Richmond Adds Itself to Do-Not-Knock List, Sort Of

Richmond residents can now ask the town to keep door-to-door salespeople off their doorstep, under a voluntary No-Knock Registry the Town Council established this month, according to a notice posted by the town.

Under the program, owners and occupants who don't want commercial solicitors showing up unannounced can submit a registration form to the Town Clerk's office. The town then folds those addresses into a list that goes out to licensed solicitors and to law enforcement, according to the notice. The registry is refreshed four times a year, on the first of January, April, July and September, so anyone who signs up after one update cycle has to wait for the next to be added to the list solicitors actually carry.

The program is opt-in. Nobody is automatically enrolled, and residents who want the protection have to take the step of filing paperwork with the Town Clerk, reachable at 401-539-9000, extension 9, or townclerk@richmondri.com.

What the registry does is straightforward: it gives residents a way to tell commercial solicitors, in advance, not to knock. What it doesn't do is eliminate every unwanted visit. The notice does not spell out Richmond's own exemptions, but comparable registries elsewhere in Rhode Island illustrate the shape those carve-outs usually take. Cumberland's no-solicitation registry, for instance, exempts government employees on official business, pre-arranged deliveries, and religious, charitable and political canvassers — categories generally protected because of free-speech considerations rather than treated as commercial sales. North Providence runs a similar list that requires residents to renew annually and only shows solicitors an address, not a name.

The registry also only binds solicitors who are licensed or permitted to operate in town and therefore obligated to check the list before working a neighborhood. A salesperson who never applied for a permit in the first place has no registry to consult, which is the practical limit of a tool like this: it works best against solicitors who are already playing by the rules.

The local registry sits on top of existing state protections. Under Rhode Island's Door-to-Door Sales Act, a consumer who buys $25 or more in goods or services from someone soliciting at their home, rather than at a regular place of business, has three business days to cancel the deal. That law addresses what happens after a sale is made; Richmond's registry is aimed at stopping the knock before it happens.

Richmond joins other Rhode Island communities that have set up similar systems in recent years, suggesting the model is becoming more common across the state as a low-cost way for local governments to respond to complaints about unsolicited sales visits.

The Richmond Town Council meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. in Town Council Chambers at Town Hall, 5 Richmond Townhouse Road in Wyoming, where residents can ask about how the registry will be enforced or review the ordinance behind it. Anyone who wants to sign up now can do so by contacting the Town Clerk's office directly.