Comments on: In Sam’s own words

By: Liz

Liz — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 07:16:42 +0000

It is true that just registering on this site is not going to stop all your catalogs and junk mail, but there is no site that will do it all. You still have to be pro-active about not getting on in the first place, it’s true. This site basically replaces most of the catalogs I would have to call directly & be removed from. Given the option of piling my covers up & entering them for a few minutes online, I’d much rather do that than call everyone, wait on hold, find out there not open till later, punch a bunch of buttons on my phone, hold some more, just to stop catalogs. No, Catalog Choice won’t get you off Abacus & the other rental lists, but neither would calling the catalog. Sign up at the DMA, etc for that- but those services won’t stop catalogs from places you’ve shopped from, so you’d still have to call them or do it here. Also- Julia Johnson- it’s really not in a company’s best interest in any way to infuriate you by sending you catalogs you don’t want, for all the reasons already mentioned all over this site. There is not probably a conspiracy at Victoria’s Secret to flood your mailbox. More likely it’s just a very inefficient system for dealing with customer database- or you have various permutations of your name/address. Do you have any idea how many Julia Johnsons are probably in the world? or in your zip code? Gather up all your numbers & catalogs you have, and give them a call. If your respectful and nice more than likely the rep would be happy to help you remove all the various catalogs your recieving. If they’re not helpful, only then do they deserve your wrath.

By: Julia Johnson

Julia Johnson — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 18:00:43 +0000

I have found that when I ask OptOut to intercede for me with merchants, I am only partially successfully.
Victoria’s Secret is especially uncooperative. During the 2008 Calendar year, I have received five catalogs, all of which have been contacted by OptOut. Each time that happens, I keep receiving VS’ catalogs, but each successive catalog has a different account number. Their tactics seem to be to ignore me by infuriating me with a new account number, causing me to have to opt out again, and again, etc.
Tomorrow I will call their customer service phone number and see what happens.

By: Elizabeth S.

Elizabeth S. — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:35:10 +0000

I will do anything to try to reduce the volume of unwanted “junk” in my mailbox. I live in Hawaii where we are way behind the times and only started recycling 2 years ago. Paper is the largest polluter. So all those (heavy) catalogs float over here on barges, I collect boxes of them, haul them back to the recycle station and then they get driven to the port and barged back to the continent. I have tried calling companies directly w/. partial success so I welcome this service. If it cuts the volume by 50% it will be a big help. Now I want everyone in the 50th State to do the same. We’re drowning in garbage and junk mail and we need to stem the tide as best we can. This is a good place to start.

By: Rod Ford

Rod Ford — Sat, 31 May 2008 12:58:47 +0000

I would like to raise another issue that is not commonly talked about regarding wasteful mail. True enough consumer choice is important - however, after the consumers indicates interest to recieve there is still the challenge of getting the catalog to the consumer when they move and getting all of the complex duplicates out of the mail (married/maiden names). 70% of all undeliverable mail is caused by an unidentified move. For more detail on this subject visit blog.cognitivedata.net.

By: Greg H.

Greg H. — Fri, 30 May 2008 20:36:12 +0000

I agree totally with Yvonne’s posting about a DO NOT MAIL opt-out similar to the DO NOT CALL registry. Recently I saw on a Canadian Broadcasting Co. newscast that a DO NOT MAIL opt-out is law in Canada, although the report was showing how most “Canadians on the street” interviewed were not aware of this law. I can just hear the direct mail lobbyists and the USPS claiming how much more our mail will cost if direct mail is eliminated (and perhaps it would). But at least there might be awareness of a need for the registry among those willing to sign up.

By: Sharon Hurd

Sharon Hurd — Fri, 30 May 2008 00:34:10 +0000

I joined CC thinking I received 5 or 6 catalogs. After opting out every month since December I really can’t believe I have been receiving so many. Think about the people who are NOT paying attention!! I have stopped shopping with merchants who refuse to take me off their list and like many others have begun shopping with retailers(from this site) that choose to act responsibly. Heads ups, watch your sales…..

By: Yvonne Camesi

Yvonne Camesi — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:54:40 +0000

Hi Tracy! I am very pleased with CC.org’s progress too. 85 Confirmed! Received about 15 catalogs this month mainly hangers on that just keep on and on.

This is for everyone, To change the subject a bit, I visited forestethics.org yesterday and came across a very well written blog by Anne Landman (she works for PRWatch.org). Her discussion of MPS’s, USPS and more really mirrored alot of what Tracy, myself and many countless others including CC.org have written on this site. I called her company and explained the similarities to a very nice person who said they will pass that on to Anne. This person also said that Anne usually writes about tobacco but has received several responses both good and bad and it was quite a surprise.

