I've never met my Avon Lady

[Lexophile]

In fact, I don't wear makeup, I don't buy anything I can't get at the supermarket, and I absolutely HATE it when people leave their marketing crap on my front door.

Every once in a while, I will come home to find an Avon catalog in the handle of my front door. I think it's rude to leave your sales catalogs on the door of a stranger. What I really want to do is call this woman (whomever she may be - her name and phone number are stamped on the back page) and politely ask her to stop cluttering up my front door with her marketing. Even if I wanted to buy Avon products, I have a couple of friends who sell it, and I think it's pretty presumptuous to expect that I would buy anything from a complete stranger - especially one who wouldn't try to introduce herself to me first. I don't even buy girl scout cookies from kids I don't know, but they don't leave their catalogs on my door.

Am I being petty?

[kathrynne]

I got that garbage on my porch for a couple of years, too. Guess the fact that I never called to order anything finally got the message across that she was wasting her money leaving me catalogs. Nope, never a doorbell ring or introduction, either, and I'm always home, so it's not like she could claim nobody answered the door. Not the greatest sales technique, is it?

You'd think the large "No Soliciting" sign on the door might scare some of these people away, but it doesn't. My only respite from garbage left on my porch is when the tree out front is in full bloom and full of bees. Nobody wants to walk through that buzzing.

[kareng57]

In fact, I don't wear makeup, I don't buy anything I can't get at the supermarket, and I absolutely HATE it when people leave their marketing crap on my front door.

Every once in a while, I will come home to find an Avon catalog in the handle of my front door. I think it's rude to leave your sales catalogs on the door of a stranger. What I really want to do is call this woman (whomever she may be - her name and phone number are stamped on the back page) and politely ask her to stop cluttering up my front door with her marketing. Even if I wanted to buy Avon products, I have a couple of friends who sell it, and I think it's pretty presumptuous to expect that I would buy anything from a complete stranger - especially one who wouldn't try to introduce herself to me first. I don't even buy girl scout cookies from kids I don't know, but they don't leave their catalogs on my door.

Am I being petty?

Yes - a bit petty, I think.  Many direct-to-home sellers avoid ringing the doorbell these days as (depending on the neighbourhood) they might realize that many residents have been advised to not answer the door but people might still desire their products and will contact them if they want them.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the option that you mention - simply phone her and ask her to discontinue dropping off the brochures.  But I really don't think that she is being rude.

[sammycat]

I had a friend who used to sell Avon, but I also used to receive another rep's catalogues in my mailbox.  I just put a note inside one catalogue saying something along the lines of "thank you for your catalogues, but could you please take me off your mailing list as I already purchase my Avon from a friend who is also a representative".  No more catalogues after that.

[blue_bunny_paz]

When I was an Avon lady I knocked on doors at the start to see if people wanted the catalogue. This meant I wasn't wasting time and money on people who weren't interested and I wasn't bothering anyone.

I'm sure if you left a message to say you weren't interested your Avon lady wouldn't leave things for you again.

[PoisonIvy]

I think calling her and politely telling her you are not interested is the way to go.  I also like the idea of putting a note in the catalogue.

I find it more rude if sales people ring the doorbell, especially as in my area they seem to think a good time to catch me is either at 9.30am on a Sunday or 9pm on a weeknight.   I don't want to spend what little time I have to relax at home fielding sales pitches (or, increasingly, promises of "salvation") from people who are very reluctant to take "no" for an answer. 

Therefore, I rarely answer the door unless I am expecting a delivery or a visitor.  Some of them are very persistent though.  It's pretty easy to tell if we are home as we don't have double glazing and you can hear the television from outside even if the volume is quite low, and often they will keep ringing the bell or even tap on the window to try to get us to answer.

[Pixie]

Repeated ringing of my bell or knocking at my door will bring out the beast inside the pixie.  I just HATE that.   I just cannot stand "dingdingdingdingding"   Its an instant migraine.

I don't have that problem here, but we did at our last home.  One JW lady would do this every Saturday morning..... so  I finally said, "Just because I am home all day does not mean I have time to discuss something I am not interested in with someone I don't know. With a husband, 3 kids and 2 cats, my life is full."     She didn't come back. 

But I don't use Avon products.   I don't get the books dropped off anymore either.