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We will not take “no” for answer

Businessweek published an article this week about Catalog Choice and the response that we have had from the Direct Marketing Association and a small collection of merchants.

The graphic they created for the article tells the story in a simple, crisp image:

pop_0753_35news.jpg

The article highlights a memo that John Greco Jr. wrote to catalog merchants on November 30th and special meeting the DMA called on December 17th about Catalog Choice.

Subject: ACTION ALERT FOR CATALOG COMMUNITY

ACTION ALERT!

TO: THE CATALOG COMMUNITY ON THIRD PARTY SUPPRESSION LISTS
CC: Related Industries
FR: John A. Greco, Jr.
ACTION: “JUST SAY NO”
DATE: November 30, 2007

We are sending this important message to our members in the catalog channel to alert you to a critical issue. DMA catalog segment members have been approached by organizations who want you to accept their mail suppression lists. We urge you to refuse to use their service and “Just say No”. We strongly urge you not to accept third party non-authenticated mail suppression lists ….

We are surprised that any merchant would not honor the requests of their customers. We will diligently continue to work on behalf of consumers to reduce unwanted catalogs. Neglecting these requests fails to serve the public interest, the environment, and ultimately, the industry itself. We find that a vast majority of the merchants that we speak with are working with us to honor your opt-out requests.

To date, only one merchant - The Potpourri Group - has informed us that they do not want to accept your requests entered at Catalog Choice. Shortly after the joy of the holiday season passes, we will be in conversations with the Potpourri Group to make sure that they acknowledge the over 50,000 consumers who have indicated that they no longer wish to get Potpourri’s catalogs in the mail. Simply stated, we will not take “no” for an answer. If you would like to voice your opinion to the Potpourri Group, you can contact them at:

Potpourri Group Inc.
222 Mill Road,
Chelmsford MA 01824

Telephone: 978-256-4100
Email: info@potpourrigroup.com

Update: Potpourri Group retracts the above statement - read more here.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 24th, 2007 at 2:00 am and is filed under Catalog Choice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

18 Responses to “We will not take “no” for answer”

  1. it’s amazing to me how short-sighted the DMA people are. With the proliferation of web sites, there’s no need to have a catalog at hand to do one’s shopping (although granted the catalogs do serve to attract additions to the “wish list”) - and do the marketers really want to tell the opters-out “we don’t give a damn what you want, we’re sending you our catalog”? I’m not going to shop at merchants who ignore my request to opt out.

    barbara levitan on December 24th, 2007 at 5:25 pm

  2. Catalog Choice is well positioned to accomplish the dual task of both cutting waste off at its knees by reducing the number of mailings produced , delivered and disposed of unread, as well as moving us to redefine the future role of the U.S. Postal Service . The bulk mail program should be pared back as it unwisely promotes the production and delivery of junk-mail. This conflicts with many so societies higher goals.
    In my recent book “Advancing Time” reshaping the mission of the Postal Service in our ever faster changing world is one example of the adjustments we must make .Catalog Choice advances that debate and promotes the move towards paperless choices .
    Bruce Wilds

    Bruce Wilds on December 25th, 2007 at 7:57 am

  3. I LOVE this service! The catalogs in my mailbox are nearly non-existent! It works in most cases. The only concern I have now is that the catalogs are changing my customer number and I can’t deny the catalogs with my current name and a new catalog number. What to do???

    Thanks!

    Patsy Nelson on December 26th, 2007 at 7:30 pm

  4. Patsy:

    We are aware that catalogs with the same name and a new catalog number are arriving. We will be modifying the service to accommodate this. Until we have updated the service, rip off the back cover and save it so you are ready when we add this feature in January.

    Chuck

    Chuck on December 26th, 2007 at 7:32 pm

  5. Hi, After personally declining more than 92 catalogs (amounting to hundreds of mailed catalogs) and indicating success to the more than hundred people I informed, catalogs are once again arriving in my mailbox. How do I let the businesses involved know that I will never buy any merchandise from them again, via the web, in store, or otherwise, if they do not respect my wishes?

    Please keep up this important work and let me know how I can help.

    Anneke Berken

    Anneke Berken on December 27th, 2007 at 2:54 pm

  6. I’m really shocked that DMA and merchants would take this position. Talk about bad marketing. It’s completely counter-productive. I wrote to Potpourri, and just wrote this to DMA:

    Dear DMA,

    I read in Business Week that you have advised your members not to honor the wishes of customers who have registered with catalogchoice.org and asked to be taken off your members’ mailing lists. That’s a surprisingly negative response from a merchant marketing association. It’s exactly the wrong direction to go in.

    Perhaps you are worried that consumers are trying to shut you down. No. Consumers are trying to stop delivery of hundreds of catalogs to their homes. That’s all. There are many ways other than catalogs to find out what a merchant sells. Refusing to honor consumers’ requests to stop sends the worst message to those consumers — that you have no regard for us at all.

    What you will end up doing is further alienating consumers who already are unhappy with the barrage of catalogs, and cause them to decline to purchase anything from the merchants who do not honor requests to stop sending catalogs. I am only purchasing merchandise from merchants who have honored my request, through catalogchoice.org, to stop sending catalogs. The merchants who continue to send me catalogs are now on my Do Not Purchase list. It’s actually a pretty easy way to tell what merchants have good customer service and which don’t, so in some ways, I guess your “Just Say No” stance is working for me… in a backwards way that I doubt you intended.

    Mary on January 3rd, 2008 at 5:43 am

  7. Please also report this to members of Congress and local news agencies. Really put the pressure on for the catalog retailers to remove those names from the list.

    I just spoke with the post office. When they know that a person no longer lives at an address and has no forwarding address, they simply throw the catalogs out and do not notify the catalog retailer to remove the name from their list.

    Anneke and others, if you call to request to not receive catalogs, also make sure to request that they don’t sell or rent your information. If a company removes you and then mails again, notify your Congress person.

    Unfortunately much of the catalog retailers receive your name from the government. If you’ve ever filled out a change of address with the post office, then your information was sold by the post office. We should also push for the government to stop selling our information.

    Darren Barr-Engstrom on January 4th, 2008 at 12:05 pm

  8. I happen to live in Chelmsford, MA and I’ve just completed e-mails to Senators Kennedy and Kerry and my representative Niki Tsongas. I specifically mentioned to Rep. Tsongas that I thought it was embarrassing that a local company in her district is outright refusing to honor opt-out requests. I also asked them all to support a Mailbox Bill of Rights so we will have the legal authority to enforce our wishes. 300,000 e-mails from members of Catalog Choice to Congress would really put pressure on the DMA.

    Tim Wysocki on January 5th, 2008 at 6:48 am

  9. I joined Catalog Choice in October 2007 and have since declined more than 100 catalogs! At one point, my mailbox seemed to reflect my action, but now I am finding that certain companies are still sending me their catalogs. I am using the “still receiving” button on Catalog Choice’s web site, but in addition, I am going to the web sites of those companies that are still sending me catalogs and sending them this email:

    “I signed up with Catalog Choice (www.catalogchoice.com) in October 2007 so that I could stop receiving catalogs via mail. I would like to continue to shop with “company”, but I prefer to do that online via your website. It appears that many catalog companies are ignoring Catalog Choice requests so I am writing directly to ask that you please take me off your mailing list. Thank you. “Include name and address here”

    Karen Anderson on January 5th, 2008 at 10:16 am

  10. I joined Catalog Choice in November after I linked to this site from the National Wildlife Federation. I am guessing that many members are like me and am trying to do something that is good for the environment. I can understand the DMA’s response, but I don’t agree with it. I have declined 20 catalogs that I have never purchased items from or requested a catalog from their company. I have declined from 10 others because I would prefer to help the environment and shop online instead. The DMA and companies need to respect their customers wishes or people will stop buying. I have already noticed that one company has changed my catalog number. I will no longer purchase any items from that catalog. If enough people take this action, they will be forced to respect the wished of customers or potential customers.

    Syndie on January 5th, 2008 at 4:00 pm

  11. I opted out of 128 catalogs. I was so frustrated with the numbers of catalogs I was receiving daily that I was trying to think of a way to stop them. Fortunately I saw Catalog Choice on GMA. My prayers were answered. These companies don’t even consider that other companies are also sending DMA and the poor postman is a victim as well as the receivers and our forests. Obviously my name has been sold to at least 124 other companies in which I have no interest. I resent that.

    Sandra Lunny on January 6th, 2008 at 10:42 am

  12. What the DMA fails to comprehend is that their hard line approach is going to alienate a significant percentage of customers. My blood’s already up. Here’s my reply to any retailer that wants my business - honor the request that Catalog Choice is making on my behalf or I will simply shop elsewhere. The ability to “just say no” ultimately resides with the consumer.

    J Ulbright on January 6th, 2008 at 3:38 pm

  13. [...] looks as if the the Direct Marketing Association is not thrilled with what Catalog Choice is trying to do. Which seems counterintuitive to me. After all, why spend [...]

    Throwing Marshmallows » Clean Up Your Mailbox on January 6th, 2008 at 4:23 pm

  14. Am I missing something here? I am continually receiving catalogs beyond the 10 weeks and I am continually going to the site and “Reporting and Infraction” at least twice a week! I have my doubts that anything communication is happening between Catalog Choice opters and the catalog companies!

    Tiffany on January 16th, 2008 at 4:18 pm

  15. [...] our December 24th post, we reported that the Potpourri Group had informed us in writing that they would not accept the [...]

    Catalog Choice - Paperless Blog » Blog Archive » Good News: Potpourri Group changes their mind on January 21st, 2008 at 7:25 pm

  16. One day I spent several hours phoning the customer service number at very many catalogs, practically begging them to take me off their list. It did no good at all, and in fact, some of the companies even started sending me even more catalogs, more frequently than before. Since I signed on with catalog choice, I am sorry to say that I am still getting very many repeat catalogs. How can these people treat their customers, and worse, the environment, with such blatant disrespect?

    Beverly on January 23rd, 2008 at 9:59 am

  17. [...] When the site first launched, the consumer response was (and continues to be) nothing short of amazing. It is clear that this site is meeting a very big need in the United States; that is the reduction of unwanted paper catalogs. The industry’s response was, expectedly, lukewarm, especially after the Direct Marketers Association (the DMA) issued an email to all its members to “Just say no!” to Catalog Choice. [...]

    Summit: The MakaluMedia Blog » Blog Archive » Catalog Choice registers half a million users! on January 28th, 2008 at 10:57 am

  18. [...] CatalogChoice unsubscribe requests. These mailers send out 19B (yes, Billion) catalogs a year. The DMA sent a letter to their members asking them to ‘just say no’ to unsubscribe request from useful [...]

    The DMA is the root of all evil - Dave Naffziger’s Blog on April 25th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
 

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