The holiday season has started. I can tell because the Christmas catalogs have already started to arrive in my mailbox. I don’t look at catalogs and routinely toss them into the recycle bin. This year, however, I’m not going to play a passive role in the ”Christmas Catalog Crush”. It’s not enough that companies switch to printing on non-chlorine-bleached or recycled paper. The pulp and paper industry is the third largest industrial emitter of greenhouse gases in the United States, after the chemical and steel industries. If we all embrace the idea that little things add up, we can make a difference. I’m going to notify businesses that send the catalogs and request that my name be removed from their mailing list. I started today with Pottery Barn.
I sent an e-mail from the company’s website. In it I included my customer number and address from the catalog mailing label. That way, they can identify me in their database. You can also call the customer service number (often toll-free) of the organization or business. I’ll be honest, I have neither the patience nor the time to wade through yet another complicated phone tree, which is why I use email as my first option. Another option would be to send a letter and include the mailing label. Have the mailing label handy when you call, or tape it to the letter if you make a written request. Don’t forget to sign and date your request.
Here’s another way to avoid future deluges of catalogs. Contact Epsilon Data Services, an international company that maintains data bases used by mail order and catalog companies. Consumers can have their names removed by writing Epsilon Data Services, PO Box 1478, Broomfield, Colo., 80038 or by e-mailing their name and address to abacusoptout@epsilon.com for U.S. or abacusoptout_ca@epsilon.com for Canada. For more information, click on Abacus Opt Out.
Related Post: Reducing Junk Mail
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Welcome to Verda Vivo. My name is Daryl Warner Laux.
I took time to read your Xmas catalog comments and they are good, nice job. I think I may just join in with the idea. Jaypea.
Thanks, hope you do! Even though I opt out of junk mail whenever and wherever I can, I get Christmas catalogs from merchants that I have purchased from over the course of the year.
I have been receiving Xmas card appeals in the mail but am taking Andy Rooney’s advice on these and other junk mail with return postage paid and stuffing that enveope with their appeal and sending it back to
them. You could do this with most any appeal or junk mail with return envelope. Jaypea
Jaypea, Thanks for your comment. I’m glad we figured out why your posts keep showing up as me. That was a little odd.
I sent an email to each of the following companies with the customer number and address exactly as it appears on the mailing label on the catalog. In every instance, the company has responded postively that they will remove my address. Thank goodness. If I had to call and navigate through a phone tree menu I would go out of my mind. Here’s the companies I’ve contacted so far:
1. Pottery Barn
2. WinterSilks
3. Sierra Trading Post
4. TravelSmith
5. The Sharper Image
I understand your issue. We actually mail catalogs from lists that we try to make sure are completely compatible with the products we sell. Unfortunately, our web marketing isn’t as effective as we’d like and our only viable channel that keeps us going is catalogs. We’re such a small company, and as green as possible as we can be within a workable business plan and product selection of the Asian decor we sell. We glean our data carefully and NEVER send a second catalog to someone who doesn’t order, which is, we feel, sound both ecologically and business-wise. We happily remove ANY customer who requests to be removed, by email or phone. I’m a soldier of the catalog wars, having grown up with 6 sisters and many roommates/partners who’ve been valuable namelist type people, unlike myself, so I’m on the same page, I hope.