Spreading the Word: Cut Down on Catalogs

Kali introduced me to a really neat idea for a website, when it came up in conversation that I haven't gotten very far in my plan to call companies and tell them to stop sending me their catalog. There are only a few I want to get, and I get more catalogs all the time, and don't they come far more frequently than they used to? If everyone went by the rule my company does, and did their catalogs twice a year, that would be one thing, but honestly, some of them come every six weeks! I haven't even looked at the last one yet and here's another one. If my side table wasn't strong, it would collapse under the weight.

Whoops. Ranting there. Sorry. The point is, Kali told me about this website called Catalog Choice, which streamlines your unsubscribing process by listing many, many catalogs and working with the companies to stop wasting this appalling amount of paper. It's sponsored by the Ecology Center and endorsed by other nature-loving entities, if you're wondering why someone wants to do this for us. Read all about it at their site.

How did it work for me? Pretty well. The only snag was that I had to request that they resend the e-mail I needed to authenticate my account, since it didn't show up at first. But it came the next day, so that wasn't too bad.

I went through the pile and pulled out the catalogs I knew I didn't want anymore (most of them), and took the stack to the computer. You can either enter the name to search, or look at an alphabetized list, and it's a long list! I found all but one of the catalogs I wanted, making it 26 for 27, which did impress me. Overall, I found the site to be easy to use, and will give it two thumbs up even before finding out how much it helps.

A few facts:

• if you have a customer number, you can enter it for added accuracy in unsubscribing
• be aware, some of the companies with a "The" at the front of their name are filed under "T", and some are not
• you can request that they add a company that isn't listed, and they'll let you know when it's added
• they tell you it takes up to 10 weeks for the catalogs to stop, which I understand, and you can report any catalogs that keep coming
  

If you feel as I do ("Where does all this come from? If I want something I'll order it from the website"), I encourage you to join up for this. Though if you want to wait until I report back in ten weeks, that's fine too.

Right now, I have to go watch the NHL All-Star Weekend Skills Competition. It tends to be more fun than the game (which is tomorrow), anyway.