I Pass Out Flyers At PetSmart Because I Have The Dog's Best Interest At Heart--Not The Almighty Dollar

Hello Robert..I have been trying to find information about the
legallity of passing out flyers...I don't want to be arrested or
embarassed by people worried about competition...The company that I am
a representative of is having similar problems...My Space...have you
ever heard of them...You can't put the mame of our company on there
website to share a FREE business opportunity with their
membership...If you do they will send a message to anyone who clicks
on our name or web address that states we are trying to get their
information and use it accusing us of phishing. I personally have
never had a my space account..they pay their membership nothing and
made in the month of March 70 million dollars...our company is willing
to share 80% of the advertising revenue with it's membership...Ours is
Free to join, no membership fees and your own website...I know where I
would rather be a partisipant. If you have since found any information
on where you can place your flyers without a hastle would you please
contact me at: zenzuu.paulines@gmail.com

I am going to pass out flyers that say DO NOT SHOP AT PETSMART
tomorrow. They shaved my dogs and refuse to refund me. Is that legal
for me to do?

Hey, FUCK YOU!!!! I just had my tint damaged by one of you assholes
today (well, actually it was for a Gentlemen's Club, but you know
what? Makes NO DIFFERENCE to me at all!). Go ahead and do whatever you
want for the little doggies, but leave me and my property out of it.
Think that makes me a "mean guy," guess what? I don't care!

YOU ARE COMPETING FOR THIER BUSINESS AT THEIR BUSINESS. How would you
like it if the Petsmart Trainer came into your class and started
passing out fliers? Or if Bill Gates walked into the Mac store passing
out Vista?

I am happy to hear that you are offering low cost training to people,
but you need to remember this. Petsmart does not sell pets, instead it
offers room for local shelters to put cats and dogs up for adoption,
thus, saving homeless pets. It contributes millions of dollars to
charities to save pets. Yes, their training is expensive, but that
money is going to a good cause. A cause you stated they should be
working for. They have to make money to pay their employees AND
contribute to these charities. If someone can't afford their training,
they will look elsewhere and find you, and that's great. But don't TRY
to take away their business. You're hurting the animals too.

1)No one likes flyers on their window. Find another way to advertise.
2)Perhaps a vet's or a pet store that doesn't offer classes, would be
a more appropriate place to advertise.

Robert,

God Bless you for trying! However, I would advise that you not use a
Banfield/Petsmart parking lot for passing out flyers. While your
intentions are good, they won't go far in that place. After all, most
people who shop at Petsmart actually enjoy having their hard earned
money conned right out of their wallets!

Maybe a Pennysaver advertisement would work better. You'd spend about
the same amount as you do on the paper you use for fliers and then
people who are actually looking for the services will find them.

So YOU are the one who put that flyer on my car?! Well KNOCK IT OFF!

personally, i HATE flyers on my car, so not only do i side with
petsmart because what you did was stealing business, i think that
flyers usually end up on the ground and become litter. i don't know of
anyone who likes to have to remove trash from their car, and you don't
know who had dogs and who didn't.

I agree with the last guy. Paws off my ride. I don't even own a dog so
if you had placed this ad on my car it would be thrown away; however,
most people just take those flyers and toss them on the ground which
in turn adds to a litter problem. You may be trying to do good and
also doing bad without out considering this.

I too hate flyers on my windshield! Paws off my vehicle!

They actually don't want you, a competing business, soliciting
customers ON THEIR PROPERTY for a service they also offer. They are
within their rights to do so. They sell obedience classes and have a
right to not allow a competing business to do so ON THEIR PROPERTY.
Seeing a trend here?

If Petsmart isn't resposible for a 3 year old and a 17 month old
getting kidnaped in their parking lot then they can't tell you to not
to put flyers on cars that are in their parking lot. They need to
decide their policy and stick with it.

If Petsmart isn't resposible for a 3 year old and a 17 month old
getting kidnaped in their parking lot then they can't tell you to not
to put flyers on cars that are in their parking lot. They need to
decide their policy and stick with it.

It doesn't matter if PetSmart actually owns the parking lot. If they
don't own it, they are paying the owner a lot of money to lease it and
that DOES give them the right to kick Robert off the property.

If he persists in spamming windshields after he has been told to leave
or comes back and tries it again, it is trespassing and the police CAN
get involved.

