Dear Terra,
Though too late for the past holiday season, I wanted to share something I did last fall: I bet I’m not alone in receiving HUNDREDS of paper catalogs in the mail, especially during the holidays.
I love looking through them, but realized I was seeing the same stuff (literally the same products with the same pictures and texts, though sometimes different prices!) in multiple catalogs of different names!
I did a little research and found that many catalog “companies” are just subsidiaries of larger companies! I was getting up to 5-6 catalogs for the same products per day! That’s a lot of trees losing their lives to sell me junk.
So, I called the phone number at the bottom of the catalog pages. When the associate answered, I asked to be removed from their mailing list (I needed my name/customer number on the address label) and asked if they were associated with any other catalog companies.
Most of them said they were! One company listed over TWENTY other catalogs that they send out! Needless to say, I asked to be taken off all of them, too. Guess what? I received about one tenth of the catalogs I usually receive in November and December!
Another thing I noticed in at least one catalog: EVERY item listed was imported! It made me wonder about fair trade practices, human rights, and carbon footprints. Maybe I won’t be shopping from them online, either…
Anyway, Terra, I just wanted to share this with you. Maybe it will help others think differently about those catalogs taking up space in mailboxes and USPS mailbags!
Signed,
Free at Last! (from catlaogs, at least!)