Boynton Beach, Florida: door-to-door solicitor permit

• The answer: Yes — a solicitor's or canvasser's permit before taking orders door to door, plus a license if Chapter 13 requires one (17-14). A solicitor is anyone going house to house taking orders for goods for future delivery or for services to be performed in the future (17-13). Each applicant files a sworn application with his own photo and fingerprints, so it is per rep (17-15). Separately, every nonresident house-to-house salesman registers with the chief of police and is fingerprinted and photographed (17-1).
• Where it comes from: The application goes to the City Clerk; the chief of police investigates and signs the permit, and the City Clerk delivers it on payment of the prescribed license fee (17-15, 17-17).
• Fee: Two dollars ($2.00) at filing, to cover the investigation (17-16). The permit is then delivered upon payment of the prescribed license fee (17-17(c)); Article II does not state that amount. The Chapter 13 business tax schedule lists "7393 Telemarketing/Soliciting* (Ref. 7389) 162.07" and an itinerant or transient merchant class at 10.42 per person per day, 54.41 per week or 216.48 per month (13-4); which class a door-to-door rep falls under is not stated. The police registration card for nonresident salesmen is twenty-five cents ($0.25) (17-2).
• Hours you may knock: Article II (Solicitors and Canvassers) sets no hours. The only door-to-door hour rule in Chapter 17 — no residential door to door solicitation between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. — sits in Article III, Charitable Solicitations (17-44(c)).
• What the rep carries: The permit, shown at the request of any citizen (17-19) and to any police officer who asks (17-20). A nonresident registrant carries the police identification card at all times (17-2).
• What takes the time: A sworn application in duplicate with a 2x2 photo taken within 60 days, fingerprints, two Palm Beach County property owners as character references, a statement of any convictions, and a physician's statement dated within 10 days that the applicant is free of contagious disease (17-15). The chief of police investigates before the permit issues (17-17). No processing time is published. A permit lasts no more than three months (17-18).
• Code: Boynton Beach Code of Ordinances, Chapter 17 — Peddlers and Solicitors, Article I (17-1, 17-2) and Article II — Solicitors and Canvassers (17-13 to 17-23); Chapter 13 — Licenses (13-4). Municode shows the code codified through Ordinance No. 26-023, enacted July 7, 2026 (Supp. No. 2).
• Worth knowing: Permits run three months at most, so a long campaign reapplies (17-18). Chapter 13 separately makes it unlawful to conduct a business in the city without a Certificate of Use and Occupancy and a local business tax receipt (13-6).
• Read it yourself: Boynton Beach Code, Chapter 17 — Peddlers and Solicitors · Boynton Beach Code, Chapter 13 — Licenses · Boynton Beach Code of Ordinances — landing page · checked 22 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down:

• What the "prescribed license fee" in 17-17(c) is for a door-to-door solicitor, and which Chapter 13 class applies
• Whether the physician's statement in 17-15(j) is still required
• How many business days the police investigation takes
• Whether the city applies any knocking hours to commercial solicitors

Clerk’s name ______________ Direct line ______________ Date called ______________