71 Responses to “Featured on the Today Show”

1. When I joined this morning, there were 432,258 members and 5,363,685 catalogs cancelled. Now there are 440,874 members and 5,384,745 catalogs cancelled. It’s be good to know the days tally after the Today show airing.

   Elaine Olthuis on January 24th, 2008 at 8:54 am

2. this is the best thing. so many junk magazines arrive and just get put right into the recycle bin. it’s wonderful to do whatever little bit we can to help the earth!!

   sue v on January 24th, 2008 at 9:05 am

3. The website seems a lot faster now… I just signed up and declined 12 catalogs. Thanks Catalog Choice!

   John K. on January 24th, 2008 at 9:17 am

4. This is fantastic!!! I sent the website to all my friends, so happy to help the environment and save our earth!!!

   Lynn McKenney on January 24th, 2008 at 9:26 am

5. Excellent website and I’m so glad it’s now mainstream. I get so many catalogs and they seem to follow me each time I move! My family is working to reduce our footprint on the environment and this is one more step we can take to reduce our waste!

   Tela on January 24th, 2008 at 9:26 am

6. John, we’re making minor modifications to the system to try to improve the responsiveness during this surge of traffic. It’s definitely faster now, though we’re not through this yet. :)

   Matt Henderson on January 24th, 2008 at 9:31 am

7. I have emailed to family and friends this wonderful site and service. Thanks so much.

   Joyce L. on January 24th, 2008 at 9:43 am

8. I to have enjoyed seeing the numbers increase today. I will FW this site to everyone in my address book. I sat down a few years ago and cancelled all of my catalogs, but still get soem so this is WONDERFUL.

   Marcie on January 24th, 2008 at 9:51 am

9. I have declined 15 catalogs so far, but they are still “pending” because I haven’t received my confirmation e-mail yet (I’ve tried twice to have it sent to me).

   Rita L. on January 24th, 2008 at 10:24 am

10. Great site! We’re talking about this over at Parent Talk Today.

    Would love to do a trackback to your site, but haven’t been able to make it work just yet. (Maybe because the site is so swamped after the Today Show segment!)

    Congrats and THANKS for what you’re doing!

    Kathy Sena

    Kathy Sena on January 24th, 2008 at 10:52 am

11. So glad the Today Show did the segment. I opted out of 44 catalogs today. i didn’t even realize we got so many. Thanks!! Hope this helps next fall with the Christmas mail.

    Megan P. on January 24th, 2008 at 11:01 am

12. I do ALL my shopping online. I ignore and recycle all my paper catalogs as soon as I receive them. It will be nice to not have to fan through books of catalogs to find pieces of mail that slipped in between the pages.

    Kristin A. on January 24th, 2008 at 11:10 am

13. Web site has been slow today, but I figured it was because so many of us saw the TODAY SHOW and are so fed up with all the junk mail. Thank you for helping us rid our recycling bins of this stuff and saving our environment. I forwarded the website information to ALL my friends and family.

    Linda G. on January 24th, 2008 at 11:12 am

14. Thankful I caught the Today Show today. This is a wonderful website and so easy to use. Thank you for helping me get rid of unwanted catalogs so easily. I will pass on this great information.

    Denise Netteberg on January 24th, 2008 at 11:31 am

15. There was some wrong information that was said on the Today Show. One of the ladies said that the companies have to comply with the opt-out request. That is actually not true. Some companies haven’t created a merchant account yet. This would be great if CC could get 100% compliance from all the vendors. Thanks CC.

    Jordan on January 24th, 2008 at 11:34 am

16. Many, many thanks. I sent it to everyone on my mailing list! Go trees!

    Nancy Hensler on January 24th, 2008 at 11:44 am

17. Jordan:

    What they said was that the company has to comply for it to work. You are right, they are not obligated by law to comply. They are only obligated by their commitment to their customers.

    We just got a call from a company that had previously told us they would not comply, but as a result of a phone call from an angry customer, they have changed their mind. Way to go!

    Chuck - Catalog Choice

    Chuck on January 24th, 2008 at 12:08 pm

18. If I have not received anything back from you all will the catalogs and accounts I submitted be cancelled ? and do I need to re-submit? thanks!

    Jennifer Krizek on January 24th, 2008 at 12:23 pm

19. This site is fabulous! Way to go Catalog Choice and the Park School for supporting it!

    Peggy R on January 24th, 2008 at 12:32 pm

20. Jennifer:

    You will need to verify your account by locating the verification email from Catalog Choice in your inbox and clicking the link in the email. Once you do that, we will process your opt-out requests. You can check the My Choices page of your Catalog Choice account to monitor the status of your request.

    Chuck - Catalog Choice.

    Chuck on January 24th, 2008 at 12:32 pm

21. Yup, I saw the Today segment too and signed right up, but due to the onslaught of new subscribers, it’s just a bit slow! No problem, will be back later. Thanks CC - this is brilliant!

    Kim on January 24th, 2008 at 12:49 pm

22. Just signed up today.I tried to decline Dell but it was the only link not working that I used.

    Mike Galbreath on January 24th, 2008 at 12:49 pm

23. Just signed up today.Dell was the only link that did not work.

    Mike Galbreath on January 24th, 2008 at 12:50 pm

24. Thank you! Thank you! And our poor mail lady thanks you! We literally get boxfuls of catalogs from her and will be soooo relieved to end this nightmare. Direct marketing never helped. My husband complains that we have to move to get them to stop!

    Barbara on January 24th, 2008 at 1:33 pm

25. I am so glad that I was watching the Today Show this morning and learned of your site. My letter carrier and I thank you!!

    Donna on January 24th, 2008 at 1:39 pm

26. Thanks for the wonderful service. I too saw the Today Show story and was quite impressed. I signed up to get off of about 15 mailing lists today.

    Janet C. on January 24th, 2008 at 2:13 pm

27. I have tried 3 times to get the necessary email but so far no luck, any ideas. I did wait about an hour each time. No email.

    Patsy Allen on January 24th, 2008 at 2:26 pm

28. This site is the best! I’ve let all my friends and family know about this service. It is awesome. Thanks!

    Colleen on January 24th, 2008 at 2:26 pm

29. Thank you for this site. I received 14 catalogs one day - too heavy! My recycling guys are beginning to balk at the load of catalogs.

    Kathleen Foley on January 24th, 2008 at 2:40 pm

30. Kudos to the school class for bringing the catalog issue to the forefront. I got rid of 15 catalogs today and will keep on eliminating them. One note, some catalogs will refuse to remove you from their mailing lists. I promptly emailed their customer service and asked them to delete me and they wrote back and said they removed my name. Thank you Catalog Choice.org

    Valerie Keller on January 24th, 2008 at 2:47 pm

31. I also saw the Today Show this morning & signed up immediately. Have sent your web site to all my friends. Keep up the good work, we need more web sites like this one to help keep our environment safe.

    Marlene on January 24th, 2008 at 3:04 pm

32. I got this website a few days ago and submitted some of my catalogs. I’ve been doing day by day as they come in. Much to my surprise, today was a zoo on the website!! Good for you for getting the publicity - bad for me for trying to get more catalogs listed!!

    Donna Howard on January 24th, 2008 at 3:17 pm

33. This is fantastic! I get tons of catalogs. I do all my Christmas shopping online and most shopping for my granddaughters who live out of state online. I don’t need the catalogs. I dug them out of my recycle bin and opted-out on your website today!! Still waiting for my verification email.

    Lynda Saibini on January 24th, 2008 at 3:28 pm

34. I LOVE this!! I canceled 58 catalogs, yes, 58 just now and am ecstatic. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

    Liz Bateman on January 24th, 2008 at 3:42 pm

35. What a great concept this is. Hopefully all the website owners out there will spread the word about this, and get the ball rolling.

    Huy K. Nguyen on January 24th, 2008 at 3:44 pm

36. how do i get on the site to cancel catalogs….will try later

    ellie eberley on January 24th, 2008 at 3:46 pm

37. Dear Friends:

    We may feel like we are little ants on this ant hill, but each of can be empowered to do miraculous impacts for the good of our planet.

