On September 30 the FCC voted 3 to 0 to rewrite the rules for what happens when a customer replies STOP to an automated call or text, per the ABA Banking Journal and CU Today. If your shop sends appointment reminders, "tech on the way" texts or invoice nudges from a texting tool or a booking app, this one reaches you.
Here is the short answer. For informational texts, the kind that confirm, remind or update, a STOP can now cancel just that type of message instead of everything you send. For marketing texts, nothing got easier. One STOP still ends all of your marketing to that person. And you can now pick one official way for people to opt out, as long as you say so clearly in every message.
What the FCC changed on September 30
Some background first. In 2024 the FCC adopted a "revoke all" rule. Under it, once a customer opted out in any reasonable way, the opt out covered every automated call and text from that business, no matter the subject, per Troutman Pepper Locke and Tech Times. It was delayed more than once, most recently to January 31, 2027, and never took effect, per Hunton and Troutman Pepper Locke.
The new order replaces it. Three changes matter for a trades business.
- STOP can be read narrowly for informational messages. If a message has no advertising and is not telemarketing, you may treat an opt out as covering only that category of message. A customer who opts out of one kind of message, say billing calls, does not automatically lose the others, like appointment reminders, per Troutman Pepper Locke and Tech Times. The catch: you have to tell people how their opt out will be read, per the ABA Banking Journal.
- Marketing opt outs still cover all marketing. A STOP sent in reply to a message that contains an advertisement or counts as telemarketing still revokes consent for all future marketing calls and texts from that business, per CU Today and Tech Times.
- You can pick one official opt out method. There are three to choose from: a voice or key press option during an automated call, a text reply using standard words (stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel, unsubscribe), or a website or phone number set aside for opt outs. If you disclose the method clearly and conspicuously in every call or message, you do not have to process opt outs that come in some other way. If you do not pick one, you still have to honor any reasonable request, per Troutman Pepper Locke and Tech Times.
When it starts
The new rules take effect 30 days after the order is published in the Federal Register. That replaces the January 31, 2027 date, per Hunton and Troutman Pepper Locke. Hunton expects the rules to apply before January. That is weeks of runway, not months.
What is still open
The FCC also asked for comment on more changes, per Troutman Pepper Locke and Tech Times:
- Cutting the time to honor an opt out from 10 business days to 7.
- Requiring texting programs that only send, and cannot take replies, to accept reply opt outs.
- Making a single "revoke all" option mandatory for anyone who uses the category approach.
- How opt outs apply across related companies and separate lines of business.
What this means for a painter, plumber or electrician
Most of the texts a trades shop sends fall into two piles.
Pile one, informational. Appointment confirmations. Reminders the day before. "Your tech is 20 minutes out." Estimate ready. Invoice due. Job complete. These carry no sales pitch. Under the new order, a customer who replies STOP to a reminder does not have to lose the "on the way" text too, as long as your messages make clear how an opt out works.
Pile two, marketing. Seasonal tune up offers. "Book your exterior paint job before winter." Discount codes. A reminder with an upsell tacked on the end. This is where the risk sits. One STOP ends all of them, and the new order did not loosen that at all.
The trap is the message in the middle. Troutman Pepper Locke and Tech Times both flag the same danger: calling a promotional message "informational" to get around a full opt out. Troutman's advice is blunt. Any promotional content makes a message telemarketing, and when in doubt, treat it as telemarketing. A reminder that ends with "ask about our gutter guard special" is no longer just a reminder.
The TCPA allows $500 per violation and up to $1,500 when it is willful, and it is one of the most litigated consumer laws in federal court, per Troutman Pepper Locke and Tech Times. That is per call or text. A reminder blast to a few hundred customers adds up fast.
If you work in Pennsylvania
There is a second layer for shops in Pennsylvania, where I am working this fall. Act 47 of 2026 was signed July 20 and takes effect 90 days later, on October 18, per the Pennsylvania General Assembly and Mac Murray & Shuster. It rewrites the state's telemarketing law and now expressly covers text messages, voicemails and ringless voicemails. Covered sales calls and texts can only go out between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m., and never on Sundays. Penalties run up to $1,000 per violation, or $3,000 when the person is 60 or older, per InfoLawGroup and Tech Times. The state also lists the same opt out words: stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel and unsubscribe.
So a Pennsylvania shop sending a Sunday morning promo text could be on the wrong side of state law from October 18, whatever the FCC said about category opt outs. If you work in another state, check its rules too.
What I would do this month
None of this needs a lawyer to get started. It does need an hour with your texting tool open.
- List every automated text you send. Open your booking app, your CRM and your texting tool. Write down each message: confirmation, reminder, on the way, estimate, invoice, review request, promo.
- Sort each one into informational or marketing. If it sells anything, it goes in the marketing pile. If you are unsure, it goes in the marketing pile. Then strip the upsells out of your reminders. Keep the reminder clean and send the offer separately, to people who agreed to get offers.
- Pick your opt out method and say it in every message. For most shops that is a text reply. A short line like "Reply STOP to opt out of reminders" does the job. The disclosure is the whole point. The exclusive method only protects you if it is clear and conspicuous in each message, per Troutman Pepper Locke.
- Make STOP actually work, everywhere. Test it. Text STOP to your own business number from a personal phone and confirm the right messages stop. If someone opts out of marketing, make sure every marketing campaign honors it, not just the one they replied to. Today the limit is 10 business days. Plan for 7 in case the FCC tightens it.
- Ask your software vendor two questions. Can your system track opt outs by message type? Does it log the date and the exact words the customer used? A simple on or off switch per customer cannot keep up with a rule built on categories.
- Keep a human on the edge cases. A customer who texts "please stop texting me" is not using a keyword. If you have not designated an exclusive method, that counts as an opt out. Even if you have, I would honor it. One annoyed customer costs more than one skipped reminder.
If you use AI to answer calls or send texts for you, the same rules apply to it. The bot does not get a pass because software wrote the message. Build the opt out line and the category check into it from day one. Related: what a small business can and cannot do with AI, reviews and claims, and how AI appointment booking handles confirmations and reminders.
This order is mostly good news for a shop that texts for the right reasons. A customer tired of your fall promo can still get the text that says the plumber is on the way. But the line between a reminder and a pitch just became the line that decides your risk. Draw it on purpose, write it down, and test your STOP reply this week.
This post is plain English, not legal advice. Whether your texting tool falls under the TCPA's autodialer rules is its own legal question. If you send a lot of marketing texts, have a lawyer look at your setup.