Columbus, Georgia: door-to-door solicitor permit

• The answer: No door-to-door permit. Chapter 16, Peddlers and Solicitors, is the city's door-to-door chapter, but it only requires a permit for charitable solicitation (Sec. 16-1) and a license or written permit for peddling cut flowers, flower plants or shrubbery house to house (Sec. 16-9). It has no permit, license or registration section for a for-profit sales rep (fiber, solar, pest, security) knocking door to door. What does apply is the general business license: the city says "A general business license is required of all businesses operating in Columbus, GA/Muscogee County" — a company-level occupation tax certificate, not a per-rep permit.
• Where it comes from: No office issues a commercial door-to-door permit, because Chapter 16 does not require one. The general business license (occupation tax certificate) comes from the Occupation Tax Section, 3111 Citizens Way, per the city's Business Licenses page. The charitable-solicitation permit is issued by the chief of police (Sec. 16-1).
• Fee: None for door-to-door solicitation itself. For the general business license the city's page lists an administrative fee of $75.00 upon issuance, plus occupation tax on gross receipts; the page gives the rate only as a range and says to see the Occupation Tax Section for details.
• Hours you may knock: None found. Neither Chapter 16 (Peddlers and Solicitors) nor Chapter 14 (Offenses and Miscellaneous Provisions) sets clock-time knocking hours for commercial door-to-door solicitation.
• What the rep carries: Nothing is specified in Chapter 16 for a commercial for-profit solicitor. (A charitable solicitor operating under the Sec. 16-1 permit would carry that permit, but that section does not apply to for-profit sales.)
• Code: Columbus Code of Ordinances Chapter 16, Peddlers and Solicitors (§§ 16-1–16-13), and Chapter 19, Article IV, Business License and Occupation Tax (§ 19-36).
• Worth knowing: Chapter 19, Article IV § 19-36 requires "each person engaged in any business, trade, profession or occupation in Columbus, Georgia" — including an out-of-state business with no Georgia location that exerts substantial efforts in the state — to register and take out a business license. That is a general company-level occupation-tax registration, not a per-rep door-to-door permit, and Chapter 16 does not connect it to soliciting at the door.
• Read it yourself: Columbus, GA Code of Ordinances Chapter 16, Peddlers and Solicitors · Columbus, GA Code of Ordinances Chapter 19, Article IV, Business License and Occupation Tax · Columbus, GA Code of Ordinances Chapter 14, Offenses and Miscellaneous Provisions (checked for hours; none found) · Columbus Consolidated Government, Finance: Business & Alcohol Licenses · Municode search of the Columbus code (peddler) · checked 19 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down: Whether the general Chapter 19 business license (occupation tax certificate) is treated as covering an out-of-town company's door-to-door reps, and whether that's per company or per rep; Whether the Marshal's Office or License and Revenue Division applies any unwritten local practice (badge, hours) to door-to-door commercial sales crews; Whether any knocking-hours or curfew rule applies to solicitors under the city's noise or peace-disturbance provisions. Clerk’s name ______________   Direct line ______________   Date called ______________