Posted on 01/29/2015 5:20:42 AM PST by Enlightened1
Earlier this week, Matt Molinari and his friend Eric Schnepf, both seniors in High School, were going door-to-door advertising their snow shoveling services in advance of the storm. School was out, and instead of sitting inside and playing XBOX, these two young entrepreneurs felt the fire of enterprise and decided to turn their down time into an actual dime.
However, Molinari and Schnepf apparently didn’t realize that in order to make a dime you have to pay a quarter — to the state. When the two boys were out trying to rustle up some business during what they saw as an opportunity, along came the uniformed agents of the state, to put this unapproved business venture out to pasture.
“We weren’t looking to break the law. We just didn’t know the law,” Molinari tells Jim Smith on his WCBS 880 radio show.
The cops then gave these two kids a lesson in statist economics, which consequently ended their high school snow shoveling business.
“They need a permit, unpermitted solicitation is not allowed,” Molinari said, recalling what the police told them.
In this particular county, anyone selling goods and services door to door must apply for a license that can cost as much as $450 for permission that is valid for only 180 days; after all freedom ain’t free.
Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cops-shutdown-high-school-kids-earn-money-shoveling-snow/#mxj5uyWccCAog7gj.99
(Excerpt) Read more at thefreethoughtproject.com ...
It’s not a dumb law. Door to door solicitation is a pain in the arse and before they put these laws into place, people were bugged non-stop in many areas.
They could have handed out flyers.
Good point.
I assume you're not on the Do Not Call list? Afterall, those telemarketers are just capitalists trying to make a buck. They probably even have a genuine interest in lowering your credit card rate.
The way I see it, the people in my locality have decided we are on a town wide Do Not Call list. There are ways to get my business that do not involve disturbing me in my home, e.g. leaflet my door, send me a piece of mail, walk with your shovel down the middle of the street, just don't interrupt me by knocking on my door and expect me to do business with you.
OMG!! They were "soliciting" without a license!!
Throw them in jail.
How dare these teenagers take work from illegal aliens.
We have to protect the illegal aliens!
I have a half dozen illegal aliens that come to my door every weekend and ask to mow my lawn and trim my trees.
If illegal aliens get cited for "soliciting" they just don't show up in court and they are back the next week.
In case anyone is curious this occurred in Bridgewater New Jersey.
You are right. You’ve convinced me. The cops should have just executed these kids on the spot...
Why are you escalating this? The kids were never in danger of going to jail. The cops acted correctly here. It's against the law in that town to knock on doors looking for a business transaction without permission from the local government. You don't need a license to solicit. You don't need a license to shovel the old lady's walk. You need a license to knock on people's doors and try to conduct a business transaction. I lean pretty libertarian, and personally, I wouldn't even have the option of getting a permit to do door to door solicitations - I'd ban them all. I don't believe the government should have the right to allow someone to knock on my door if I don't want them there, but why do folks here have a problem with the concept that it is illegal to knock on someone's door to solicit work?
What I think a lot of you posters are missing is that these kids probably woke up somebody who was sleeping after working the night shift and that guy called the cops on the kids because he (rightfully!) does not like to be disturbed in the privacy of his own home.
Although the cops are not responsible for the law, I’m not buying that “just following orders” excuse. If the cops had refused to enforce this useless ordinance, the public would have backed them.
good point
Well then, pass a law that makes it illegal to solicit any building which has put up a “no solicitors” or “no trespassing” sign.
That would be fine with me. I suspect, though, that most homeowners do not want solicitations and this is one of those instances where a general ban saves both the public and the salesman the trouble of posting/looking for a sign.
I just want to know what potential customer RATTED them out to the regulation police?
Do you have your property posted “No Trespassing”? In my city, if you back up that sign by registering it as such with the police, (no charge) you can have trespassers arrested or ticketed, depending on the cop’s mood that day.
Cops fault. No sense of proportion. They chose to enforce this against a bunch of kids out doing what kids have done since forever. They should have been writing tickets for overdue parking meters to support the welfare state instead, rather than bothering some kids making an honest buck.
Maybe the law was passed to stop home repair scam groups from taking advantage of such situations. We have a problem with scam artists around here sever so often.
we have the same problem here too. Contractors and others selling mean, fish with no license but just cowboy repair men
Do the work, “donations” are welcome and gladly accepted...
I should have read a little further through the thread, I was thinking the same thing when I posted.
I guess it’s the “solicitation” part that got ‘em in addition to the government not getting their “cut” via permit fees...
SCARY? If you are going to live your life being afraid of a knock at the door why bother living at all?
Your screen name “old and tired”, I am willing to bet I am just as old and tired. I live alone in the middle of no where (nearest neighbor is 3 miles away), when I get a knock at the door that I don’t expect I answer the door with my dogs and a Ruger 45 caliber Blackhawk.
Handing out fliers would also be considered soliciting.
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