1. Is it legal to deliver flyers in Loudoun County? Is flyer delivery the same as soliciting?
Yes it is legal to deliver flyers to homes located on public streets.
The text of this law is also available on the County's website : www.loudoun.gov
Soliciting is defined as going door to door to sell your product or service.
We deliver flyers on behalf of other businesses (not our own), so we are not soliciting.
This is a similar concept to the delivery of a newspaper. This is permissible under County law.
The following press releases from the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office confirm this definition of Soliciting.
Click the links to read the releases: Sept 2008 (see pages 1 & 2) & June 2009 (see top of page 2).
The South Riding Proprietary confirmed this definition in an April, 2004 posting on their website: Click here to read
The Broadlands HOA confirmed this definition on their community message board in June, 2008.
A message from their President reads:
"We've had law enforcement to our HOA meetings to discuss this. And the issue of "soliciting" DOES NOT apply to the newspapers and flyers that are shoved in your door. Soliciting applies to the people that come to your house to sell you something."
If you deliver your own flyers advertising your own product or service, you may need to obtain a Solicitor's license from the Sheriff's Office.
Please Note: We do not deliver to any homeowner who contacts us to request that we don't deliver to their home.
We maintain a Skip List, and we carefully avoid delivering to anyone's home who has asked us not to deliver.
2. How do you deliver? Who does the delivering?
My wife and I do all of the deliveries ourselves - no employees or contractors.
How we deliver:
- In neighborhoods where the builder installed a flyer box on the mailbox post (beneath the mailbox) we place the flyer pack there.
- In neighborhoods without flyer boxes, we place the flyer pack beside the base of the mailbox post.
- Each flyer we deliver is placed in a plastic bag that contains my name and contact information.
What we don’t do:
-We don't place flyers in mailboxes, behind mailbox flags or on top of mailboxes. This violates USPS policy and results in fines.
-We don't place flyers in newspaper boxes (Washington Post, etc.). This is illegal.
-We don't trespass on anyone's property to place flyers on front doors. This can result in property damage claims and complaints.
If the weather is bad on a Delivery Day, we deliver the the first safe day thereafter.
3. How many flyers do you deliver at one time?
It varies, but we average 10 -15. Every flyer spends an equal amount of time on top of the pack.
This has allowed us to keep our prices the same despite increases in the cost of bags and gasoline.
4. What size and type of flyer do you recommend that I make?
Flyer Size: Any size up to 8.5" x 11". We also deliver postcards, menus, business cards, catalogs, etc. for the same price.
Format: Any color or format is fine. We recommend black ink on white paper to keep costs low, but this is your decision.
Response: You may want to use a coupon with an end date or advertise a specific event to measure response.
5. May I see a sample of the flyers you deliver?
No. I am sorry, but the flyers in our office have been paid for by our clients to be delivered.
We don't have extra copies, and most clients prefer that we not share the content of their flyers with other businesses.
Please see photos below of what a typical flyer pack looks like.
6. Can you guarantee that I will get a good response?
No. I wish we could, but just like a newspaper we can’t control whether homeowners we deliver to contact you.
We can only guarantee our work, meaning we deliver your flyers to the Routes you specifiy.
7. Can I be sure you will do a good job and not just toss my flyers into a gutter somewhere?
Yes. That is why all of the work is done by me and my wife.
This is how I ensure the work is done correctly and in compliance with local ordinanaces.
It takes up to 7 hours to deliver 2,000 flyers.
During each delivery, we drive the entire route twice:
The first time to deliver the flyers and the second time to ensure our packs are still well placed.
This takes extra time, but it is well worth it to ensure our job was done correctly.
After each delivery, we send a Delivery Confirmation via e-mail.
Finally, every pack we deliver has my name and phone number on top so homeowners know who is delivering to them.
8. Do you keep records/statistics of what level of response your clients get from your deliveries?
No. Because calls go directly to our clients, we have no way of knowing how many calls a client receives from our deliveries.
The best gauge of how effective our deliveries are is that we work with repeat clients.
9. Can you provide me with a list of streets you deliver to or a map of your Routes?
No. There are only 2 people doing all work in this business (each works 60+ hours weekly), so we do not have time to maintain maps or lists of street names.
We list the Subdivisions and zip codes on our Schedule. Please contact us with questions about where a Route is located.
10. Do you cover any other areas besides Loudoun County?
No, but my Father-in-law Denis Harrington has been operating the Flyer Delivery Service that serves Fairfax County in 1994.
Please contact Denis at: Office: 703-440-8920 or Cell: 703-915-5130 for a copy of his Schedule.
