# Door to Door sales by children: Scams? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 4, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670 "2005-10-04T00:26:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/1 "2005-10-04T00:26:16Z")
On Friday and today, I was confronted with door to door sales by children for “youth groups.” One was candy, the other magazines. I’ve always thought that such sales were scams. I live in a large apartment complex and I have always thought they were used to gather a list of “who’s home.” I can’t imagine reputable fund raisers sending out children to do door to door any more. Are these likely scams? Or, am I overreacting and probably scaring little children by having them evicted from the property and calling the police to request additional patrols. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/2 "2005-10-04T00:32:15Z")
I have kids passing by my place selling chocolate bars and such to raise money for class trips, and I’ve never had any doubts about the legitimacy of it. Heck, I’ve sold chocolate door-to-door myself, to raise money for our graduation party. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/3 "2005-10-04T00:32:30Z")
That sounds a little paranoid to me. What entity has control over an army of youngsters and wants to know who is home at any given time? What would they do with that information? I have known kids that have sold door to door for all kinds of fundraisers recently. The Girl Scouts obviously do it. Schools and youth groups do too. If they actually have catalogs or goods on hand, why do you fing it hard to believe? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/4 "2005-10-04T00:46:12Z")
I can certainly see thieves, esp. someone who might have a key which could work in apartment complex locks, wanting types of information such as apt 101 doesn’t get home on Monday until after 8 pm. I’ve heard of children being used to write down a list of who was home. Especially on consecutive days. Obviously, I’ve been robbed from an apt. complex in the past. I know I fall into patterns with my work schedule. For instance, Fridays, I get home late because I like to go out for a cocktail and dinner. On the hand, I could be paranoid. There are large no soliciting signs posted throughout the grounds. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/5 "2005-10-04T02:28:10Z")
I’ve had a few groups of kids coming to the door selling candy in the past few weeks. But i was rather surprised to see that they didn’t actually have any candy with them; i had to place an order and the candy would be delivered at a later time. Sorry folks, but when it comes to candy i’m an instant-gratification type of guy. If you want me to buy candy for your school fundraiser or whatever, you’d better have some bars of chocolate to place in my sweaty palm when i hand over the cash. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/6 "2005-10-04T03:00:11Z")
That’s pretty paranoid. Apartment complexes are just easier if you’re selling door-to-door, since you have to cover so much less ground than in a modern development. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/7 "2005-10-04T03:46:46Z")
Youth magazine sales is actually a pain in the ass for the magazines. Typically we’ll get between 10-20% of the sales price. A loss is taken for each one sold in year one. If the renewal rate isn’t high enough (and in my experience that’s an iffy proposition) then there’s never ANY profit on them. That’s why they tend to be ad-driven magazines just looking to boost numbers for ad purposes. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_First_Time)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/8 "2005-10-04T04:59:01Z")
My kids have at one time or another sold door to door: Girl Scout Cookies Popcorn Candy Wrapping paper T-shirts, other clothing Charms for charm bracelets Cookie Dough Mix Flowers Coupon Books Garbage Bags (who knew?) Pre-baked Pies Fruit baskets Magazine subscriptions Every time it sucked. Parents and kids generally HATE it too. My local high school’s athletic department did away with all fund raisers a few years back and now just charges a $30.00 participation fee per sport. Nobody’s complained yet. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/9 "2005-10-04T05:09:23Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Are these likely scams? Or, am I overreacting and probably scaring little children by having them evicted from the property and calling the police to request additional patrols. If you are doing that, you are wildly overreacting. I used to sell candy door-to-door myself, along with popcorn and other such bullshit for fundraisers. I’ve _never_ heard of this being any kind of scam. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/10 "2005-10-04T12:10:39Z")
…of course it could be a scam. There were a number of cases like this in New Zealand over the years. From the Ohio Better Business Bureau: [http://www.columbus-ohbbb.org/bbbasp/DisplayNewsIteme227.html?ID=79](http://www.columbus-ohbbb.org/bbbasp/DisplayNewsIteme227.html?ID=79) > [@](#): > > Before making a decision, Better Business Bureaus advise you to consider the following. The National Consumers League estimates that 50,000 children nationwide are involved in selling candy and other consumer items door-to-door and on city street corners. The most prevalent age range is 12 to 16 years old, but some are as young as eight. The children are transported hundreds of miles from their homes, often across state lines. > > The organizers of these crews may falsely present themselves as charitable and civic-minded groups. In fact, many are for-profit operations that take advantage of their young and vulnerable “workers.” The youths are taught to use high-pressure appeals and basically live out of vans. The promoter, who may be driving an uninsured van with an out-of-state license plate, is likely to keep your “donation.” Your money is not passed along to any charity or community group to benefit young people and the children and teens in the sales crews make little to no money in wages. There are no online cites for the New Zealand incidents, but they appeared on our local consumer affairs programme **Fair Go** a number of years ago. The Better Business Bureau suggests: > [@](#): > > The next time a youth sales crew appears on your doorstep, it may not be wise to assume that it represents a local school or youth group. Ask for the name of the organization. If possible, record the license plate of the van or car transporting the children or teenagers. Then contact local law enforcement to report that a crew of young people is canvassing in your community and to ask if they are familiar with the organization. If the sales crew purports to be operating on behalf of a charity or non-for-profit group, check with your local BBB to determine if the charity is registered to solicit in your state. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/11 "2005-10-04T13:30:33Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I can’t imagine reputable fund raisers sending out children to do door to door any more. Well, our public school system here has fundraisers _all_ the time. On the one hand, they do tell the children _not_ to go door to door selling. OTOH, they promise lots of prizes and neat stuff for the top sellers. So kids who are ambitious in this regard go door to door anyway. ---
**Author:** ![rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rabbit)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/12 "2005-10-04T15:19:46Z")
Yes it CAN be a scam. I can tell you totally and without doubt that there are some real jerks out there who run scams that take advantage of people’s trust of little kids. I knew of one person in particular who would buy those chocolate covered almonds you see some kids selling, outfit a bunch of little kids (no idea where he’d get them) with a box each and leave them to sell it at various places. Don’t know if the kids knew it was a scam or not, but this jerk was all proud of his little scam. (Wasn’t too happy after I’d had a word or three with him though… Damn STILL makes me mad… :mad: ) So, yes, such scams are possible. (Perhaps not to collect personal info, but def. for profit). Having said that, when a child I used to sell candy and other odds and ends for various charities. This was all organized through my school at the time and was completely legit. I would guess that such activities still occur. So it all boils down to yes it is possible, but (hopefully) it isn’t very prevalent. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/13 "2005-10-04T15:33:20Z")
Door-to-door kids scams I haven’t seen yet. Usually the kids coming to my door are legit and will gladly accept a check. They usually want it made out to “Troop 252”, “Maplewood Girls Soccer”,“Greenwood Highschool Band”, etc. I’ve never had them ask me to make the check out to “Andy Johnson”. I have seen kids selling candy on street corners however that only accept cash. And it’s not your ‘fundraiser’ type candy either. It’s basic Snickers and M&Ms. I don’t trust these kids. ---
**Author:** ![jawdirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@jawdirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jawdirk)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/14 "2005-10-04T18:16:34Z")
In my opinion, even if the kids are working for a legitimate charity, it’s still a scam. The people who provide the product are making a profit selling overpriced merchandise by wrapping themselves with a charity, little kids, and impulse buys. The charities that agree to be used in this way are irresponsible. At worst it endangers the children. Often the childrens’ parents end up buying or selling the products anyway. They might as well shell out the money so that all of it goes straight to the charity instead of half of it going to a cynical for-profit industry. Use the savings to go to the supermarket and buy candy to give to their coworkers… ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/15 "2005-10-04T18:45:56Z")
I won’t buyt from those door-to-door kids, either, for a number of reasons. [list] [li] I don’t think it’s a scam, but I have no way of knowing if that kid just put the money in his pocket. I don’t know him.[/li][li] I don’t like people banging on my door. I can’t stop it, so this is my silent protest…eventually they will stop coming because I never buy.[/li][li] I don’t like kids going door to door, it’s not safe, even in an apartment complex.[/li] But I highly doubt most of the time it’s a scam for thieves! ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/16 "2005-10-04T18:47:25Z")
Wow, look at my gorgeous list! I’ll report that. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/17 "2005-10-04T19:56:40Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I have seen kids selling candy on street corners however that only accept cash. And it’s not your ‘fundraiser’ type candy either. It’s basic Snickers and M&Ms. We saw this alot where I used to work. In several cases there was a carload of usually school age kids along with a mom or two. They would hit our warehouse with boxes of mixed retail packed candy trying to sell it for a markup. I usually wouldn’t buy stuff from these kids because I despise these moms for exploiting their children to make a little cash. If mom came up and pitched me with a BS story about paying for a school activity for her kid, I would probably buy something, at least shes making an effort to make money for her family rather than trying to get her kids to support her. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/18 "2005-10-04T19:59:38Z")
Hmmm… I [commented](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6602197&postcount=41) about something similar over in GQ not too long ago… in this case it wasn’t a scam, but still doesn’t make any economic sense whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/19 "2005-10-04T20:03:21Z")
We’ve had some in our neighborhood that look like scams. It’s typcially kids about 12 years old lugging big tubs of regular brand candy bars. They were unlikely to be neighborhood kids, since they were always black. We have very few black families in the neighborhood and only a few at my kids’ school and I think I know most of them. ---
**Author:** ![aamco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@aamco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aamco)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670/20 "2005-10-04T23:56:42Z")
What do you mean by “scam”? (a) “I’m just pretending to sell candy so I can rob you later,” or (b) “I sell candy under the pretense it’s for a cause, but I pocket the money instead,” or © “I’m trying to sell candy but I’m inadvertently being used as a pawn for corporate greed.” I’m sure all three exist, but if you think it’s (a), I’d like to point out that there are much easier and faster ways to find out if someone’s home. I can see why being able to peer inside someone’s apartment might make it easier to, say, figure out whether it’s worth burglarizing, though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/door-to-door-sales-by-children-scams/324670.md?page=2)