Sales people coming to your door after dark.

We have a big dog. He terrorizes the front door. Period. The amount of barking he can do scares everyone away. I haven’t had a flyer left on my door in at least a year. Food delivery know he’s there and barks and that I won’t open it until they’ve left. After dark, Charlie usually likes to hang out on the rug at the front door. The foyer light is on low and the rug is long so he stretches out. There is no sneaking up!

I don’t answer the door most of the time anyway! That’s what the camera is for! If they get to the door….

In the 7 years I’ve lived in this house, we’ve had someone knock on our door unexpectedly exactly twice.

I’d answer, because it’s astronomically unlikely to be dangerous. But I also have a 160 lb dog. 😂

I wouldn't answer the door to an unexpected visitor at 8:30pm, whether it was dark or light.

I do answer the door during the day as I live in an apartment building and we are front of the building, ground floor, so often delivery drivers will ring our doorbell if the intended recipient is not at home. I'll look or speak and see who it is, and - if they are a delivery person in uniform - will answer the door so they can place the package near the correct door.

I don’t answer my door to someone I don’t know light or dark outside.

We dont have a door camera but are considering. We have a 50lb dog who barks her head off, so in the past, when people come to the door, we open it a crack, and ask what they want.

This. A neighbor of mine had a "pastor" knock on her door in the afternoon offering to "share the good news of Jesus Christ." She opened the door and after a few minutes, he pushed past her and started looking around. She called out for her husband, who wasn't there, and the guy fled. I've heard of too many home invasions, but I also don't feel like I have any responsibility to a salesman who bothers me at home. Jog on, buddy.

I only open the door to delivery people (FedEx, Amazon, UPS, USPS) or uniformed LEO in general. Everyone I know knows I prefer a heads-up call before they stop by and I have no desire to talk to people I don't know.

my craft room looks out on the front yard (it's in the formal living room off the foyer) and we're one of only two houses on a cul de sac - if you walk or drive down it, I'm likely to see you well before you get out of your vehicle.

Unless I recognize a neighbor I don’t answer the door during the day, much less when it’s dark 

That situation is definitely sketchy. Both of my dogs go completely apeshit even if someone is just walking down the street, and even more so if they are actually coming up our long driveway and up to the house. God help anyone who happens to come up to the house when the big dog is outside, we have invisible fence so it’s possible he could come out from around back and surprise someone at pretty much any time of the day or night between about 6:00 am and 11:30 pm (although when I take him out at night I usually leash him, DH usually doesn’t).

Besides the dogs, we have cameras and motion lights which hopefully help to deter anyone with nefarious intentions. We have a Ring doorbell that still needs to be installed. I think the speaker on the Ring works better than the speakers on the Arlo cameras that we currently have on all of the entrances to the house and garage.

And I agree that 8:30 pm, especially in the winter when it’s already pitch dark, isn’t a smart move for anyone working door to door. If you don’t already have one, I’d put up a No Soliciting sign on your door. In some areas door to door soliciting is prohibited or requires a special permit, so that might be something to look into too.

I also think that the Amazon deliveries that come between 8:00 pm and 7:00 am are insane. I try to avoid placing orders that have those delivery timeframes because I think they’re totally unreasonable.

The weirdest one we ever had was at our old house which was just blocks away from a college campus. Someone came up to the house and actually into our enclosed front porch at something like 1:30 am in the dead of winter when it was like -20°. Of course our dogs went ballistic when they heard the storm door close which woke us up. The person never actually knocked or anything, they just stood there looking out the storm door at the street until we came and turned on the porch lights. They stayed there for a few more minutes, never even turned around to face the inside door, and eventually just left. We figured it was a college kid walking somewhere or waiting for a ride who was looking for a spot out of the wind or something like that but it was still really weird.

I rarely open my door for people I don’t know. I didn’t use to acknowledge anyone there, after that tactic was used to see if the house was empty for robberies I usually just tell them thru the door not interested because I’m not looking to be involved in a robbery turned home invasion.

Shit.. I yell "come in" ... not kidding, don't make me get up and answer the door.

we don't open the door period.  we can see/talk to them on the Ring doorbell but we don't open the door.

I opt out of the early morning options and just pick a normal delivery time/day. I don't need my stuff at 4AM, or even 7AM.
As for the really late deliveries, 8PM-10PM, I guess I can't control that, and I don't even know until delivery day if they are coming that late. At least I have a heads-up and can watch for them.

As to the OP, no we don't open our doors to anyone we don't know. Our community is supposed to be "No Soliciting", but they still get in. I do notice though that if they are trying to sell you something, they'll ring the doorbell, then stand really far back from your front door. I guess they don't want to seem like they are intruding into your personal space.