Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Catalog Mailing Reduction, revisited

I can't recall where I found the link to this, but I found the Catalog Choice (in beta as of this writing) service for reducing incoming direct mailing catalogs. I had previously written about my experience doing this directly, and the availability of the GreenDimes service.

Catalog Choice is free to use. Very easy and straight forward, and faster than calling directly. After setting up an account, search their list of catalog distributors. Click on the catalog to be discontinued, and enter to whom the catalog is addressed, and if available the customer number on the back of the catalog.

The weak point seems to be that they can only opt out of catalogs in their database. Oddly enough the companion catalog to Signals (found), Wireless was not listed. And since each catalog has a different customer number, I'm betting that opting out of Signals is not going to cancel Wireless. I also was unable to find some of the new "meat" catalogs that have begun appearing, such as High Plains Bison and Five Herds. If a catalog is not found, there is a link to submit the catalog name to Catalog Choice. After they have determined the correct information, they will send an email indicating the new catalogs availability for management.

The other nice things about this is it keeps a record of which catalogs you've opted out of and on what date. Since most catalogs are printed 6-10 weeks in advance, it gives a nice way to confirm whether the catalog just received has been cancelled previously or not. I made the mistake of not keeping track when I started calling the catalogs, and since its been over a month since I started, I'm sure that I'm close to repeating my calls to some of them.

So, I signed up. While I think GreenDimes may be a bit easier, they just do everything for you for the $15 signup fee, I like Catalog Choices information management and presentation.

And don't forget, getting off those credit card offers at OptOutPreScreen for $1 per address.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, thanks for your positive assessment. Yep, we are easy.

Anonymous said...

Hello, thanks for nice words about Catalog Choice. The response to the service has been nothing short of phenomenal. Within a week of our launch, more than 21,500 people have signed up, and opted out of over 65,000 catalogs!

It seems the American public have been waiting for a *free* service that helps them reduce their mailbox clutter and help preserve natural resources.