Catalog Choice - You decide what gets in.

2008 was an amazing year for Catalog Choice.  We started the year battling a widespread boycott of our service, encouraged by the Direct Marketing Association.  We ended the year with almost 400 merchants under license, guaranteeing the suppression of over six million catalogs to almost 1.1 million households. To top it off, the DMA launched a service that mimics Catalog Choice in many ways – including the name (dmachoice.org).

In 2008, our first full year of operation, here is what we accomplished:

• Secured the participation of over 400 companies in our secure online merchant service. See Cool Catalogs for the list of all the participating catalog titles.
• Delivered and confirmed over 6 million mail preference requests to merchants.
• Preserved over 250,000 trees per year in collaboration with participating merchants and our members’ requests.
• Introduced the concept of mail frequency, which allows merchants to offer less frequent mailings rather than none at all.
• Received endorsement from the American Catalog Mailers Association.
• Provided our service free of charge to consumers and merchants, thanks to the generous support of our funders.
• Gained recognition in the mail industry as the leading independent mail preference service.
• Facilitated the most active conversation on the topic of mail preference on the Internet on our blog.  Our blog includes over 100 postings and over 1,400 comments.
• Built the most effective team of merchant account managers.  We all owe thanks to April, Jen, Paul, Syd and Christine for the endless hours they spend on the phone with merchants in order to get your requests honored.
• Created secure online accounts for over 1 million households to manage their catalog mail preferences.
• Developed the rules that govern your mail preference request through months of negotiations with leading catalog mailers (Williams-Sonoma, LL Bean, Crate & Barrel).  The rules are the foundation of the license agreement that participating merchants sign with Catalog Choice.

Over the year, we learned a tremendous amount about what is needed to make our mail preference service work for both consumers and merchants.  We are translating this knowledge into exciting new features for the coming year.

We are grateful for the on-going support of so many of our members, both consumers and merchants – we could not have accomplished a fraction of this list without your participation and support.  To all our consumer and merchant members, we wish you a happy and healthy new year.

We are dedicated to keeping our mail preference service free of charge.  You did not pay to get on the list and you should not have to pay to get off the list.  Occasionally, we receive donation offers via email to our customer service center.  As a registered 501(c)3, through our sponsor The Ecology Center, we can accept tax-deductible donations.

Today we added a link to our menu that makes it easy to provide a secure, tax deductible donation to Catalog Choice.  If you are so inclined, we welcome your donation to our effort to give consumers the ability to control their mail preferences, reduce unwanted catalogs and help preserve natural resources.

We are a small, dedicated and efficient organization working on your behalf to reduce unwanted mail and help you go paperless.  Your support in the way of entering your preferences, telling your friends and contacting merchants has been instrumental in our efforts to date.

We appreciate your time and hope that you will find our service worthy of your financial support.

P.S. – Thanks to Richard from San Diego for making the first donation this afternoon!

B to B magazine recently published an interview with the new Postal Regulatory Vice Chairman Nancy Langely titled “Addressing direct-mail deliverability and anti-marketing initiatives“.  At first, I was concerned that we were going to be labeled an anti-marketing initiative, but when I read Nancy’s comment about Catalog Choice, I was please that she described us as a solution that direct mailers should work with.  The excerpt is below:

BtoB: One of the challenges to direct marketers is various consumer efforts to restrict marketing mailing. Some of it seems intended to give consumers more control over what they receive, but other initiatives seem almost anti-marketing. What is your view?

Langley: Catalog Choice is a service that helps recipients reduce the frequency of catalog mailings, or eliminate unsolicited ones. It lets direct mailers show their customers they’re acting responsibly by eliminating duplications, and that they’re also environmentally friendly with recycled paper.

Catalog Choice is about connecting consumers and companies to stop unwanted mail.  Without willing partners on both sides of the conversation, we can not be successful.  We continue to work with direct mailers help them mail smarter by eliminating unsolicited mailings.  It is taking time, but mailers are warming to the concept of accepting mail preference requests from Catalog Choice.  Our solution makes good business sense because it provides direct mailers with the tools to customize their mail preference choices and adheres to strict security standards.  Companies can learn more about activating their free Catalog Choice account by visiting the Catalog Choice Merchant home page and contacting a Merchant Account manager.

While many of you are frustrated that the holiday catalogs you opted-out of last year are back, please recognize that changing the practices of a $68 billion dollar industry takes time. We are on the front line working with VP’s of Marketing and CEO’s of multi-channel merchants (web, catalog, brick and mortar). We are signing agreements with the country’s largest catalog mailers and hundreds of others that guarantees the following

1. they will honor your request entered at Catalog Choice within 90 days.
2. they will not rent or sell your name.
3. they will not get your email address.
4. they will honor the request for two years and extend it if you update your request at Catalog Choice.
5. Catalog Choice will not rent or sell your name (never have, never will)

We are the only company in the United States that has negotiated a do not mail agreement with companies on behalf of its members.  It has taken hundreds of hours of meetings, legal review and negotiations to strike these agreements.  Our license agreement sets the foundation for the success of our service for years to come.

So, when you get an unwanted catalog in the mail yet again – don’t shoot the messenger, join our movement and help us get all the companies to honor your requests.  The business agreement is in place and the technology is in place.  It just takes willingness on the part of the merchant to honor your request.

In the long-run, connecting companies and consumers to communicate mail preferences will stop unwanted catalogs.  Thanks for your continued support.

The Climate Group has developed a website – Together.com – that provides practical solutions from brands and NGOs that anyone can use to do something to improve climate change.  We believe in practical solutions, so Catalog Choice has become a Together.com partner.  You can see a reference to our solution here and more information about our involvement here.

There is no silver bullet to fighting climate change.  Together.com provides an array of simple solutions that you can adopt.  Here is a sample of some that you will find on their site: