the story is this, where I work I get this free paper delivered to the door a few days a week. its a thinly disguised religious paper and to be honest I am really friggin tired of picking it up and putting it in the trash. it wouldnt be so bad if it had Any redeeming features at all but its just one or two articles and then adds and religious glurge for the rest of it.
so since its not a subscription (and they ignore my phone calls requesting they stop delivery) can I just call them in to the police for serial littering?
(if it was my house I would just let them pile up and if they kept delivering I would use them to spell out a message requesting they stop, but its a business so thats not a good option)
Depends on what your local ordinances say. Some places have laws against this, but I’d wager that most do not. A handful of “free” newspapers have sued to assert that distributing there papers was not a violation of litter laws (Natchez, MS comes to mind) and have generally prevailed. Unless the local law specifically prohibits the practice, these folks can leave their paper at your door. Same principle applies to the ubiquitous advertising flyers and restaurant menus.
When I find them on my car I throw them on the ground.* I figured they’re littering when they put them on my car, what I’m doing is no different then kicking a soda can around in a parking lot.
*The reason I do this is in hopes that the people who do have to clean them up (store employees) will get sick of it and go and ask the distributers to knock it off. All the store has to do is ask them to leave, after that they can be arrested for trespassing.
Oh, and come to think of it, Critical1 if you actually manage to see one of these guys, simply say “Excuse me, I don’t want that, I need you to get off of my property.” It might sound mean, but now you can have them arrested the next time they set foot on your property.
Just be careful, I don’t know what kind of a business it is, but make sure it’s not a customer.
I was going to ask this same question, except the paper I get is a normal newspaper. My wife had asked them before to stop and they said they can’t because it’s too hard to know where not to deliver. I emailed them last week to ask them to stop and they said they would. I figure if they don’t then I’ll start collecting them and drop them off on their front door.
I hate the damn things, including the crap left on my door and in my mailbox. There was someone over the weekend who banged on my door twice while we were trying to put the baby to sleep. I told him to go away and he told me he didn’t have to. Still tried to leave me crap in my yard.
I have seen them twice, only when I am working crazy late (11pm or so) and they drive through the parking lot and just toss them out the door of a van. in order to catch them I would have to be outside already.
and for what others have said, yeah I would love to just let the things pile up but there are 2 more businesses next to mine as well. I really dont think that will float.
I suppose I can try calling and ripping someone a new one, I hate when thats what it takes to get through to people but some times.
man I was really hoping the littering was workable. I woulda given them one more phone call and then off to the cops.
That’s quite true. Many times, it’s not the business itself who delivers these; they hire a local organization like the Boy Scouts to do the actual delivery. It would be very difficult (and expensive) to keep records of which houses don’t want delivery, and get these records to the appropriate person delivering to that street. And not worth it, because only a few people get seriously upset about this; most just toss them in the recycling if they aren’t interested.
I try to look at it as part of the price of having Freedom of Speech: anybody can send me junk mail; any candidate can drop campaign literature at my door, etc. I consider it a small price to pay. In fact, I often find a use for it; for example, such unwanted flyers are handy for wrapping kitchen scraps for the garbage.
Yes and no. If someone puts something in my mailbox, it’s secure and isn’t going to get soaked when it’s raining. But something in my front yard can blow all over the place, and when it’s raining hard can turn into a muddy mess, which I have to clean up before I toss it into the recycle bin (without reading it).
I get irritated by the same thing: the local newspaper gets delivered to my yard 1 or 2 times a week despite the fact I don’t want it and have asked them not to.
Here’s something nobody has mentioned: if I subscribe to a paper and go out of town for a while, I can call and stop delivery. This is obviously a good thing so I don’t have newspapers piling up outside my house, presenting evidence I’m not at home. However, there’s no way to stop these “free” copies from just stacking up in my yard.
While this plan does appeal to my slightly more malicious side, I suspect that the free deliverers just paper (pun intended) the neighborhood, with no regard to who has subscribed and who hasn’t.
When I had a house in Chicago I used to get free local newspapers thrown on my porch (or my stairs, or my front yard) all the time. In fact, usually two copies of each, since almost all the houses on my block were two-flats, so the people who distributed them assumed that mine was also. What was really annoying was the almost weekly deliveries of the Spanish newspaper (La Raza?), also in duplicate. I tried to get them to stop, but after a few weeks it would start up again.
Are they just dropped on your doorstep? We have a letterbox in our door, what alot of people do is once their mail has been delivered in the morning they jam a broom or what have you up against the letter box so no one can deliver junk notices or free newspapers.
What kind of property are we talking about here? Do you rent your property, or do you own it? Is the parking lot solely for your building? Do the other businesses get the newspaper dumped on their doorsteps too?
If, as I’m envisioning it, you’re in a mini-mall type building with a parking lot in front, and the parking lot is part of the property, then as other folks have said your best bet is to get the owner to tell them to stay off of the property. If you can make a united front with the property owner and the other two businesses you mention, so much the better. If they persist, then you can notify the cops about the persistent trespassing & littering.
This is not legal advice; I’m not licensed to practice law. I’m just stating what the best course of action would seem to me to be.
Is there a “No Soliciting” sign on the door? Many business have them, and it may open up the possibility of charging them with trespassing (or whatnot. Side GQ: What is the legal recourse, if any, to someone ignoring a “No Soliciting” sign?)
Someone put garbage on my car, why should I now have to go out of my way to throw it out.
What if you came out from the mall and found a half eaten burger (still in the paper wrapper and a paper soda cup on the hood of your car? You’ve got your bags in one hand and your 1 year old daughter in the other hand. Are you really going to take it all over to the propery receptacle? Are you going to bring it into your car and throw it out when you get home? Or are you gonna get annoyed, put it on the ground and move on with life?
(Yes, I know, a McDonalds meal is a bit more then a flyer under your wiper, but the point remains the same, I won’t take responsibility for people leaving garbage on my car)
So what your saying is that I can get a ticket for throwing garbage on the ground, but I can’t get a ticket for tucking garbage under other peoples wiper blades?