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The Present State Of Door To Door Sales Industry
I discovered that my grandmother was a door to door saleswoman during one of our weekly telephone conversations. My grandmother was the neighborhood Avon Lady and she faired pretty well with the door to door sales job. She said that she took my mother on many of her afternoon routes and my mother loved it. She became close with many of her neighbors and enjoyed the work for several years.
After our conversation, I suddenly realized that the door to door sales industry has nearly vanished. I have heard a few relatives mention buying tables and vacuums from door to door salesmen and I never thought much about it but from what I understand salespeople were very common years ago and they were a welcome sight for many.
Back in the hay day of the door to door salesman, most families had only one car. Many families had no vehicles whatsoever and traveling to shop was an all-day event for some of these families. The door to door salesperson brought items to homes and this must have been a relief for many people who had trouble finding transportation.
Today, the door to door salesperson has disappeared. On occasion, I will answer the door to find a neighbor’s school-aged child selling hoagies or chocolates for a school fundraiser. Maybe a Girl Scout can be found visiting people to offer the famous Girl Scout Cookies. Each child is usually escorted by an adult who supervises the child’s door to door adventure. However, an adult door to door salesperson is a rare find these days.
I did have one visitor who was traveling door to door with a companion. They were selling religion and they were quite persistent. I found that they stopped visiting if I simply hid behind the curtains on Saturday afternoons. It took a few weeks, though. I don’t have the heart to turn away someone who is visiting home after home. They are probably treated very rudely, but I guess that hiding may be considered rude as well.
Our local cable company is offering a substantial base income for door to door cable salespeople. From what I understand, the cable company has great difficulty filling the door to door sales positions even though the pay is excellent even when no commission is earned. No one wants to do the job.
I think that the day of the door to door salesman has past. People have adequate transportation. They can order products over the phone and they can order nearly anything they can ever want or need over the Internet. Today’s technology has put the door to door sales career to rest.
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