Poll: Should unsolicited door-to-door sales and telemarketing be made illegal?

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Yes. Just so that they can't advertise said jobs as retail positions and then when you read the description of the role it's essentially you agreeing to buy things from them to sell for yourself.

Pyramid schemes are the future, get involved!

I'd be in complete agreement with making both practices illegal. Yeah, it would suck for the people who are employed to do those things, but how many people are really employed going door-to-door anymore? It is mostly people out peddling their religion that I encounter, and I'm fine with living without that. The only people I want turning up on my doorstep are people with food for me, and I call them first.

That was my first thought too. I almost never get sales people, but get Jehovah's witnesses fairly often. It's a little irritating when I work lates sometimes and then get a knock on the door early. I assume it's a package (and those delivery men don't hang about) so rush out of bed and down the stairs in a state of undress to answer the door to someone who wants to have a conversation whilst I'm freezing my nipples off.

I do enjoy the artwork on their pamphlets though.

The cold-calls are what annoy me. Is there a reason why phones don't seem to have an easy "block caller" function? Is there some kind of agreement between businesses and phone service providers or something?

 

[chozo_hybrid]

I think it actually is in New Zealand. Or at least they're so rare that no one encounters them, or they're not an actual job role here.

Nah, it's not illegal here, I just think it hasn't proven to be a profitable way to sell things outside clubs and scouts doing the chocolate and cookie thing.

 

[The Lugz]

Are there any benefits to unsolicited marketing which I'm missing?

nope, definitely not.. however on a side note we should probably just make everything illegal, so we can start from scratch because.. well the world is clearly sub-optimal, and it's grating

 

[chocolate pickles]

On the one hand, i would feel like shit if some poor guy/gal got fired because i hate having to answer the door/phone to them.

On the other hand, I am reminded of the all too familiar feeling of running to pick up the phone because i thought it was something important, only to be greeted by Sarah from 'Insert random PPI company' eagerly asking if i want to make a claim.

For the record, No, I don't Sarah. Now piss off.

All in all, leaning towards 'yes'. Bible bashers, Jehovah witnesses and the like? 100% yes.

 

[Gizmo1990]

I don't know. I always smile a little whenever I hang up on a cold caller mid sentence or simply shut the door in their face without saying a word.

Plus when it comes to the religious lot like jehovah's witnesses I enjoy the look of complete shock on the little old ladys faces (because they are always little old ladys where I live) when I tell them I worship Satan.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

Nah, not really. Those people (and especially the people they employ) are just trying to make a living as well. I for one have no issues telling them off in a friendly way if I'm not interested in their goods or story.

It isn't easy to call people for a living. I have to do a lot of calling myself and have to depend on the goodwill of others to get interviews and information. The way some people dare to react on the phone is just incredibly rude and destructive. So I pity those who have to make phone-calls to strangers all day long.

Another matter is selling fake or defective products or trying to get people into "deals" that end up costing them tons. That's already illegal where I live.

 

[Vegosiux]

I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. These businesses would have to come up with a plan for how to market in the future, which would take time.

Give them a grace period then. Legislation doesn't have to make changes "tomorrow". It can easily say "Effective now, you have five years to adapt your strategies because this is going to be illegal."

And that's all I'm going to say, the concept of advertising itself is repulsive to me and to go in detail would likely just result in a rant that nobody could relate to, so...

 

[Lilani]

And that's all I'm going to say, the concept of advertising itself is repulsive to me and to go in detail would likely just result in a rant that nobody could relate to, so...

Well, I create graphics for TV ads and digital signage for a chain of retail stores, so perhaps I'm a bit biased on the subject Working in marketing I know that it's only the higher-ups who actually want to manipulate people into buying stuff they may not need, and everybody else is just concerned with making stuff that looks good and produces numbers which make the higher-ups happy. If not for the pressure of numbers, they'd rather just go out and shoot pretty footage and have that put on TV.

And being a recent college graduate, I know cold callers are often people who have very few employment opportunities just trying to get by, and that it takes a set of balls as hard as Mjolnir and as large as Alpha Centauri to take such a job and stick to it.