    We also can cut paper napkins in half (along the fold), and use 1/2 napkin routinely for less messy meals.

    All the best to all of us, and our planet!

    Marcia Siegle
    Seattle,WA

    Marcia Siegle on January 24th, 2008 at 3:48 pm

38. Please send my e-mail confirmation number so that I can begin the process! I “declined” 73 catalogs this afternoon. Thank you! Thank you! the number of catalogs I got before Christmas was embarrassing!

    Mary Doherty on January 24th, 2008 at 3:56 pm

39. I watched the today show segment also. I am happy to cancel my catalogs.I would love to see all magazines offer online read subscriptions.

    Marianne B on January 24th, 2008 at 4:18 pm

40. Prior to your brilliant idea I had been calling individual customer service depts. to cancel catalogs; time-consuming and annoying, but I was desperate. THANK YOU!

    Glenna F. on January 24th, 2008 at 5:36 pm

41. I have deleted 212 catalogs since November but unfortunately, I can see that only a tiny percentage of the companies have actually confirmed that they will take me off of their list. Anyone having similar problems?? I have spent many HOURS keeping up with this and I really want it to work. Do we need to hassel the companies that have refused to take us off the list???
    THanks

    Leslie on January 24th, 2008 at 6:32 pm

42. Can’t get the confirmation e-mail, though I have clicked several times. It is not in my SPAM folder. HELP! I really want to use this wonderful service!

    Lisa on January 24th, 2008 at 7:11 pm

43. This is great. We joined in October with less than 100,000 individuals registered and cancelled catalog totals of less than 1,000,000. This growth rate is impressive and should let the catalog merchants realize how many people don’t want all these catalogs.

    David on January 24th, 2008 at 8:17 pm

44. Thanks, a few years ago I called some of the catalogs I didn’t want any longer. And it seemed they may have taken me off theirs but put me into some kind of a pool and now I get oodles, of unwanted catalogs. I just figured if I didn’t order they would stop. They say this is your last catalog, then next month send you again. Hopefully this will be the end.

    Thank you so much, your for providing this service and the kids/school for getting it on the news.

    Mary on January 24th, 2008 at 8:18 pm

45. When you receive a catalog that you’ve already declined, look at the customer number closely. After canceling, I’ve received some catalogs with the same name and address, but a different customer number. At present, Catalog Choice won’t let you decline it again under the new customer number.

    Dee Myer on January 24th, 2008 at 9:17 pm

46. Dee - We are aware of this issue. We will be modifying our service to address catalogs with new customer numbers. Save the back cover and we will let you know when this feature is available.

    Chuck on January 24th, 2008 at 9:48 pm

47. I am in charge of programs for my Womans group at my church and we are trying to Go Green this year. Thanks so much Today Show for this wonderful site. I will be sharing this Sunday at our meeting and I know that a few trees will be saved from this site. Thanks a lot!

    Lori Schalk on January 24th, 2008 at 9:51 pm

48. For each catalog order one places it seems that company has five other associate companies. And so on and so forth. Housing development mailboxes are so small as it is. Can’t wait to tell my neighbors. This is a fantastic find. Now…..if there was a way to stop the email ads too….. Thank you so much for this service.

    Paula Robertson on January 24th, 2008 at 11:46 pm

49. Thanks for offering such a this service. I have opted-out of 60 catalogs so far:) This is wonderful!

    Beverly on January 25th, 2008 at 4:14 am

50. HELLO Susanne - the top of this page clearly states “A great segment on the Today Show about Catalog Choice is airing today. If you come to the site and it is slow, it is only due to the fact that thousands of others are also signing up. Please bookmark the site and return later today or tomorrow”

    JAV on January 25th, 2008 at 4:19 am

51. when clicking on the activation link or cutting it and pasting in browser I am just taken to the initial page with no area for activating. Am i missing something?

    Donna S on January 25th, 2008 at 6:50 am

52. Thank you for this service
    I get so many catalogs especially at Christmas I find myself not even looking at them just recycling.

