Why is this still a thing?
My wife and I were sitting at home the other day enjoying a nice spaghetti dinner on the couch when there came a timid knock at our front door. Yes, we were eating on the couch, it's what we do. Given the fact that we work in the same place and ride to work and back every day, we have plenty of time for conversation, so the traditional dinner time at the table isn't as necessary. Plus we don't have kids, so it's not like we are trying to set an example or anything...
In the past when a knock like that would come to our door, our dog Jovi would go absolutely nuts. She was definitely one of those dogs that fit the stereotype of her bark being worse than her bite. It was loud, and scary. If I were someone trying to break into our house, it definitely would have given me second thoughts. However, now that she is gone we don't have that luxury anymore.
Of course, there is that awkward moment where we just look at each other and try to decide if we are going to actually answer the door. It's always me, because I don't know I'm the man and that's my job? I've really never asked @mrsbozz why it's always me, but I am going to go with that.
Since it happens so rarely, it's typically one of the kids from the neighborhood selling something as a fundraiser for their school or sports or something like that. I typically try to support them whenever I can because honesty, what else am I going to do with the money...
Then you have nights like last night. Despite the fact that it is 2026 (last I checked anyway), there still seems to be some kind of market for door to door salesmen. As the title of this posts suggests, I can't really fathom why this is still a thing, but apparently it is, and in a moment of being nice last night, I now find myself in a bit of a predicament.
The guy was from a roofing company and he stopped because he noticed that our roof was looking worn. He explained that they were doing some work on a house down the road and as he was driving by he noticed how bad our shingles were. I know our shingles are bad, when we moved in the house, it was recommended by the home inspector that we have the roof redone, but have you seen how much roofs cost? I just don't have that kind of money right now. I asked the guy if he had a card he could leave and of course he didn't.
He proceeded to run through his spiel and before I knew it we had an appointment for someone to come back the next day to give us an estimate. Funny thing is, as he was taking our info, he asked what road we lived on. Ummm, if you were working on a house down the road, don't you think you should know what road you are on?
Like I said though, I was apparently in a good mood, so I didn't stop any of this before it got to that point. The truth is, we will never use this company. At this point, the only reason I am getting the quote is so I can pass it along to my friend @a4xjeeper so he can compare it to what he charges and see how competitive his pricing is. I messaged him after the guy left to ask if he had heard of this company before and he called me right back. He said that they have a history of about 25% of their roofs leaking after the fact. He also said the company is known to take out liens on houses and then forget to cancel them after the work is done.
Doesn't sound too promising right?
Like I said, I have zero intention of using the company, even if they gave me an amazing price.
Which again, leads me to the question, why is door to door sales even a thing still? I mean I guess it must still work on some level because I'm the freaking moron that has an appointment today right? I'm actually so anxious about the whole thing. It makes me understand a little what the current generation seems to be struggling with (okay, maybe not that much).
More than anything, I just find it annoying. There was a point where I actually told the guy I wasn't interested. He asked why and I said "because I'm in the middle of eating my dinner and I'd like to get back to that".
Yet the appointment still happened. Kudos to him I guess.
Are door to door sales a "thing" outside of the US? Do you see it as much as you used to? How do you feel about them? Should they along with the fax machine disappear forever and never come back?
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Totally agree with that. Imagine if there were kids around, we can't be sloppy, can't scroll on our phone all the time, can't leave the place untidy...
We get quite a lot of door sales here, maybe coz we're a new build estate. We've had solar panel sales (told him I don't want made in China panels on my roof - he couldn't defend that), home made meal delivery boxes ( I know how to cook and like cooking from scratch), missionaries ( I try very hard to be polite and nice), charities (no way I'm going to give money to someone who knocks on my doorstep), window cleaners - he was lucky he came at the right time as I was thinking of getting one anyway. Then we've had loads of leaflets come through the door, for which I used a gardener to build my raised beds but it wasn't the best job.
It sounds like you get a lot more than we do. I guess I don't have much to complain about now. That would be aggravating.
I cannot stand the door to door salesman and agree, why is it still a thing. I get them for painting services all the time and telecommunication and pest control. I'm less and less friendly nowadays. I basically just assume now that they are all thieves with a clipboard scoping out the neighborhood, casing the joint lol. 😆
Haha yeah, I feel the same way. It's funny when you have these grown men riding around on hoverboards going door to door. In the US it's shocking more of them don't get shot. It must still have some success that they keep on doing it. I just don't know.
Oh man I hate door to door sales people. I actually usually print out a "No Soliciting" piece of paper and tape it to my door when spring arrives (it's about time for me to do that). With the storms and weather lately, the roofing people will be out in force to do those free estimates.
That is a good point. I have never thought to do that, but I doubt it would stop a lot of them. I just kind of feel like an idiot for getting myself in this position now.
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I don't remember door to door sales where I live, maybe it is because we don't really have suburbs. Going to an apartment building would be quite weird I reckon.
Yeah, that would be kind of rough. Nice to have that extra bit of gatekeeping though.
We get them for Internet services, pest control companies, and roofers mostly. It is annoying at times. We do have a NO SOLICITING sign. But they ignore it mostly, I usually let them know about it.
Of course we get the kids fundraising, but they don't count. THey get a pass.
I've never had anyone come about solar panels which is too bad given my interest in them. Not that I would go with a door to door salesman anyway. I'd love different Internet service too, but unfortunately, Spectrum has a chokehold on our area.
We have thought about solar panels as well. But don't know if the juice is worth the squeeze here. AT&T is moving in and they were blanketing this area with door to door sales for the longest time last summer.
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I live in florida and door to door salesmen seem common for roofs, solar panels, and tree trimmers.
Sounds like roofs are the big ones across the board!
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STOPWatch out for insurance company dropping you because of the older roof, I had that happen on three properties recently and they used drones to inspect my main home, but it is only 7 years old 50-year roof so they could not make the case there...