Catalog Choice was formed with one primary purpose: conserve our planet’s precious natural resources by reducing the enormous amount of unwanted catalogs mailed every day.
In spite of our efforts not to demonize the industry, the Direct Marketing Association continues to send messages to catalog companies that paint Catalog Choice as the devil. The nasty things they say about Catalog Choice make us think that they are worried about the power of your wishes. Instead of working in the best interest of consumers, the actions of the DMA are driving a serious wedge between consumers and catalog companies. We think that’s bad business.
Our business is to help you quickly, easily and efficiently choose what catalogs enter your mailbox. Catalog Choice will do whatever it takes to help you exercise your right to choose and fulfill your wishes.
Our merchant service team is contacting catalog companies every day on your behalf. Our board and executive team are talking with executives throughout the direct marketing industry every day.
We have this one purpose and we plan to fulfill it – 100%.
Thank you for your continued support. If you have any questions, you can leave a comment on our blog – we read every comment.
Here’s the REAL way to get off the mailing lists.
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs4-junk.htm#1
Wow, from reading this, it seems like Catalog Choice doesnt work hardly at all compared to other sites I’ve seen. Someone else posted the Privacyrights.org website. I too wrote to DMA and did not pay them. I followed the directions for the Privacy Rights website and I do not get anymore catalogs. You just have to keep up with it if you order from a catalog after you wrote to DMA and stuff because all it takes is one catalog company not to listen when you say you dont want your information shared and then you’re right back in the mailing pool. The cost of a couple stamps paid off for me.
The customer number on back of magazines is often hard to decipher as which one is the real number. There are often multiple numbers that could be the customer number.(For example, on the back of the JC Penney magazine, there are about six numbers in order of decreasing probability, that they are the numbers we should be sending Catalog Choice.) Magazines or Catalog Choice need to make this number more transparent so we can help the process move more smoothly.
I think the concept and goal of this website is fantastic and noble, but I find that I’m actually receiving more catalogs than I did before I signed up and from new merchants that I’ve never heard of and certainly never shopped with. Is this happening to anyone else? Is this because the merchants that I’m opting out with are reselling my contact info now that they know they have accurate info?
I have yet to see my catalogs slow down, but it is still early in the game. I am seeing an increase–it seems as thought if I opt to refuse the one they regularly send me, they will put me on another list –these companies have many branches –so i have received catalogs for cheaper merchandise, and more expensive merchandise.
FWIW – I have been writing to companies directly now. Sometimes you have to hunt through the customer service section and write an actual message. Some actually have specific forms to get yourself removed from the mailing list (I hope this is a sign that they are serious about it and will take you off and keep you off! – one of these is Ross Simons – I get tons of catalogs from them and I don’t buy jewelry!). But two were catalogs that had confirmed my removal request here on catalogchoice.org. Another was one I had requested both here AND directly and both times they told me I wasn’t even on their list and that I must have received a “sample catalog.” Garbage. I’ve been receiving their catalog for years. I told them that the first time they came up with this lame answer. It’s becoming sadly apparent to me that it may not be possible to get off these lists, period. This is becoming a frustrating, time-consuming effort and I hope it doesn’t turn into a waste of time.
Ellen
I, too, have received more catalogs than before from a couple merchants who have refused or not confirmed my request. The new catalogs appear to be from their ’sister’ companies. I refuse to give up & I refuse to be discouraged. This is a worthy war, and I consider receiving these additional catalogs a request to engage. Keep at it & don’t give up. It will be worth it in the end. Saving our land, air, and water for our children & grandchildren is nothing short of noble. Indeed, how will one feel about oneself when one realizes one didn’t fight to save the lives those who come behind us? If that sounds melodramatic, what sort of lives will our children have if they can’t breathe clean air, can’t enjoy land & all its natural beauty, and have no healthy water to drink, let alone worthy land with which to grow food? These problems plague us now, but we’ve become accustomed to them. They will worsen if we don’t put the brakes on the thoughtless damage we cause, both passively & actively. The catalog industry is well-rooted and seems to require significant effort to understand how we feel about their treatment of us and to act appropriately. That’s fine. In the words of Og Mandino, I will persist until I succeed.
