Yes, people get too many catalogs. Yes, it uses up a lot of paper. No, I certainly don’t want to mail my catalogs to people who don’t want them. I’d love to get just 5% of the non-buyers off my mailing list! It’s horribly expensive to print and mail catalogs. But Catalogchoice.org is going about their “mission” all wrong. [No, I’m not going to link to them. Type it in, or JFGI.]
There is already The DMA - the premier direct mail association, offering a direct mail preference service. They work with direct mailers, to help get consumers off mailing lists. All responsible direct mailers use The DMA’s “no pander” list, matching it against lists of prospect (not customer) names to suppress them before mailing.
The DMA makes it easy for consumers to opt out of junk mail. There’s a form right on their web site. It works for every catalog that you have not already purchased from - you don’t have to specify which ones you don’t want. And if you sign up online, it is free. (The $1 is for handling your mailed-in paper request.)
The DMA doesn’t bully, coerce, or shame its members into compliance. It’s a wonderful service, it’s transparent to mailers, and it’s free to DMA members. Compare that to Catalog Choice: they seem to actually be in the business of collecting names & email addresses, and tracking your online purchasing behavior. To what end? Who is behind them? Why can’t they promote the DMA’s service, which already works? (Because they wouldn’t get to have a hefty new mailing list, that’s why. Mailing lists can be worth big bucks, let me tell you.) Catalog Choice is just the most recent player; there are several, just google “junk mail” and you’ll find dozens.
If you’re my customer: please call, email or fax in your request. We’ve already prepared our mailings that will be delivered in mid-March, so it will take up to 6 weeks to become effective. You don’t need to mail back every catalog you receive in the mean time, marked “second notice” - though these ARE the ones that get put on my desk.
We get hundreds of mailed-in “unsubscribe me” requests every day. People call, email, and fax us, too. It takes time and money to employ people, just to put these names & addresses in the computer; but it’s nowhere near as costly as mailing out unwanted catalogs.
If you’ve never bought from me, then you can do 2 things to avoid getting my catalog the FIRST time:
1) Every time you make a purchase from a catalog or online, request that your name not be rented or shared. If they don’t rent your name to me, I won’t try to send you a catalog. Just add a comment as you check out, if the site doesn’t already have an option button for this. (Did you know that KnitPicks was the third fastest growing mailing lists - PDF link! - in the US last year? Way ahead of my list … )
2) Register with The DMA Mail Preference Service. These folks already have the infrastructure to work with the printers, mailing houses and catalogers and can get you off the mailing lists, fast.
There. I feel a little bit better now. Before you enter your name and address on a web site, beware! Just because a company was on on CNN, it doesn’t mean they’re on the up-and-up.