Two New Jersey teens got a lesson in government regulations this week then they decided to go door to door offering snow shoveling services ahead of the Blizzard of 2015.
The blizzard ended up being a bit underwhelming in N.J., but forecasts ahead of time predicted it would be a whopper. High school seniors Matt Molinari and Eric Schnepf, both 18, decided to go door to door Monday evening handing out flyers offering snow shoveling services for the next morning, NJ.com reported.
Unfortunately they didn't know about their town's ordinance related to soliciting, which prohibits people from selling services door-to-door in Bound Brook without a $450 permit.
Someone spotted the young entrepreneurs and called the police to report a suspicious man walking through yards. Police went looking for the pair, found them driving in their pickup truck, and ordered them to stop handing out the fliers.
A resident saw the young men being questioned and shared the story on a Facebook page popular among town residents, writing:
"Are you kidding me? Our generation does nothing but complain about this generation being lazy and not working for their money. Here's a couple kids who take the time to print up flyers, walk door to door in the snow, and then shovel snow for some spending money. And someone calls the cops and they're told to stop?"
The teens weren't arrested or issued a ticket, but they were told to stop handing out the fliers and get off the roads, according to myCentralJersey.com. Gov. Chris Christie had issued a state of emergency, and people weren't supposed to be driving around.
Lt. Mark Leopold said the ordinance is in place to stop scam artists from door-to-door solicitation. He said, "kids going door-to-door to shovel snow isn't the same thing. Usually, common sense prevails."
Bound Brook Police Chief Michael Jannone said his department has no interest in cracking down on kids who want to shovel driveways. He said his department was more concerned with getting them off the roads.
"We don't make the laws but we have to uphold them," he told myCentralJersey, adding. "This was a state of emergency. Nobody was supposed to be out on the road."
Molinari and Schnepf were told they could shovel any driveways of residents who contacted them, but they couldn't keep soliciting.
Unfortunately for the pair, they awoke to less snow than expected. Molinari told NJ.com that they still got four jobs, including one from the man who spotted them being questioned by police.
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