This weekend one of our team members received their Room & Board catalog.  We noticed the message printed on the back of the catalog informing receiptents that they can go to Catalog Choice to opt-out of the catalog mailing.  This is another way how our free service benefits merchants.  They don’t need to build a service to accept opt-out requests - they can just point their customers to our free service.  No more phone calls to customer service just to opt-out.  It is free and easy across the board.  Sorry for the fuzzy image.  If you click the image it will open in a new browser window and you can read the text they used.

We are working on some standard language and a logo that will fit neatly on the back of the catalog.  Until then, feel free to use our mailbox logo or just text as Room & Board has done.

“Free and green. Those are the goals of a pilot program launched today by the U.S. Postal Service that allows customers to recycle small electronics and inkjet cartridges by mailing them free of charge.”

An innovative program was launched by the USPS in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and San Diego this week.  The program, in association with Clover Technologies Group, a nationally recognized company that recycles, remanufactures and remarkets inkjet cartridges, laser cartridges and small electronics, provides pre-paid mailers that you can pick-up at the post office and use to recycle  small electronics and inkjet cartridges.

Read the entire press release here.

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.

Do you know how much mail is “Undeliverable As Addressed” (UAA). The United States Postal Service estimates that as much as 34 percent of mail pieces in the mail stream — one out of every three — falls into this enormously costly category. According to a recent USPS study, 1.6 billion pieces of mail were returned, 1.985 billion pieces of mail were forwarded, and over 6 billion pieces of mail were discarded. That’s almost 10 billion pieces of mail that may never reach its intended recipient.

This costs the Postal Service $1.8 billion annually to process this mail, and it costs the senders $5-7 billion to produce and mail those catalogs and letters that are never produced.

Why is some mail undeliverable as addressed? There are a number of reasons. One has to do with the number of people who move each year. Over 40 million Americans change their address annually, which creates formidable obstacles in maintaining a high-quality mailing list. And, the folks that move don’t always submit a Change of Address form to the post office. In fact, only 30% of Americans do that. Another reason has to do with incorrect or incomplete addresses, such as typos, missing apartment numbers, or incorrect zip codes. Although many mailers use address correction software, it only catches a portion of these UAA’s.

So, do the Postal Service, the mailers, and the environment a favor – if you move, fill out a Change of Address form and have your mail forwarded to your new address. If your local government changes your address for some reason (usually for updated zip codes), make sure that the people you receive mail from know that. And, if you happen to receive mail for someone who lived in your house or apartment before you, please recycle it appropriately, or mark it “Moved” and return it to the sender so that they know to remove that name/address from their mailing lists.

Get a lot of unwanted mail? In 2005, more than 19 billion catalogs were mailed to American consumers – whether they wanted them or not — creating millions of tons of wasted paper and jamming millions of mailboxes full of unwanted catalogs.Many of those catalogs were not printed on environmentally-preferable papers.Catalogs represent a unique opportunity for significant, positive impacts on the environment. The U.S. direct mail advertising industry is comprised of approximately 3,750 businesses, including catalog companies. Unfortunately, the recycled content in catalog papers and recycling rates for catalogs are extremely low compared to other commonly used paper products such as newspapers. Among catalog companies surveyed in 2002, only 12% used recycled paper for their primary catalogs and 18% for their order forms. Fully two-thirds reported using no recycled paper at all. In addition, unlike other direct mail materials such as advertisements, the paper used for catalog production is both bleached and gloss coated, which can result in toxic chemicals released into the environment.Catalogers use over 3.6 million tons of paper each year, which translates to over 8 million tons of trees. By increasing recycled content and sourcing paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (the only credible standard for sustainable logging), catalogers could greatly decrease their negative environmental impact, cut air and water pollution, and decrease the amount of paper filling up landfills.In addition, it is estimated that 95-98% of catalogs go directly from the mailbox to the garbage or recycling can. Finally, discarded paper comprises the largest component of the municipal waste stream, due in part to the fact that catalogs and magazines have among the lowest recycling rates of all printed materials (possibly due to older recycling habits where glossy paper materials had to be separated from other paper products). Today, 34% of the discarded material in the municipal waste system is from paper and paperboard, and 50% of that gets recycled. That’s still a lot of paper going to waste!To learn more about the benefits of recycled paper, visit the Environmental Paper Network’s website at www.environmentalpaper.orgAnd to help catalogers reduce the amount of mail they send (and the natural resources they use), sign up at www.catalogchoice.orgPosted by:Laura HickeyNational Wildlife Federation