Today I was reading the NY Times Fashion and Style page and came across an article about a new website called Catalog Choice. The site was started with the intention of allowing users to say which catalogs they don’t want to receive any longer, and the site would do the rest by notifying the retailers that sent the catalogs of your request. Catalog Choice also provides several statistics about why reducing the number of catalogs you receive is a good thing.
This idea is popular, with over 20,000 people signing up since the site debuted last week, according to the article. This is probably because there are so many catalogs making their way to our mailboxes: 19 billion catalogs are mailed yearly in the US. And can I just say that I think I personally receive at least a few billion of those myself? Why, oh why, must I have SIX versions of this season’s L.L. Bean catalog mailed to my house every season, even though I haven’t purchased anything from them in months? Not to mention the West Elm catalog I receive despite never having made a single purchase on either their site or in one of their retail stores, as well as the hoards of other catalogs I don’t even recognize from companies I’ve never heard of.
I’m going to give Catalog Choice a try, and see if it delivers results. I signed up for an account, which was simple, and the site’s interface is clean and concise. The Welcome page tells me to search for catalogs, enter my customer number for that company, and they’ll do the rest. I could also take notes on particular companies and keep a record of infractions, but that seems like way too much work. And like all self-respecting web services, you can “Invite Friends” to become members of Catalog Choice and reduce the number of catalogs they receive, while conveniently adding users to the site’s database. That could be considered a win-win, unless your friends’ inboxes are overflowing with virtual mail, in which case you’ll just irritate them.
I’m curious to see how well this works, mainly because the site’s methods are somewhat ambiguous. I mean, they say they’ll send along your requests to retailers, but since they’re not (yet) obligated to adhere to any such external lists, will the retailers oblige? At the end of the article, a representative from L.L. Bean is quoted as saying that “the company would be open to requests from an outside service like Catalog Choice.” Not exactly the most promising of pledges, and L.L. Bean claims to be one of the more respectful retailers.
So, I’m signing up for the service, and I’ll see how it goes. It does seem like just calling the 800 numbers on the back of each catalog I receive would be more likely to be effective. And I’m not sure I’m saving myself any work by going through Catalog Choice, since I have to locate my customer number on the back of each and every catalog and enter it into the site. Wouldn’t it just be faster to make a call? I guess it depends on the retailer’s customer service. Based on my most recent interactions with customer service centers, maybe I am better off going through a third party.
On that note, wish me luck. Now I just have to wait ten weeks to see how it goes. Is it just me, or does ten weeks sound like a long time? By that time I probably could have walked to each retailer’s headquarters and asked them in person to stop sending me mail, but whatever. I’m doing this in the name of research. I’ll let you know how it’s going TEN WEEKS from now, by which time my neighbor’s cat could get pregnant and have one-week-old kittens. So much for the digital age.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Chuck 10.23.07 at 12:01 am
Kerry:
Love your post about our service. Ten weeks is a long time, but once we get your name removed it will stay that way. The way we see it, each person could go to the trouble to call customer service and get off each list or we could aggregate the process for millions to do it through our site. We think the 10 weeks is worth the wait and our easy to use site is better than listing to hold music while waiting for customer service.
Jim Kirk 10.27.07 at 2:48 pm
I woule personally be more comfortable about using CatalogChoice.com if any of the internal links gave me any information (e.g., the FAQ and Privacy policies). Admittedly, the site is open about being in “Beta,” and I still use an older browser (and an older OS), but I’d want to see their privacy policy since I am getting far more email spam than I am unwanted catalogs. And what really clogs my mailbox are unwanted “Pre-approved” credit card offers, attempts to get me to change my bank, flyers from the local newspapers, and so on and so forth, I don’t think Catalog Choice can help me.
Jim
Anne 11.06.07 at 2:33 pm
I tried to sign up for CatalogChoice, completed steps 1 & 2, but when I click on “sign up” nothing happens.
I have tried multiple times, then sent 2 emails to catalogchoice. I have gotten 2 automated emails saying that all emails are read but they can’t respond to each one.
I just want the program to work. HELP
Kerry 11.06.07 at 2:36 pm
What browser are you using? Did you check the terms & services box? Hmm, besides those things, I don’t know how to fix your problem. Maybe Chuck (above) can tell us how to fix this. chuck, you there?
John Russell 11.19.07 at 11:42 am
I am having a really hard time finding my customer number on different address labels. Some are nice enough to put it in a separate box labeled Customer Number, but others just have random numbers strewn all over the label.
Is there a good pattern for identifying the Customer number?
Kerry 11.19.07 at 4:59 pm
I haven’t had any luck with that, either. I think it’s really unethical when companies make it so difficult to find your customer number on their catalogs. Just like there are opt-out laws in place for email communications, there should be similar safeguards for consumers when it comes to mail solicitations. (Catalog Choice does have a “customer number not available” option, so I just check that box when this happens to me. Good luck!)