I agree with almost everyone here. Unless the flier is going to tell
me you are giving out free beer, I don't want it on my car. I
commute, and I already have enough trash in my car.

I HATE flyers stuck on my car! A major pet peeve of mine, and I make
it a point not to patronize any businesses that do so (mainly
restaurants around here). My personal feelings aside, PetSmart has
every right to tell you stop doing it on their property. A lot of
places post signs prohibiting solicitation. As someone suggested
earlier, post them on a public bulletin board, instead of littering
people's cars with them.

Its nice that you want to help animals, but you can't honestly expect
PetSmart to let you undercut them right in their own parking lot. Like
another poster suggested contact local mom and pop pet stores I'm sure
they will be more then happy to help you out. The pet store I worked
at actually worked in conjunction with an animal behaviorist. She held
classes at the store and charged a little less just to get people in
the door.

Good luck.

I agree with the other posters. It was a poor choice to paper the
cars in PetSmarts parking lot with your flyers. Most people when they
get a flyer stuck on their windshield are going to be more likely to
not want to utilize that company/service when the time comes.

To put it in perspective, I own a copy shop. What do you think would
have happened if I put flyers on the windows of cars in a Kinko's
parking lot advertising my services. Sure, I could claim that I can
save the people money. Help the folks trying to make copies of their
resumes so they can get a job and still put food on the table. Theres
a million different arguments, but it still comes down to the fact
that it would be innapropriate for me to do that and I would get hit
with a C&D from their legal department.

a few options you could do would be:

contact small Localy owned pet stores, there's a lot of those who
would love to be able to include your flyer with the purchase a dog,
or to even have a stack of them on the counter. For them it becomes a
value added service and their client base would be grateful for the
advice.

There are pet adoption and rescue groups as well as the animal
shelters. A lot of these even have their own web sites and will put a
link or a add for you since you are offering a service that is a
benefit to the animals they are trying to service. Get to know the
leaders involved with some of these groups, they tend to know people
in the other groups and it can be a great networking tool.

If you get your fliers printed up by a mom and pop print shop or copy
shop ask them about leaving a stack of them on their counter. Most
have no problem with that, heck we tend to work off of word of mouth
between our clients. If we know that one of our clients does a
certain service we will recomend that client to people that are
looking for that service, and we know that it works the other way as
well.

Most local colleges have bulletin boards for postings that you can put
flyers on.

Contact local groomers (who don't do the training as well) again it
could be a value added service for them. They pass out your flyers
and you pass out theirs.

Even a lot of smaller mom and pop business's will allow you to display
your flyer.

Just remember, don't go to a place that is competing with you. And
always get permission from the manager or preferably the owner. The
smaller business's have the leeway to work with you on this, the large
corporate business's usually don't (unless they don't offer the same
service).

Rather than kill more trees by putting papers on every car in a
petsmart's parking lot, how about considering posting one flyer with
rip-away tags with your phone number at places like feed stores,
grocery stores, and smaller pet shops that have community bulletin
boards?

Just a thought.

Few things make me angrier than coming out of a business and having a
flier on my windshield. If I need a particular service I can figure
out where to get it. I don't need someone putting soon to be trash on
my windshield. Why should I have to throw away your flier??

I know here it IS illegal to put anything in someones mailbox unless
you work for the post office because of all the mailbox bombs that
have been going around. I allso agree 100% with your other point.
Anyone with half a brain wouldn't blaim Petsmart for supporting the
school just because thats where the flyer was put on their car. That
one is a total DUH! Although with some of the people that live in my
town I have to wonder........but those are the people who would say
that Petsmart is responsible if they buy a toy from there and their
child sufficates on the bag it was brought home in. And yes that
actualy happened....sad but true.

I am so sure that the Property Managment Company that owns the parking
lot would not want you soliciting in their parking lot either.
PetSmart probely dosn't own the lot, but I am sure that they could
call the property manager and have your little busness taken care of.

Solition on private property is usally prohibited, weither it is
PetSmarts property or if it belongs to the shopping center.

How would you feel if a PetSmart employee came to where you do your
training and put flier on cars of your clients?

Just a thought....

People should think about things before doing them, no matter how good
the intention.