    Mary M. on January 25th, 2008 at 7:39 am

53. Pretty one sided reporting on “Today”s part. Please research the paper mills who use trees from their own forests which are replanted. The public is outraged at ever increasing mail costs. What do you think happens as mail volume continues to decrease? Postage prices will continue to climb as deliveries go down. Pretty simple economics. Is anyone concerned about jobs being lost at printing companies? Has anyone noticed the number of paper mills merging and closing? The printers and paper mills in the USA have been highly responsible in addressing evironmental concerns over the past few decades. Does “Today” realize how many of those cancelled catalogs were printed on recycled paper? I just hope that when laid off postal carriers, print craftsmen and mill workers go in search of new jobs, that they do so on bicycles. That’s going to be a lot of cars on the road all day every day, once these people are on the streets looking for work.

    Mike Murphy on January 25th, 2008 at 7:48 am

54. to Mike Murphy:

    What you’re saying is that catalogs need to be produced just so that people can keep their jobs? So personal computers should never have been manufactured, so typewriter companies could still stay in business, right? Come on! We ALL have to evolve and modify our lifestyles to what’s best for all of us.

    Personally, I only order on-line, and don’t see why I get catalogs, when I never even look at them. There’s a CHOICE to receive them, and I shouldn’t be forced to get them. The companies should listen to their customers and not send them if the customers don’t want them. It’s that simple.

    RB on January 25th, 2008 at 8:12 am

55. Don’t forget to check your spam filter(s) for
    confirmation/reply messages-have now canceled 16 catalogs-this is the greatest!!

    John W. Sanderson on January 25th, 2008 at 8:29 am

56. I was just wondering how long it will take for pending tag to change. when I clicked on the link from the email I went to the website but that is all that happened. I responded yesterday to the email and was curious how long before pending tag changes?
    Thanks For The website.
    Doug G.

    Doug Gassman on January 25th, 2008 at 9:20 am

57. Where have you been all my life???I am sure my postman will be grateful. I will tell all my friends

    Adrienne Cristiano on January 25th, 2008 at 10:40 am

58. WOW!

    Anna Barton on January 25th, 2008 at 11:15 am

59. They refused Catalog Choice request so I had to send an e-mail. This is their answer: Dear Ms. Gibson-Corcoran,

    Thank you for your email. Customer service and your satisfaction are very important to The Orvis Company.

    I have processed your request to be removed from our mailing list; however, our catalogs are printed up to six months in advance and it is possible that you may continue to receive residual catalogs. Overtime, the mailings will eventually stop. I appreciate the opportunity to have served you, and hope to be able to assist you once again in the future. If you have any questions, please let me know.

    Sincerely,
    Doug Nolan
    Orvis Customer Service
    customerservice@orvis.com
    1-888-235-9763

    Leah Gibson-Corcoran on January 25th, 2008 at 11:56 am

60. Great job with Park School and Today show. I recommend linking with faith-based groups and going after the junk fundraising mail next. Consider reaching out to National Council of Churches and others who want to educate their parishes (example: http://www.ants.edu for seminary working on energy conservation & recycling…I want one of those Varsity Recycling t-shirts…
    all best wishes, Sara Hamlen, Boston MA

    Sara Hamlen on January 25th, 2008 at 12:22 pm

61. Link this site to http://www.greenfaith.org or vice versa—
    check out this interfaith environmental group & examples at http://www.episcopalchurch.org (search environment)

    GreenFaith’s Staff

    Fletcher Harper
    Executive Director
    revfharper@greenfaith.org

    The Rev. Fletcher Harper is an Episcopal priest and GreenFaith’s Executive Director. Under Harper’s leadership, GreenFaith has developed series of innovative programs linking religious belief and practice to the environment. An award-winning spiritual writer and nationally-recognized preacher on the environment, he teaches and speaks weekly at houses of worship from a range of denominations in New Jersey and beyond about the moral, spiritual basis for environmental stewardship and justice. A graduate of Princeton University and Union Theological Seminary, he served as a parish priest for ten years and in leadership positions in the Episcopal Church before becoming GreenFaith’s Executive Director.

