Yesterday, The City of Ankeny released an update via their official Twitter account which cleared up a few misconceptions about door-to-door solicitors. Here, they wrote, “All solicitors must be licensed by the City of Ankeny? Peddlers, solicitors and transient merchants are required to wear a City of Ankeny badge while knocking on doors.”

This was accompanied by an image of an Ankeny badge which shows the vendor name, company name, date of issue, expiry date, and the Ankeny city logo. For more information, the city also has the list of approved vendors on their website, which you can check if you’re curious about who is on the list.

In other words, if a solicitor comes to your door without one of these official badges, then it means you have the right to turn them away. Not only this, but it also may be a good idea to report them to the city, as they could be doing illegal activities or be up to no good.

Interestingly, the badge isn’t too difficult to replicate if someone really wanted to make a counterfeit. However, as there is a list on the Ankeny website, then this should clear things up. Still, if someone were to visit you then you may not have the time to check online. Nonetheless, this is a sensible solution to unwanted solicitors and should help educate the people of Ankeny.