4 Responses to “Speaking at the National Catalog Advocacy & Strategy Forum”

1. CC.org,
   I hope this forum presents all avenues of all infected; mail list suppliers, catalog companies that also are wanna be mail list suppliers, consumers that have internet and also those consumer that do not have that luxury of internet. Were consumers invited????? I would have made great strengths to be there. Even sold pop cans for airplane ticket.

   Not all “market based” entities will honor their promises because they never did in the first place when a consumer calls and requests take “me off your mailing list”. The unending excuses are pathetic.

   A Do Not Mail Bill is a reality: This is an issue that has to be addressed and seriously considered because of issues dealing with not only environmental issues but Identity Theft. The victim is the consumer to deal with the waste and the harm of unauthorized exposure.

   In our household, we don’t want to have to dispose of unwanted waste and we don’t want our info sold and sold to mailing lists that we as consumers don’t authorized.

   Been lied to by too many catalog companies that promised we were off their lists by “We’re Sorry” it did not happen” another 1-2 mailings. Receipt of even “Confirmed” are now starting to happen to us.

   One company with a”Suppression Solution” is one that will renig when they feel like it with suffering no consequences to them but the consumer will.

   Yvonne Camesi on June 25th, 2008 at 6:53 pm

2. The comments of Yvonne Camesi say it all for me. I have been trying to stop the flood of mail for at least 15 years with little success. I see the catalogs as an invasion of my privacy and as a burden. Our privacy is protected with the telephone and not with my mailbox. It’s time some Federal laws stop the flood of unwanted mail of any type. Jerry

   Jerome J. Morrow on June 29th, 2008 at 8:21 am

3. Catalog Choice has been improving my daily life. Since February, I’ve more or less logged in every unwanted catalog I’ve received and now, very few are showing up with my mail. I really appreciate this great effort. Just the stupid act of taking off the back cover to shred the address and then walking the darn unwanted things to my recycling bin was annoying me to pieces. Imagine if I made silly brainless work for someone else, without asking him/her if they would like me to do so and then refused to stop when asked. By what standard is that acceptable behavior. Now consider how that someone is trashing the environment while bothering me? Seriously not good.

   I don’t see how merchants can defend not working with Catalog Choice.

   Lisa Pedicini on July 8th, 2008 at 4:05 pm

4. I support do not mail legislation. I don’t trust a marketing organization to take my personal info and protect it.

   I supported “Opt In” when that was being debated - i.e. the consumer opts in for advertising, without being solicited. Do Not Mail would not be necessary if Opt In was used instead of the current Opt Out.

   Service Magic (free), Angie’s list (paid) are steps toward a useful model to make info available to consumers who want to go looking for it.

   I only speak out on this particular topic because of the waste produced and inconvenience caused by the unwanted print catalogs. It can be prevented!

   Opt In is probably a model the DMA does not want to have discussed, so it can also be used as a bargaining chip. Use it. When legislation for unsolicited email reached a climax, opt in was a viable (and highly desirable) model and almost survived. As legislation for unsolicited catalogs builds up, don’t forget the lessons learned. Research the current info for how opt out on the internet has settled in. Unsolicited email continues to climb and account for wasted bandwidth that we all pay in increased ISP costs.

   Good luck with the DNM discussions!

   Deborah Stiltner on July 14th, 2008 at 1:50 pm