    Read more about Fletcher Harper.

    Sara Hamlen on January 25th, 2008 at 12:34 pm

62. Since your system maintenance today, neither the “contact us” nor the “search” nor the “decline” features work. I am also wondering how long it takes to remove the pending tag and activate my account.

    Pat Paulsen on January 25th, 2008 at 12:48 pm

63. Thank you Thank You

    Iris Halmos on January 29th, 2008 at 7:40 am

64. to Dee and Chuck: I’ve noticed many catalogs changing the customer number with each catalog. Rather than saving the back page, I put the new number (and the date I received the catalog) in a “note” in the “more ” section and edit the note when new numbers come in. At first I was changing the number directly, but then I lost the info about when I had originally opted out, as only the updated date was available, and lost the fact that I had had to change the number in the first place.

    LCK on January 29th, 2008 at 2:39 pm

65. I constantly get duplicate catalogs to work and home, but no more! Signed up a few minutes ago and already eliminated 6 (x2) catalogs from my life!

    Erin M on January 29th, 2008 at 7:20 pm

66. Thanks so much for the airing on the Today’s show. Myself and another member of our 130 club of women saw the show and are bringing it to the club as a service project. Tomorrow we will announce a contest to cancel 10K catalogs by March 1st.
    Our club puts on a large Home, Garden & Antique Show every year for the past 22 years - this year our theme is “Going Green”. So this is sooo exciting for us.
    Thanks again - this is a great website!

    Kristen Staggs on January 29th, 2008 at 10:34 pm

67. When you had the “Refused” tag for Orvis, I wrote them to complain about not honoring catalog choice opt-out requests. I mentioned that I wouldn’t be purchasing anything from them until I heard that they were honoring catalog choice opt-out requests. That’s a big sacrifice for me! (love their stuff) I’ve had responses from two different people at Orvis, both saying that catalog choice is a new service, they have no business relationship with you, and one of them said “we are not familiar” with catalog choice. I gave them the website address and encouraged them to learn more. Both emails to me suggested that DMA provides the service I want, but I’m not about to pay a dollar to get DMA (a merchants association) to stop something they initiated, nor am I about to give them my credit card number. (I think that Orvis is familiar with catalog choice, after reading earlier posts in this thread.)

    A curious thing was that one of them said she believed that they had not sent a letter to catalog choice refusing, and now I notice that the tag for Orvis says “Unconfirmed.” So I’m confused… did they refuse your request or not? I don’t want to be scolding companies if they have not actually refused.

    Thanks!

    Mary on January 30th, 2008 at 5:46 am

68. Mary:

    This weekend Orvis changed their position on Catalog Choice. They indicated that they would set up an account to download the names. As a gesture of goodwill, we changed the label to “Unconfirmed”. The label will automatically switch to Confirmed once they download the names.

    Orvis was well aware of us, perhaps the person you spoke with was not aware of this fact. We have been in correspondence with them since November.

    We are pleased that the additional pressure that consumers such as yourself put on Orvis caused them to change their position and start the process of honoring the request that you are entering on our site.

    Thank you for your efforts! You are helping us make this work.

    Chuck on January 30th, 2008 at 9:19 am

69. Yay. Isn’t that great news! Thanks so much for all the work you are doing to make this happen.

    Mary on January 30th, 2008 at 4:58 pm

70. My New Year’s resolution was to make changes. I use reusable shopping bags and energy efficient lights now. In the past calling companies still made it difficult to stop catalogs because if I ordered online the catalogs would start again. I am still receiving most of the catalogs I listed to stop over 2 months ago. I realize the companies are figuring this out, too. Thanks so much for trying to stop all this waste.

    Denise on February 1st, 2008 at 7:14 pm

71. I am part of the Master Recyclers program here in Portland OR and it is great to have a resource and support from a company doing the right thing. Prevention of the printing and distribution of unwanted mail/catalogs is critical. Thank you!

    Michelle Weiner on February 4th, 2008 at 11:30 am