Thursday, February 12, 2015

Another Great Moment in Zero Tolerance

From the Weasel Zippers, by way of Wombat-socho's "In the Mailbox: 02.12.15 RTD edition"

New Jersey Snow-Shoveling Teens Get In Trouble With The Law For Not Having A Government Issued Permit
When a major snowstorm hit the east coast two weeks ago, two entrepreneurial teens in New Jersey were ready.

Until they ran directly into a real force of nature: government nannies.

Matt Molinari and Eric Schnepf, both 18-year-olds from Bound Brook, N.J., were going door-to-door in their neighborhood Jan. 27, handing out homemade flyers that offered snow-shoveling services. School had already been canceled for the next day, when a winter storm was expected to bury their portion of the Garden State under several inches of cold white powder.

But their offer of a free exchange of services for cash caught the attention of the local police force.

According to local news reports, the cops told the kids they weren’t allowed to solicit business by going door-to-door without a permit from the local government.[…]

To get a permit for door-to-door solicitation in Bound Brook, Molinari and Schnepf would have had to pay the borough $450 (and the government-issued permission slip is only good for 180 days at a time, which is fine if you’re trying to run a snow-shoveling business, but not so great if you’re trying to offer services year-round).
I think they should go the non-profit route like a museum, and offer to  shovel snow for "a donation" of  "X".

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