My Vet (and friend) told me Petsmart moved in behind her well
established clinic. She has 2 years to get out (the lessor is kicking
her out)

Petsmart is giving the lessor a cut of vet services instead of rent.

Ahh corporate america.

On a related note, Petsmart has no control over what happens in their
Parking lot, they lease space, they do not own it. The parking lot
belongs to the property, not Petsmart.

They were, infact, out of line on this one.

You're lucky you didn't get arrested for trespassing. I honestly
can't believe you think it's okay to do what you were doing.

I hate to say it, but you were trying to get something for nothing
here. You were on PetSmart property, lining their customers' cars
with ads for YOUR business. You can accuse them of only caring about
money, but just like you, they are protecting their business. Aren't
you trying to skirt cutting into your own profits by actually PAYING
to advertise your services the way that they do? Sure they charge
more - they have higher overhead to pay for than you do!

If you want to drum up business without paying for it, go to the local
pet shelter or APL and leave your fliers. Many people who "adopt"
pets from these places would LOVE an option for training their new pet
that more than likely already has a number of issues to be addressed.

Secondly, use word of mouth! If your clients (both 2 and 4 legged)
are happy with your work, pass out business cards or fliers to them
and offer them discounted lessons if they get a friend to sign up.

I don't blame you for watching your bottom line, but you can't blame
PetSmart for trying to protect theirs!

I have to agree with some of the others here -- doing this without
permission is inappropriate. It doesn't matter that you offer it
cheaper (in fact, that likely makes it worse). If you put flyers on
cars outside a dentist's office advertising cheaper dental, then would
you be surprised when they asked you to stop?

The parking lot is their property. They have every right to tell you
to not be there doing that.

Also, just to get your facts straight, you are incorrect that "The
leading cause of dogs ending up in shelters is due to owners unable to
control the dog." The leading cause of dogs ending up in shelters is
because of lack of spaying and neutering of pets. You can verify this
at almost any animal advocacy site. Don't make up "facts" to support
your view. Obedience school at $50 a pop is NOT what will stop "the
leading cause" of dogs in shelters.

Did you clear putting flyers on customers' windshields with one of the
county commisioners? Bet s/he would have vetoed it. A better way,
IMHO, would have been to contact the manager of the store and ask if
you could leave a pile of them somewhere in the store.

It's people like you that contribute to the litter in parking lots. I
once came out to my car to find the wiper blade holder bent on the
windshield! This didn't make me very happy because I had to spend
money which was below my deductible on my auto insurance.

Here's what I do with these flyers: I either take it home with me or
make a note of the phone number, place dozens of calls to that number
(I use *67 first to avoid caller ID), and when someone answers I just
hang up. Or if there's an address shown, I zap off a nasty letter to
the establishment who sponsors these flyers.

You have NO right to put junk on my car!

I sympathize with your plight and hope you find a way to get the word
out. If I could afford it, I would pay for obedience class for my
neighbor's dog. Well actually, it's my neighbors that need the class,
not the dog.

Putting your fliers on the cars of Petsmart's customers was not a good
idea. Since it's a community service, why not put them in the library,
police station, town hall, grocery store bulletin boards, etc. I too
find fliers on my windshield very annoying, especially when I don't
notice them until I am in the car and buckled up. Since most people
just throw them away without even looking, it really isn't a good way
to advertise.

I sympathize with your plight and hope you find a way to get the word
out. If I could afford it, I would pay for obedience class for my
neighbor's dog. Well actually, it's my neighbors that need the class,
not the dog.

Putting your fliers on the cars of Petsmart's customers was not a good
idea. Since it's a community service, why not put them in the library,
police station, town hall, grocery store bulletin boards, etc. I too
find fliers on my windshield very annoying, especially when I don't
notice them until I am in the car and buckled up. Since most people
just throw them away without even looking, it really isn't a good way
to advertise.

It doesnt matter really what was on your fliers. Most stores do not
allow soliciting on their property and that is basically what you were
doing.

I find it really rude that you would do that in their parking lot.

Actually, I find it really rude when ANYONE puts fliers on cars for
ANY reason. It is annoying and leads to litter. I have seen so many
people just yank them off and throw them on the ground.

Find a better way to solicit for your business, stay out of their
parking lot, and stop putting your fliers on people's personal
property.