 

[Shymer]

I don't object to the activities per se. We all benefit from a market economy and the price for that benefit is a willingness to accept advertising into our lives. There are other costs too - the environment, low-cost for labour, outsourcing, but that's another story. Capitalism has faults, but we haven't found any better system for regulating a variety of human activities.

I do object to companies that say "I am not trying to sell you anything" when they are. Or "this will only take a few minutes" when they will willfully consume 30 minutes. Or sales people reading from a script. My views have value and so I don't feel like giving them to a company for free in a "survey". They can buy them if they like.

I have more problems with telephone sales than I do door-to-door sales because the standard of sales people they employ is so low and they seem to fire-hire rather than train. If a company can be bothered to meet their potential customers face-to-face, then I'm fine with that - but it should not take them long to come to a mutual decision about whether you are going to buy from them or not.

"I am from a local company selling new xxx products and I would like to know if you would be interested in a free sample."
"No thank you very much."
"Well, thank you for your time. Here's a leaflet about our company and what we are trying to do for the local area. If you change your mind, please feel free to give us a call or drop onto our web-site."
"Thank you, I may."

The vulnerable need effective protection from pressure sales.

 

[Happiness Assassin]

On the one hand, Girl Scout Cookies... I love me some Thin Mints.

On the other hand, can we count those who proselytize? Seriously, I can handle pushy salespeople, but when someone asks "Would you like to learn about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?" I just clench up in awkwardness.

 

[Callate]

I'd prefer if there was some sort of middle ground where vendors and potential customers could work out what kind of businesses they'd actually be willing to entertain offers from.

For example, I would happily never receive another offer to refinance my mortgage again, I'm not interested in landscaping or pest-control services, and my roof is doing just fine. But I might be willing to buy some Girl Scout cookies, or buy something for a public school's charity auction. I'd much prefer it if these people would come to my door because they had received an invitation, rather than because there was nothing saying they couldn't. I get tired of saying "no" to the same offers, over and over again, usually interrupting something that requires my concentration. And much as commercial advertisers would like to believe otherwise, these people are wasting their time and resources in soliciting me for things I will never ever buy on impulse.

 

[Dalisclock]

I would say no, just because people who cold call are already being punished. I know this because my job requires me to cold call and I really hate it.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Some really selfish people here. You want to take away a bunch of people's jobs just so you don't have the occasional inconvenience. It's not like you have to listen to whatever the people are going to say. Just say: "no thanks, we don't want any" and then hang up the phone/close the door. If you don't want to do that, just say you're too busy right now. They don't actually call or come back usually. Heck, I don't even pick up the phone when I don't recognize the number/name. If it's important, they'll leave a message.

Having said that, the calls that are blatant scams should be made illegal. These aren't people who turned to the job has their only option, they went out of their way to get it. How can yo tell? They're usually quite practiced salesmen and good at talking to people in general. Sorry to invoke a stereotype but you're rarely going to hear some Muslim lady on the phone trying to sell you a fake cruise. These are just designed to take advantage of gullible people and should be made illegal.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Caller ID + voicemail = no unsolicited calls. If I don't know the number, I don't pick up. Beyond that, I've no issue with telemarketing and if I happen to pick up the phone whilst one is calling, I try to sell them crap they don't want. Its only fair, and it keeps me sharp.
After all, when you're having a boring day nothing brightens it up like a random stranger calling the "Harassment" line aka my phone without knowing it.
Its also like having Mormons or other door-knocking religious folk come to the door. Instant fun just knocked, take the opportunity to screw with people.
Now jackasses papering parked cars with flyers in a parking lot that doesn't contain their business should be arrested for littering and executed. But in this country (and State) its only a fine to litter... damn archaic barbarian laws...

 

[Signa]

The empathic side of me says, no, leave them alone because they have it tough enough. The rational side of me says that at least 80% of the population despises these practices, so despite there being no genuine harm, there is no good reason to allow something that everyone hates to go on. The laws would have to be written correctly, and exceptions certainly would have to be made for charities. The internet has been a mainstream public thing for 20 years now, if you're running your business like it's the 1950s, your company either deserves to die from incompetence, or you're selling fraudulent services, and should die anyway.