onto my mom's lawn, got out, knocked on the door and started to show her paperwork ordering him to dig up the yard... and all he could say in response to her refusal was "Jorge no speak de inglish" . The rest of the crew showed up later and told him it was the next house over that needed to be connected to the town sewer... LOL

 

[GungHo]

I don't answer the door except to hollar "I ain't buying any, I'm a Buddhist, and I don't want to get involved" and I ignore people who approach me except to give them a once over. That seems to work for me. (Obviously, if it was someone who was bleeding all over the place, I'd call 911 for them, but they don't gotta come inside for me to do that... I'm not uncharitable, but I just bought that rug!).

As a result, I don't usually get bothered by beggars downtown, not more than the first time around, anyway. My windows don't get washed serruptitiously. I only get "the bucket" flashed at me once. My coworkers get hassled a lot because they invite attention and respond.

I've only been followed onto my property once, and whatever the guy was up to, he stopped when I looked at him askance.

I've had a few persistant LDS kids at one time who bugged a lot of folks in the neighborhood, and I mentioned it to some LDS folks I know at work and it stopped.

You don't have to brandish or act like you're going to start a fight to get people to go away. Just don't be a pushover and don't give/attract undue attention. And, maybe leave that fancy watch at home.

 

[mindwip]

I live in a wall community, with 513 homes, mostly couples with kids or "older" couples.

Well the only Solicitor i like are ones selling food, i love girlscouts, and there cookies and kids from there school selling chocolate bars. I remember when i was a kid and i went door to door selling that stuff. And most poeple in our area buy the stuff to help the kids.

The only ones i hate are the religious ones, trying to convert you, AND they come at 10 in the morning on sat. Now i just tell them no thanks and close the door or i tell them i dont want to join there religion becuase it is the wrong one, with over what 1,000 religions most claiming there the "one", chances are those at my door are in the wrong religion.

Where we live it is basicly imposable to trespass duo to the fact your property starts at your door. And i cant put up a no soliciting sign becuase i want my food.

IF they get pushy i would call the cops,

 

[The Deer Hunter]

If i Had alot of traveling salesmen (which i do not) i would bring some sort of weapon with me so they know i mean business. Its not illegal to be holding a gun on your property.

 

[secamp32]

When someone rings the doorbell at my house

The door only gets opened enough to talk thru. Anyone other than a neighbor gets 15 seconds to explain what they want before the door closes. I usually have to close the door on them mid sentence. i do the same to telephone saleman. I had one call me back and tell me how rude I was to hang up on her. I told her she was rude to waste my time then I hung up again.

 

[tubeshooter]

I've been reading the responses, and I think the "No soliciting (etc.)" signs are a good way to go.

That being said, I'm surprised at the amount of people that don't seem to want to give anybody uninvited what would seem to most to be common courtesy. If a solicitor ignores your sign knowing full well they are soliciting, that's one thing... but maybe somebody just needs some help. It happens.


Now I'm definitely not saying to put yourself in peril. If you'd rather do the initial correspondence through the door/intercom, that seems wise. But some of the stances in the thread just seem overboard. And then there is a footnote about an exception for "kids", like a kid would never set you up or case your place for an adult (rare but theoretically possible)... and, conversely, anybody over driving age can't possibly mean anything but trouble. Just seems a little paranoid to me. I guess some feel adults don't deserve the common courtesy you might give a boy/girl scout. But if you've gone to the trouble to live 1/2 mile from the road, maybe it fits right in with your M.O., I dunno (which is fine, btw).


Anyhow, to each his own. But you can't help but laugh when some of these same people want to wonder why the non-shooting public generally fears us, with the whole "happen to be cleaning a gun" when a visitor drops by kind of business. Just a thought. IMO, it would be better for all involved to just bulldoze through the crap and put up an "I don't trust anybody, stay away, enter at your own risk" sign or some such. I bet that would be much, much more effective than "No solicitors".

 

[Flopsy]

I'm in rural PA, and most people generally know that they simply can't solicit in our neighborhoods. 9 out of 10 have at least a shotgun in the house and someone who's been shooting it since they were 8.