Is Door to Door Salesman a Dead Job?

[Wolf Frankula]

I haven't seen a door to door salesman in 25 years. We get people soliciting for donations, petition signatures, JWs, Mormons, but never people just selling things.

What does the hive say?

Wolf

[dhol82]

1. Yes.

[surrealAmerican]

2. About six months ago someone came to my door ...

... selling newspaper subscriptions. Does that count?

It's pretty rare.

[politicat]

3. We get D2D of opportunity, I think.

About twice a year, someone from Anderson Windows (or someone wearing an Anderson Windows vest) comes around and says we need to replace our windows. (We don't, and because they're telling me that, they won't get the business. I'll go with the local glass company.) They say they're working on a neighbor's house.

As far as I'm concerned, that's scamalicious, so nope, never, nuh-uh, nada, nyet, nein. I watched my grandmother pay an itenerant scam painter every two years to paint the barns and outbuildings. She would never listen when her farm manager or I told her that modern paints aren't whitewash. It's what she'd always done, and what her father did in the 1940s and 50s, and so it should be done.

The only people who get door to door money are the local children peddling for the local schools or local school activities. Then yes, we buy a chocolate bar or three (and promptly give them back to the children, since we can't eat World's -- too much sugar) or the annual local coupon book. I hate that the schools have to fund activities that way, and I know the economics on those sales are scammy for the schools, too, but teachers, advisors, and PTAs are overstretched and we can't all do costume party trivia nights that end memorably.

[left-of-center2012]

5. "They say they're working on a neighbor's house"

Scam

[politicat]

7. Yup.

Our HOA is a democracy. We all see all of our requests for improvements. We don't have to vote on them, but they're all available (and all approved.) I keep an eye because I like to know when water is going to be off, or similar. Plus, our houses are 20 years old, so some windows might be up, but not most.

I have serious hate for D2D to begin with, but home repair scams make me wroth.

[irisblue]

4. I get utility companies

Electric & cable mostly.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

18. Yeah we have some shady "electrical provider" sales teams going door to door.

They say they need to see your electric bill to make sure some charge is taken off.

When you ask who they are with they say "we are your electrical provider"

I've had to throw them out of our building on several occasions. The buzz all the doors and go door to door if someone lets them in.

[left-of-center2012]

6. I get kids selling candy

About three times a year some kid accompanied by an adult shows up selling chocolate candy at $1 a bar for some organization.
A different kid and organization per kid, but they have come three years in a row.

Maybe because I buy 3 or 4 bars, and they seems shocked to make a sale, and appreciative.

[mitch96]

8. I just had a ATT guy going door to door selling their stuff

Nice kid but I told him I've been screwed by ATT a few times and it would be a cold day in hell b4 I'd by anything from them...
m

[Laffy Kat]

9. Can't trust 'em.

They usually creep me out and I don't open the door. Plus, there are so many D2D Xtians around here. I even get middle-aged ladies, two by two, wearing dresses and leaving copies of "Lighthouse" on my door. Shudder!

[crazycatlady]

10. (political) canvassing is not a dead job

(I'm hiring door to door canvassers now)

[lunasun]

11. Alive here. Siding, Windows , TVcable, electric and wierd scam crap all within the last year

Never buy anything
but something like
fuller brush or vacumn
? No they never come here

Assorted political and religious types too

[Yonnie3]

12. Not completely

I was just thinking about this the other day. When I was very young there was a Fuller Brush man, several vacuum cleaner salesmen, a man who sharpened knives and scissors, encyclopedia salesmen, a farmer who sold produce and eggs, cosmetics, and others I can't recall.

Ignoring the fundraising kids, the political canvassers, the various religious visitors and the "shovel your snow?" entrepreneurs who come to the door, here is my list for the last year in a residential area of a small city:

Frozen meat salesman, we actually bought some from him.
Cable company (Comcast) - we're not exactly enamored with them.
Book salesmen specializing in books for kids in school. No kids.
Fiber Internet (Ting) 10 dollars now and hundreds at install time. Nope.
Local newspaper. Sorry, but you suck.

In 30 years in my rural house, I had one old timer selling spices, Amway multiple times, several vacuum cleaner salesman, and one satellite dish salesman. That all stopped 15 years ago.

[customerserviceguy]

13. Comcast has sent door to door sales creeps

to my former home in NY for years, after we cut the cable. I take the time to explain to each of them the definition of the word "antenna" and tell them that it brings commercial-laden TV for free, rather than paying for commercial-laden programming.

In some ways it was working, I never saw the same sales person twice.

[GReedDiamond]

14. The only D2Ders I get are Jehovah's Witnesses...nt

[eShirl]

15. We still have the same Fuller Brush man since the late 60s.

He retired once but came back, even though he doesn't need the money. At the company they call him "the old man."

[Orrex]

16. The products have changed, but the profession lives on

Several times a year we get sales people knocking on or door, offering yardwork, "cheaper" utility rates, or discounted meat, to name just a few.

Years back I myself tried (disastrously) to sell insurance. It wasn't residential, but it was still door-to-door.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. Not Quite

There's an frozen food outfit 'round these parts that show up weekly to see if you want to buy any of the items on the truck. My wife has been buying from them for several years now. They do really well prepared convenience (pop in the oven) food with good ingredients. It's a little more expensive than grocery store, but then one burns no gas to get to the store, because the store is coming to you. (BTW: They have really good ice cream, too.)

Other than that, it's definitely a job on life support.

[CanSocDem]

19. My "door" to enlightenment.

It was 1966. I was new to Los Angeles with no discernible job skills. I answered an ad for "canvassers" for a photography company and because of the times,(I needed a job, they needed white male workers) I ended up on a 'door-to-door' sales crew selling appointments for a photographer to come in and take family pictures.

They gave us a 'canned pitch' and the freedom to collect soap box tops as a ruse for "winning something...". I needed all this because I had no sales experience from my adolescence. I didn't even 'like' people that much but that job turned out to be the most important job I ever had.

The crew I worked with everyday were an eclectic mix of student deferrments, foreigners and borderline hippies (the clean-cut ones) and they taught me an important lesson:

ALL jobs are based in SALES. You either sell a service or you sell a product. For the rest of my life I bounced between the two. And yes, at 70 years old I'm a shallow, shallow man.


.

[Blue_Tires]

20. So are all those stories I hear

about sex olympiads with bored housewives and/or 19-year-old twin sisters true? Or was that just urban legend stuff?

[Floyd R. Turbo]

21. You left out farmers daughters! As someone who sold door to door in my teens I

had a number of encounters that made me the envy of my friends! 😏

[True Dough]

22. The door-to-door salesperson

has been replaced by the Amazon delivery person.

[Major Nikon]

23. Around here after a big storm the roofing salesman come out of the woodwork

In my town it is illegal for a salesman (including religious hucksters) to knock on your door if you have a no soliciting sign.

I caught one up on my roof giving me an unsolicited free roof inspection. I've called the cops on a few of them as some get quite aggressive and won't leave you alone. I handed one a copy of the ordinance and told him I was calling the cops. I suspect he had warrants because he took off running and left the neighborhood.