Geoff Duncan

Unwelcome Solicitations

The following businesses have either directly solicited at my residence or left unwanted "door spam" on or about the front of the house despite a clear sign stating their actions and/or material are unwelcome. See About this Page for details.

This list began January 1, 2007, but only got serious in mid-March 2007.

About This Page

The sign above has appeared on my front door since 1998. It's polite, but it's not vague or wishy-washy, assuming the reader is fluent in English. (Here in Seattle, "solicitor" is not synonymous with "lawyer"—so, yes, I'd rephrase if I lived in the U.K.) And I realize being English-only text may present a language barrier to some people hired by companies to distribute flyers and door-to-door material. I might be able to add Spanish, but it's just not realistic to add Korean, Vietnamese, Russian, Cambodian, Cantonese, Mandarin, or some of the other languages I hear in the area. Nonetheless, I think the message is straightforward: Don't leave ads, and don't try to sell me something. End of story.

The sign often works—on several occasions I have seen strangers come up to the door, take in the sign, then turn around and walk away. Wonderful! I bear these folks no ill will, and appreciate that they respect residents' wishes.

However. A growing number of businesses and organizations in the area do not respect the sign. I don't know what they're thinking: maybe they honestly believe their ad is so special that, despite saying I don't want to see crap shoved through my door, strewn on my porch, littering the yard, or hanging on my doorknob, I will be so impressed by their offer that…I'll smile from ear-to-ear and become a lifelong customer?

Or, more likely, if they give it any thought at all it might be eh, what's this guy going to do about it? Or, more likely, great—now I only have 499 of these things to distribute.

Here's what I'm going to do about it. I will publish the name and contact information of any business or organization which leaves advertising materials at the front of my house, or knocks on my door with a special offer. I'm sincerely hoping a single Web page will do the trick, but I'll migrate the effort to a database if necessary. I'm giving religious groups like the Mormons, petitioners, and citizens' action groups a pass for the moment because, even though I'm not fond of their showing up, they at least aren't selling anything.

(Well, some of the citizens' action groups (scroll to the bottom) are awfully insistent about collecting support donations. Hmm.)

The rest I'll leave to Google. Yes, the intent here is that any time someone searches for one of these local businesses, there's at least a chance the searcher will see that these businesses engage in unwanted and unethical advertising, and perhaps choose to spend their money elsewhere.

Why do I care? Well, there's the waste of it. In the same way I hate junk mail and dislike people littering on my lawn, I don't enjoy being forced to collect up someone else's advertising and move it to the recycling…particularly when I have to go hunting around the yard for the ones which have blown away on mucky, cold, sodden days. I don't leave crap at their house; they shouldn't get to leave crap at mine.

Another reason: Back when I used to travel more frequently, I despised these sorts of things because they effectively put a "nobody home!" sign on my front door. If a prowler, thief, or other ne're-do-well sees some pizza joint's hanger on a doorknob a couple of days in a row, they might get the idea the place in ripe for the picking.

So: a note to door-to-door distributors and solicitors? Just read the sign. We'll all be happier.

Copyright © Geoff Duncan, all rights reserved.
Hey, what's life without fine print?