It’s helpful to get other perspectives and I appreciate what the DMA folks are saying – up to a point. At my old job, my phone number was very similar to the DMA’s and I would get all kinds of wrong numbers – people would yell at me that I was the root of all evil, allowing their names to be given out, etc. I actually found myself defending the DMA and very politely would explain to these people that they (the DMA) can indeed help them get off the lists – and I would give them the correct number to call.
However, the bottom line is that the “system” makes it very difficult to opt out and if this website can even help just a bit – then great! And if the DMA and the more resistant catalog companies could help “just a bit too” then what a difference that could make!
Just as carrying around disposable bottled water is quite out of style now – so too will be wasting paper and other resources. Good luck to catalogchoice.org.
Thanks, LHS, for your comments. You’ve made a really important and valuable point – many of the systems out there are designed to help people to get off of unwanted mailing lists on a voluntary basis. If we all try a little harder, we can succeed and make this work to our mutual benefit – Merchants, Trade Associations, Independent Websites, and Consumers. And the big winner will be the environment. Thanks for your perspective.
I wish companies would do three things:
1.) Make any cust# or id# clear and easy to find, well-labeled.
2.) Have a catalog opt-out checkbox on every web order form and every paper order form. And respect this.
3.) Have a “do not share my name” checkbox on every web order form and every paper order form. (Better yet, make it an opt-in if people wish to receive mailings from related companies.)
Some merchants already do this. We should thank them for this responsible approach, and reward them with our business. Those who don’t, we should keep telling them we want these options, and we want them respected.
The alternative is some kind of privacy legislation…allowing me the right to say where my name goes. I don’t think we want that, it would be costly, ugly and messy and would probably impair business. Why don’t merchants get on board now and show that they care about our wishes, that will solve the problem for the most part. If they did this Catalog Choice would not even be necessary.
Sillia, good point about the privacy legislation. The National Do Not Call list has helped the unwanted phone calls TREMENDOUSLY. And you can take action if companies don’t honor your request. I suppose something similar can and will be done for catalogs. But I agree that merchants should get on board now.
A last comment/question on all the different versions of a name that can appear on a label – if the computer-generated list doesn’t match somebody’s name in a catalog’s database (eg. Doe on W Oak St vs. J. Doe on West Oak Street), then why can’t they find it manually? They could find “Doe” on “125 West Oak Street” and cancel all related mailings. I understand this is manual, but wouldn’t it take less time than my calling their customer service deptartment and doing it that way? Is the problem that they are receiving too many manual requests at once?
I remember reading a blog from some vendor saying that people are declining catalogs that are not in any system, as if Catalog choice participants are merely doing this for the good of their health – randomly declining catalogs that they IMAGINE they receive.
Well I contacted one HARTFORD YORK today – not on Catalog Choice’s list (yet) – men’s hats – remind me of Frank Sinatra. NO interest to me whatsoever. Thought I’d try and stop any more of them coming…..
Did I have a customer number?
Nope.
“Well you’re not in our system, so I can’t stop something that’s not in our system.”
“You only got a catalog because you bought something from a another catalog and they sold your name.”
This we know…..
“I can put your name into the system and then add don’t sell to it.”
I don’t think so…..
“Otherwise there’s nothing we can do. You may get more catalogs from us..if you buy from other catalogs”
I guess it’s ALL MY FAULT.
Catalog companies should be MANDATED to give you a way to opt out of their mailing list. A self-addressed, stamped postcard with your customer number should be included in each catalog, allowing you to check a box saying “Opt Out”. Websites should be required to have an place to contact the company with a simple form to fill out to decline their mailings. I think this would go a long way toward eliminating unwanted mail and relieving all the frustration out there. If these companies truly cared they would have these options clearly posted. I too have opted out of catalogs here months ago and am still receiving many of them. I shouldn’t have to waste my time phoning and emailing companies that invade my mailbox against my wishes. In fact, I have called companies in the past, spoke to the customer service department and asked to be removed from mailing lists only to continue to receive catalogs.
I’ve been using your site since 11/07. Not much improvement. I have repeatedly opted-out on the same catlgs. over & over. I was hoping this would be the answer to unwanted catlgs. But, I don’t think it’s working.
I read through all the comments on this blog and nobody asked Jenny what catalog company she worked for. I’d like to know. Maybe they’re on ‘my choice’ list.
Appreciate the info guys, thanks