Are you tired of hauling a stack of junk from your mailbox?
You might want to check out a website called Catalog Choice. On Friday All Things Considered had a segment featuring the site, which purportedly enables users to opt out of receiving unwanted catalogs.
Catalog Choice is endorsed by several environmental groups, for good reason: America consumes 19 billion catalogs a year, at a cost of 53 million trees. That’s just the environmental impact from making the paper; it doesn’t include the energy needed to print, ship, and then disposal of all those catalogs. A billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you’re talking some real waste.
According to the website, several corporations have a formed a relationship with Catalog Choice–not just for the environmental benefits, but also as a way to save money. It costs an average of 80 cents to ship a catalog. If you’re not reaching interested customers, that’s just money out the window.
I know my home address continues to get unwanted promotional mailings (not necessarily catalogs) sent to people who lived here more than 15 years ago. One would think companies would try to keep their mailing lists somewhat current. But obviously some of them do a bad job. Perhaps a website such as Catalog Choice will help.