Merced, California: door-to-door solicitor permit

• The answer: Yes — a solicitor license and a city identification card, one per rep. "It is unlawful for any person to act as solicitor within the city without having first obtained a license issued pursuant to this chapter" (5.08.810). A SOLICITOR is anyone who goes house to house or place to place selling or taking orders for goods or for services to be performed immediately or in the future, sample or no sample, advance payment or not (5.08.800). The fee section settles the per-rep question in one line: "Fees and investigations as used in this section refers solely to individuals and not to firms" (5.08.850(B)). The application names the rep, the employer, and the rep's length of service with that employer (5.08.830).
• Where it comes from: The finance officer takes the application on the finance officer's own form (5.08.820) and issues the license and identification card. The original copy goes to the chief of police, who investigates and endorses approval or disapproval and sends it back to the finance officer (5.08.880). Fingerprinting happens at the office of the chief of police (5.08.870).
• Fee: $5.00 for each new application where an investigation is required, payable in advance, and $5.00 for each replacement application or new identification card (5.08.850(A)). The fingerprinting forms are "provided without expense by the city" (5.08.870). The business license tax is separate and is not a flat number — Merced charges an annual license based on annual gross receipts under a classification schedule (5.08.020), and solicitor license fees are payable at the same time as the license tax (5.04.235(D)). A license not paid within thirty days of the due date carries a twenty-five percent penalty, and a daily license carries it if unpaid before work starts (5.04.240).
• Hours you may knock: The code sets no knocking hours for solicitors. The solicitor sections run 5.08.800 to 5.08.930 and the conditions section, 5.08.900, regulates shouting, loitering, written duplicate orders and self-identification — not time of day. Merced does set hours elsewhere in the same title for other trades, including street and sidewalk vendors, who "shall only operate between the hours of ten a.m. and eight p.m. daily in residential zones" (5.54), but that rule is written for vendors, not door-to-door solicitors. Ask the finance officer before planning an evening shift.
• What the rep carries: Both documents, at all times: the business license issued by the finance officer and the identification card, produced and shown "on the demand of any person solicited or of any police officer or official of the city" (5.08.890). Altering, removing, obliterating or defacing any entry on the license or card is prohibited, and each license and card is personal — not assignable, not transferable, and not usable by anyone else. On request from any officer a solicitor also has to sign their name for comparison with the signature on the license (5.08.900(B)).
• What takes the time: Fingerprints and the police investigation. Each solicitor has to appear in person at the office of the chief of police to be fingerprinted in triplicate; the city keeps one set, sends one to the FBI and one to the California Department of Justice, and returns none if the license is refused or later revoked (5.08.870). The chief then investigates the applicant's character and business responsibility (5.08.880). The application also needs two prints of a recent photograph, full front views of the face and head only, no more than two inches square (5.08.860), and a statement of any convictions with dates, offenses and penalties (5.08.830(G)). No processing deadline is published.
• Code: Merced Municipal Code Title 5, Business Licenses and Regulations, Chapter 5.08 sections 5.08.800 to 5.08.930 (Solicitor), with the licensing machinery in Chapter 5.04. The solicitor sections carry Ord. 1888 (1994), Ord. 1609 (1986) and Ord. 1534 (1984). Municode shows the Merced Municipal Code as codified through Ordinance No. 2589, passed March 2, 2026 (Supp. No. 85, 1-26).
• Worth knowing: A posted sign is enforceable by ordinance: it is unlawful to ring the doorbell or knock at any residence displaying a sign reading "No Peddlers", "No Solicitors" or words of similar import (5.08.930). Orders for future delivery must be written at least in duplicate, stating quantity, price, total and the amount to be paid on or after delivery, with one copy given to the customer (5.08.900(C)). On request, a rep must give their own name, business address and telephone number and the same for the company they represent (5.08.900(E)). The chief of police can suspend or revoke a license immediately, and the section is self-executing (5.08.910).
• Read it yourself: Merced Municipal Code Title 5, Business Licenses and Regulations (Chapter 5.08, Solicitor sections) · Merced Municipal Code, Municode title page · checked 20 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down:

• What the business license tax works out to for an out-of-town sales company under the 5.08.020 classifications
• How long the fingerprint check and the chief of police's investigation take
• Whether the city charges anything for the state and federal fingerprint submissions
• Whether the city enforces any hours for door-to-door solicitation

Clerk’s name ______________ Direct line ______________ Date called ______________