The Southwestern Company Internship Difference Blog
I was absolutely disgusted, not to mention disturbed, to read online on FoxDFW about the despicable acts of a 23-year-old traveling sales crew member soliciting magazines door-to-door in Grand Prairie, Texas.
According to the news story, Daniel Deshawn Neal was arrested by Ft. Worth police. They say he was soliciting magazine subscriptions when he knocked on the door of a 78-year-old lady. She invited him in after he told her he was a college student trying to earn points for a communications exercise. What does that even mean? It’s just another lie to deceive, a common method used by traveling sales crews. I would bet my house he was not a college student, either.
Upon gaining entry, it is alleged Neal sexually assaulted the homeowner and poured rubbing alcohol on her chest and lit her on fire. She is currently recovering with second degree burns. 
Geez! What is wrong with some people? What would make someone do something so heinous? That’s a common question asked by authorities around the country when they get these kinds of calls, only to find out it is a traveling sales crew member (or members) involved. While the overall number of violent incidents like this are small in comparison to how many overall contacts they have with home and business owners, just one incident is way too many.
This story serves as, yet another cautionary tale of the dangers traveling sales crews pose. They are typically unregulated, as do not adhere to existing laws and ordinances already in place to protect the citizens of a particular community. It does not matter how many or how strict the laws are - including the new Traveling Sales Crew bill signed into law in Wisconsin. The fact is, if someone has the intent to do something bad, they will do it. For those who have troubled pasts, they find a life on-the-run in a traveling sales crew to be a temporary escape from their their demons (and sometimes, the law).
While I don’t think over-regulation is the cure to this disease, a first step is for homeowners to be educated and have awareness of what to look for if they receive a knock on their door. There are, after all, far more hardworking people with pure motives than rogue hucksters with ill-will who sell quality products and services through the timeless model of direct selling.
For additional tips on how to identify legitimate salespeople, click here. For typical unethical “pitches” used by traveling sales crews, click here. For a contrast of traveling sales crews and legitimate direct sellers, click here.
