Do you get unwanted catalogs in the mail? The New York Times has alerted me to a new FREE service called Catalog Choice that you can sign up for. It lets retailers know you don't want their catalogs and you can add on to the list every time you get a new one in the mail that you don't want.
According to the Catalog Choice website:
* Over eight million tons of trees are consumed each year in the production of paper catalogs.
* Nearly half of the planet’s original forest cover is gone today. Forests have effectively disappeared in 25 countries, and another 29 have lost more than 90% of their forest cover.
* Deforestation contributes between 20% and 25% of all carbon pollution, causing global climate change.
* More than one billion people living in extreme poverty around the world depend on forests for their livelihoods.
* There are other significant environmental impacts from the catalog cycle. The production and disposal of direct mail alone consumes more energy than three million cars.
* The manufacturing, distribution, collection and disposal of catalogs generates global warming gases as well as air and water pollution. Reducing the number of unwanted catalogs that are mailed will help the environment.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Stop the Catalogs!!
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1 comment:
TFE, this is a great discovery... I didn't know about this "opt-out" list but sure could use it. I seem to be on a million mailing lists and it's disconcerting to see all those unwanted catalogs stacking up in my mailbox. Although there are a few that I don't mind receiving, the vast majority are a waste all around. I can't wait to set up an account with Catalog Choice!
It might also help if the costs of direct mail were made more expensive... through higher postal rates or something. In fact, rather than raising the price of my first-class stamps every couple of years, why doesn't the Post Office simply make the money off something almost nobody likes-- direct mail? I know that part of the attraction of direct marketing is the high rate of return on a comparatively low investment. If that investment became more dear, many companies would likely target more selectively to likely buying customers. I'm sure the retailers etc that use DM efforts would howl at raising rates; but really they just need to adapt to the times. Email campaigns are far cheaper than DM; and although nobody likes spam, spam isn't killing forests either.
This is a rhetorical question, but speaking of "opt out"... why should I have to opt out of something I never opted into in the first place?
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