I remember, years ago, when I sold mini-encyclopedias one summer door-to-door for the Southwestern Book Company that, unofficially, of course, we didn’t need to bother to get a business license in a city/town to sell books.  Just move as fast as you could through neighbourhoods and towns to avoid being stopped/harassed by the authorities.  If you were stopped, plead innocence about city ordinances.

Now, I see a local town upping the business license requirements for door-to-door salespeople, including background checks and photo ID badges.

It is an interesting issue in the realm of free enterprise — do local geographically-based political entities have the right to interfere with one’s desire to make a living?