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SANDY — Door-to-door salespeople can be intrusive, pushy and downright annoying.
As a recent Get Gephardt Investigation found, ignoring "no soliciting" signs is not against the law in all Utah cities.
Sandy is one place where there is absolutely nothing against the rules about a salesman seeing a sign from a homeowner — declaring they don't want to be bothered — and just ignoring it.
Tuesday evening, the Sandy City Council took up unwanted door-to-door sales in their city. In doing so, councilman Zach Robinson referenced the Get Gephardt Investigation that aired earlier this year, which got the attention of the people he represents.
"People actually did reach out to me," he told the council chamber.
That report featured Sandy homeowner Matt Luers, who is ticked that salesmen frequently ignore the "no soliciting" sign in his front yard.
"It's just really annoying to be bothered when you're trying to rest at home, especially after a long day at work," Luers said. KSL-TV learned that Sandy is a bit of an outlier in the state — unlike many other cities, there is no code on its books that specifically forbids salespeople from walking right past a "no soliciting" sign and knocking on a door.
Robinson has proposed a change to that.
"If they don't want people coming to knock on their door, I want to give them that authority to say so," he said.
The proposal was on its first reading Tuesday, meaning it was more of a formal conversation. But the idea seemed to have support, especially as other council members and the mayor complained about knocks on their own doors.
"I have a 'no soliciting' sign on my door and every salesperson ignores it," councilman Ryan Mecham said.
I have a 'no soliciting' sign on my door and every salesperson ignores it.
–Ryan Mecham, Sandy city council member
There were concerns expressed about a law going too far and perhaps impacting campaigning politicians, religious groups, or Girl Scouts selling cookies.
In the end, the council decided putting any law on Sandy's books that could penalize people who ignore "no soliciting" signs is worth discussing further.
"I do think this will be a really good thing for our residents," Robinson said.
Currently in Sandy, and everywhere else, if you tell a salesman to leave and they refuse, they could be criminally charged with trespassing. But, by then, of course, the bell has already rung, and you have already been bothered.
