Meridian, Idaho: door-to-door solicitor permit

• The answer: Yes — a Mobile Sales Unit (MSU) license, per rep. A mobile sales unit includes 'a traveling, and/or door to door commercial or retail establishment...and/or any agent or representative thereof,' and 'it shall be unlawful for any person to operate, allow the operation of, or act as a mobile sales unit without' the required license (§ 3-4-1, § 3-4-2.A).
• Where it comes from: The Meridian City Clerk's Office issues the license, after the Chief of Police investigates the application and endorses his findings (§ 3-4-2.A.5.a–c).
• Fee: $73.25 per applicant, per the city's own Mobile Sales Unit application and program brochure ('Application fee—$73.25'). The code itself sets no dollar figure, only that the fee is 'as set forth in the fee schedule of the City Clerk's office' (§ 3-4-2.A.5.a(2)).
• Hours you may knock: The code sets no fixed citywide clock window. Each applicant must describe 'the hours, locations, and means' the unit will operate (§ 3-4-2.A.5.a(1)(E)), and the license itself must show those licensed hours on its face (§ 3-4-2.A.5.f(3)); operating outside them is unlawful (§ 3-4-2.B.1).
• What the rep carries: The MSU license, which 'shall be kept on the licensee's person at all times during such operation or activity and shall be exhibited at any time upon request of any person' (§ 3-4-2.D.2). The city's own brochure adds that approved solicitors are issued a photo badge showing the MSU number, to be worn while selling.
• What takes the time: Fingerprints (taken by Idaho State Police), two 2-inch by 2-inch photographs, a criminal-history disclosure, and proof of a general-liability policy with 'minimum limits of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000.00) per person bodily injury, five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000.00) per occurrence bodily injury, and one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00) per occurrence property damage,' naming the city as additional insured (§ 3-4-2.A.5.a(3)–(7)). The Clerk has up to 30 days from a complete application to issue or deny (§ 3-4-2.A.5.c).
• Code: Meridian City Code, Title 3, Chapter 4, § 3-4-2 — Mobile sales units.
• Worth knowing: No license is needed at a property where the occupant or owner has invited the mobile sales unit, explicitly or implicitly through a transaction with them in the prior 365 days — but 'such invitation may be revoked...by explicit communication only, and shall be effective immediately' (§ 3-4-2.g(2)). The license expires 365 days after issuance (§ 3-4-2.A.5.f(4)).
• Read it yourself: Meridian City Code § 3-4-2, Mobile sales units · City of Meridian Mobile Sales Unit brochure · City of Meridian Mobile Sales Unit (Door to Door) application · checked 19 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down: Are there default operating hours the Clerk's Office assigns on a new MSU license, or does the applicant propose them? How long does the Chief of Police background-check review typically take within the 30-day statutory maximum? Does one MSU license cover a whole sales team, or does every individual rep need a separate license and badge? Clerk’s name ______________   Direct line ______________   Date called ______________