Sadly I now say “do not knock”

I don’t know about you, but I vehemently object to salespeople and charity people who knock on my front door looking for me to buy or give to them and it all stems back to one incident…

A few years ago, I let a man about 35 years old into my house at about 8pm at night. He was from Aussie Farmers Direct, a company that to this day delivers my bread and milk, occasional dairy and other things, and I think is wonderful. They make my shopping less frequent and my “run out of bread and milk” moments much fewer and further between. But on this night, I was not yet their customer and they had a man door-knocking my suburb at night to find new customers.

Now I must admit, I am, or was back then a relatively trusting soul. So when this man knocked on my door, I opened it and let him in. My husband was away on business, and me and my three kids were home, alone. And I let this man trustingly into my house, sat him at the dining room and listened as he pitched me the story of Aussie Farmers Direct and the merits of home delivery milk and bread.

I loved the idea, remembering my childhood with glass milk bottles delivered early by a smiley milkman. So I signed up, using my credit card on the spot on a form he had me fill out.

All was okay: I had discussed his company’s merits, signed up for the service and was mighty proud of myself as he left. So proud that I rang my husband who was staying in a hotel in Sydney and told him about the great new milkman who would be delivering us goodies.

“You let a strange man in our house at 8pm on a Wednesday?”, he said. I hadn’t really stopped to think about that when he arrived at the door.

“Our kids were asleep just there and you let a strange man through the front door? Why?”, he said.

Then I told him that the milkman would now deliver to us twice a week with enthusiasm. “You gave the strange man in our house your credit card too?”, he said in a lilting voice that made me really think about our evening’s experience.

He really made me stop and think. What might have happened if that man I let in wasn’t the nice person from Aussie Farmers? What if he was pretending and got to me or my kids, or stole our credit card or identity after I willingly filled out his direct debit forms?

Turns out, it was Aussie Farmers Direct, and I still, three years later get a great delivery of milk and bread twice a week. But I no longer EVER let any door-knocker through my front door. I send them away at the screen door. Sadly, the world has become a little too dubious for the door-to-door salesman to succeed anymore.

But the reason I write to you today is to alert you to a sign you can download and stick on your gate or door to indicate that you will not accept door-to-door sales visitors.

The ACCC has a sign that you can download here, that looks just like the one above and you can apply it to your home showing your lack of appreciation for door-knockers.  https://www.accc.gov.au/publications/door-to-door-do-not-knock-sign

Tell me today, have you ever had a trusting experience like mine, or worse, one that went wrong?