Cambridge, Massachusetts: door-to-door solicitor permit

Partly read: the permit answer is sourced, but the fee or the hours could not be read from the city’s own pages. The clerk questions below cover the gap.

• The answer: Yes — a Door-to-Door Solicitation Permit from the Cambridge Police Department, applied for by each rep. The police Records Unit lists "Door-to-Door Solicitation Permits" among its services, and the department's application form calls it "a permit to conduct door-to-door sales in the City of Cambridge." The ordinance behind the permit was not found in the Municipal Code on Municode: the only selling chapter there, Peddlers (5.36), covers sidewalk selling and food hawking.
• Where it comes from: Cambridge Police Department, Records Unit, 617-349-3336. Separately, a Hawker/Peddler License is issued by the License Commission with a police sign-off, per the Records Unit page.
• Fee: Not published. Neither the Records Unit page nor the application form states a fee for the door-to-door permit.
• Hours you may knock: Not published for door-to-door sales. The only hour rule in the code is for hawkers crying their wares — not before eight in the morning or after nine at night (5.36.030) — and it is written for street peddling of the goods listed in the state hawkers and peddlers law.
• What the rep carries: Not published. The form shows the permit is approved or denied per applicant; what must be carried or worn is not stated on the pages read.
• What takes the time: The background check. Each applicant answers a criminal-history questionnaire under penalty of perjury and authorizes the police "to take my fingerprints and photographs and conduct a criminal background check." The Records Unit says fingerprint services run only on specific days and by appointment. No processing time is published.
• Code: No code section for the door-to-door permit was found. Read on Municode: Cambridge Municipal Code Chapter 5.36, Peddlers (5.36.010 to 5.36.080), plus the chapter lists of Titles 5, 8, 9 and 12.
• Worth knowing: Inside the Harvard Square area bounded in 5.36.060, no one may hawk, peddle, sell or give away goods without a permit from the Chief of Police unless authorized under the state hawkers and peddlers law. Commercial notices may not be attached to private property (9.04.051, heading).
• Read it yourself: Cambridge Police Department, Application for Door-to-Door Solicitation Permit (background check answer form) · Cambridge Police Department, Records Unit · Cambridge Municipal Code Chapter 5.36, Peddlers · Cambridge License Commission · checked 19 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down: The fee for the Door-to-Door Solicitation Permit, and whether every rep needs their own; Which ordinance or regulation the permit is issued under, and what hours door-to-door sales are allowed; How long the background check takes and how long the permit lasts; Whether the rep must carry or wear the permit, and whether a Hawker/Peddler License from the License Commission is also needed for service sales. Clerk’s name ______________   Direct line ______________   Date called ______________