Solicitors Invade FSR

A team of solicitors, known as a "mag crew," was hawking magazine subscriptions throughout FSR on 16 and 17 July. With proceeds allegedly to benefit a single mothers' organization, the two to three young women continued door-to-door sales despite residents' requests to leave the neighborhood. When informed of the FSR covenant restricting solicitation, their common retort was: "We've been here all day, and you're the first to complain."

One Safety Committee member observed the women enter a dark grey van with Michigan license plates before departing FSR.

Blue Armor, FSR's contracted security patrol service, was called at least once each day to remove the women. As of this post, whether officers made contact is unknown.

This is at least the second occasion since Dec 2007 that solicitors of this type claimed FSR as their sales territory. The method of operation is common: The sales people are always young adults claiming to sell magazine subscriptions for a charitable or personal cause to fund poor college students attending the local university, to finance a new start away from gangs and drugs back home, to supplement "soldiers'" salaries while on leave, etc. They often claim to live in FSR, though some admit to being from out of state.

FSR residents have previously experienced aggressive sales tactics from such teams. The sales pitch intensifies and suspicious behavior ensues when prospective subscribers ready their checkbooks: The sales total increases, the vendor changes from an organizational to a personal name, etc.

Unfortunately the magazines are never delivered and when redress is attempted through the magazine publishers, victims are informed the subscription sale was unauthorized. Worse, the New York Times and other media across the country expose the young adults' sponsors as cult-like organizations that exploit young people, forcing them to live several in a single room and packed in vans as they travel the country seeking fresh sales territory while running from local authorities. Some of the young sales people are subject to mental and physical abuse by their handlers for failing to achieve sales goals.

Though the FSR residents' response was consistent among those interviewed (calling the security company, urging solicitors to leave the neighborhood, and refusing to purchase subscriptions), a call to SAPD is best. An official police response will protect neighbors against fraud, remove neighborhood loiterers (as the solicitors await their "sponsor's" return), and perhaps most importantly, allow an exploited person an opportunity to "escape" once interviewed by a law enforcement official.

Thank you to all residents who alerted their neighbors and the Safety Committee to this concern. An authoritative article on magazine sales crews is at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/us/21magcrew.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5090&en=be91678aaac7038d&ex=1329714000&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss