Archive for the ‘Catalog Choice’ Category

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Stop Unwanted Mail to Your Company Too!

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Many great solutions  start by addressing a household problem (Quicken) and then expand to help your company (Quickbooks).  Catalog Choice is following the same path.  Today we are pleased to announce that we have added Company Name to the address profile for our Member accounts.  At the same time, we have added Company Name to the secure data file that we transfer to the mailer.

If you are a small business owner, you can add your office address to your existing Catalog Choice account.  To do this, go to your profile and add a new address.  Set the ‘nickname’ for this address to your company name and make sure you add your company name to the address profile.

Catalog Choice - Control the catalogs you receive in the mail

If you work at a larger company and want to stop the flow of unwanted advertising mail at your office, create a new account dedicated to your office location.  You can add names of long lost employees that continue to get mail to your account.  We have kept the sign up form simply so Company Name does not appear on the sign up form.  After signing up, go to your profile, scroll down to the Address area and edit the address so you can add the Company Name.

We know that the companies that send catalogs and advertising mail to your office are different than those that mail to your home.   As a result, we are working on a new system that will streamline the process of suggesting and adding new mailers to our service.  In the meantime, use our Suggest a Catalog page to let us know of mailers that you want us to add to our system.

Posted in Catalog Choice, Featured | No Comments »

Our New Member Blog

Friday, February 5th, 2010

We have just launched a new Member Blog powered by Posterous (http://members.catalogchoice.org).  Check out the new blog here.

This blog is designed for our Members to share stories about their efforts to reduce unwanted mail and go paperless.

You can share a story on the Member Blog by emailing the story to:

post@catalogchoice.posterous.com

The subject line of your email will be the title of the blog post.

Any photos you include in the email will be included in the blog post.

Posted in Blogs, Catalog Choice | 2 Comments »

Help Spread the Word Offline

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

When you are a small scrappy company like Catalog Choice, you need to come up with creative ways to spread the word about your service.  My teenage daughter encouraged me to go offline with information about Catalog Choice.  We’ve designed the poster, below, that you can easily print and hang up anywhere.

Print copies of our poster and “post” them at work, school, gym, community center, or wherever you think others will see it.  Thanks!
Click here to download the poster
catalog_choice_poster.pdf (1 page)

Posted in Catalog Choice | 3 Comments »

City of Seattle Passes Do Not Mail Resolution

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Today the City of Seattle passed a non-binding resolution asking the State of Washington to set up a do not mail registry and directing the Seattle Public Utilities agency to evaluate the existing mail preference services as an option to provide an effective service to Seattle residents.  This second part of the resolution is in direct response to feedback from the industry.  As the largest independent voluntary mail preference solution, we welcome the opportunity to inform the City about what it takes to run an effective voluntary service.

You can view the Council’s discussion on the topic by viewing this video of the City Council meeting.  Click Resolution 31169 from the right hand side index or fast forward to 46:50 of the video.

Posted in Catalog Choice, Featured, News | 3 Comments »

Seattle Contemplating DNM Resolution

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

Like San Francisco, the City of Seattle will be voting on a resolution that requests the State to establish a Do Not Mail registry.  The concepts is being openly discussed at this West Seattle Blog and was reported by the local news in this piece.

What do you think?  We will follow the vote and let you know the outcome.  To learn more you can find the draft resolution here and all sorts of articles on the topic here.

Posted in Catalog Choice, News | No Comments »

New Year’s Resolution: Get Organized

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

If your New Year’s resolution involves getting and staying more organized, you might need some spiffy new bins and baskets. Crate & Barrel, a participating merchant, offers many options including these eco-friendly totes. Knowing that your baskets are made from non-toxic & renewable materials makes filling them with your stuff even better.

Brampton Low Open Totes

$6.95 – $12.95

reg. $9.95 – $18.95

Crate and Barrel - Brampton Low Open Totes shopping in Crate and Barrel Baskets

Eco-friendly totes in a sweater weave of twisted natural water hyacinth with a touch of rattan and a warm light brown lacquer finish. Handcrafted with sturdy metal frames, cutout handles and rounded corners. Two sizes nest when not in use.

Want to make a list of Crate & Barrel products and keep it on your desktop or personal homepage? The Crate & Barrel iCatalog holds their full product line in a compact, portable widget that lets you search for products, build lists and share your discoveries with friends.

Note: a portion of any purchase made through the iCatalog or the link in this blog post goes to support Catalog Choice.

Posted in Catalog Choice, Green Product Choice | 4 Comments »

Recycling Now Law for San Diego

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

For the New Year, San Diego is resolving to dramatically increase the amount of waste residents recycle, including advertising mail. An ordinance went into effect on January 1st and applies to virtually everyone and everything in the City. The law requires recycling of plastic, glass, paper, newspaper, metal containers and cardboard at private residences, commercial buildings, and at special events requiring a City permit. Those who ignore warnings can face fines of up to a thousand dollars. City officials hope that a recycling mandate will stretch the time San Diego can use the Miramar landfill, which is nearing capacity and slated for closure around 2017. To make recycling easy, some apartment complexes are conveniently locating recycling bins for residents, including placement next to mail boxes.

At the Colima Linda apartment complex, which got started on the program a couple of months ago, as much as 50 percent of its trash has been diverted to recycling; A good start, but not yet on target if the City is to meet and exceed its diversion goals. Currently, the State of California requires local governments to reduce waste disposed in landfills by 50 percent.  In 2008, the City of San Diego achieved 64 percent diversion. City officials are striving to exceed that rate every year. This goal seems doable since about two-thirds of waste headed to the local landfill is recyclable. Go San Diego!

Better yet?  Stop the waste at the source and take actions like reducing unwanted mail through Catalog Choice! We’ll soon announce our expanded service addressing other forms of advertising mail to help you and your towns and cities meet waste reduction goals.

Posted in Catalog Choice | 2 Comments »

One Man’s Solution to Junk Mail

Monday, January 4th, 2010

A little junk mail comedy:

Andrew Kennedy – Junk Mail
comedians.comedycentral.com
Joke of the Day Stand-Up Comedy Free Online Games

Create an account at Catalog Choice – it is a much more effective way to control junk mail.

Posted in Catalog Choice | 1 Comment »

Helping America keep a New Year’s Resolution

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

We resolve to put our mailbox on a diet.

Whenever you receive an unwanted catalog, rip off the back cover, recycle the rest and set the back cover next to your computer.  Next time you go online or at least once a week, login to your Catalog Choice account and enter your opt-out request.  It takes less then 30 seconds from start to finish.

If we all resolve to spend at least one minute setting our mail preferences every week, we will eliminate hundreds of pounds of unwanted mail.  Be part of the solution.

Posted in Catalog Choice, Environment | No Comments »

Why Tree Farms are not a solution

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

When talking to the DMA and other advocates for direct mail, it is often argued that any impact caused by the harvesting of trees for advertising mail is offset by the fact new trees are planted and some of the paper comes from tree farms.  I was always troubled by this argument but did not have a solid response, until now.

Bernd Heinrich, emeritus professor at the University of Vermont, wrote an excellent op-ed in the December 20th New York Times titled Clear-Cutting the Truth About Trees.

Heinrich notes:

Part of the problem is the public misunderstanding of how forests and carbon relate. Trees are often called a “carbon sink” — implying that they will sop up carbon from the atmosphere for all eternity. This is not true: the carbon they take up when they are alive is released after they die, whether from natural causes or by the hand of man. The only true solution to achieving global “carbon balance” is to leave the fossil carbon where it is — underground.

Beyond that, planting more trees is decidedly not the same thing as saving our forests. Instead, planting trees invariably means using them as a sustainable crop, which leads not only to a continuous cycle of carbon releases, but also to the increased destruction of our natural environment.

The solution is to reduce the volume of natural resource consumption.  Catalog Choice is dedicated to providing a service that allows us, as a society, to reduce the volume of unwanted mail.

Posted in Catalog Choice, Environment | 1 Comment »

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