CC.org, I am glad to be a member and that you retain past postings so people can go back and see what consumers including myself have experienced in calling and writing catalog companies to opt out and their failure to listen. This is a great tool for new members!

Justin, Been trying to get off by calling catalogs since Sep07, writing to them since late Dec07. Then joined these guys in late Jan08. We were getting over 100 catalogs a week. I still do call them and restrain from being rude as the Cust Svc Rep is just doing what they are trained to do. I always put thought into what I’ve posted here and have gone governmental only as a last resort because I firmly believe that a Do Not Mail law needs to be passed so CC.org can make a big big difference in providing what they offer - a right to choose what goes in our mailboxes.

Atleast I know that I’ve joined thousands of others in doing something to catch the governments attention to go Green rather than sit and stew about it. As I said in one of my first blogs on this site months ago, it’s my bag and not everyone’s else’s to belong to CC.org and “run to the government” but I’ll continue on.

By: Tracy Glomski

Tracy Glomski — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:41:42 +0000

The reduction at our place is a lot better than half, Justin! I’m not sure what I wrote that might’ve given the wrong impression. Of the 71 opt-outs in my Catalog Choice account, only four of those merchants sent any catalogs in May. That’s a 94 percent success rate for this month. I remain hopeful that it will eventually reach 100 percent.

PrivacyRights.org is a very good site. I’ve seen it before, but I’m glad you linked to it for those who haven’t. The fact sheet is unfortunately a little out-of-date for the DMA info, since their registration period dropped from five years to three years sometime in 2007. I actually agree with you that OptOutPrescreen is a tremendous help. I stopped getting credit card offers almost immediately after I signed up there.

DMA’s mail preference service failed me, though. Chuck is right about the prospecting mailings, but heck, DMA couldn’t even stop those for me. I think the DMA has no real power to enforce member compliance (and no great motivation to do so, for that matter). Frankly, I don’t see anything which stops various data vendors from simply ignoring the DMA’s suppression lists. There’s no transparency, so who’s gonna know who’s playing fair and who’s not? I didn’t bother going the Abacus route because Epsilon is supposed to honor opt-outs submitted through the DMA. That is clearly stated on the AbacusOptOut.com webpage. I shouldn’t have needed to register at both places if the DMA system had actually been working.

I’m thrilled you’ve stopped receiving junk mail. That’s great. We’ve reduced our own household trash nearly to the point where we can discontinue our curbside pick-up altogether. We compost our food scraps. With just a little more care and with the unwanted mailings under control, we could haul the remaining waste to the landfill/recycling center about once every month or two.

Since you’re not having any problems, though, I have to ask: why are you even posting here? It doesn’t make sense to me that you’d be all up in arms about a service that’s apparently of no longer of any interest to you. Surely you have better things to do with your time than saving all of us who’ve supposedly been bamboozled by a service that’s…well, free. I can’t figure out what the detractors want—a money-back guarantee?

Personally, I remain happy with the progress Catalog Choice has made, and I will continue to use this service through the holiday season and beyond.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:29:36 +0000

Justin:

You are not telling the whole story. If you purchase from a merchant, then the other services you reference (DMA, ABACUS, etc.) will not remove your name. These services are only for “prospects”. The only way to effectively stop mail/catalogs from a merchant with whom you have been a customer is to either use a service like ours or call the merchant directly. Neither one of these approaches are guaranteed. At least with Catalog Choice, we can provide systematic approach that is easy for consumers and merchants.

In response to your comment to Daniel, you are not aware of the way the process works. If you opt-out of a catalog on our service or by calling a merchant, your name is added to a merchant-specific do not mail list or flagged in their customer database as “do not mail/do not rent”. If the merchant follows the privacy guidelines, all names on this list are suppressed from mailings each time they put together a mail drop.

You seem to be quite well informed about the process, so we hope that you can be supportive of services like ours that are trying to fill the voids and make it easier for everyone.

By: Justin

Justin — Wed, 28 May 2008 15:28:58 +0000

Tracy:

That’s nice. :-) I’m glad they’ve been “partially” sucessful for you. I went through DMA, ABACUS, ACXIOM and OPTOUTPRESCREEN and so far I’ve gotten NO JUNK MAIL since. So if you’re still getting HALF the catalogs you used to, then that’s great. I prefer to haul NO catalogs or any other JUNK MAIL to the recycling center and be forced to pay for it. Around here we have to pay for recycling by the BAG so going through a website that only HALF works is not an option for me. :-)