Entry tags:
Canceling Catalogs
This month's No-Brainer at Oil is Dumb is to cancel catalogs you don't want using the nonprofit organization Catalog Choice. I recommend this to anyone receiving catalogs that you don't want.
The first step is to collect the actual catalogs so you can find the customer numbers. This no-brainer is the follow-up to November's mini-brainer to start saving the catalogs you receive that you don't want, so I had a stack of 14 catalogs from 11 companies. Alternately, I bet you can find a few in your recycle bin.
For each catalog, search for the company. All 11 companies I searched for were there, even the ones I'd never heard of before receiving the catalog.
For each company, enter the name to whom the catalog is addressed, the reason you are canceling it (optional), the customer number (if available) and the key or source code (if available) and whether you want to cancel all the catalogs or, for some companies, just some of them.
I couldn't do this for one company because apparently the mailing label was on a plastic bag that I didn't think to keep.
Two companies required an additional step: either sending an e-mail or filling that all out on their own web page instead, but this was superbly handled to make it very easy.
After ninety days (in most cases), we will stop receiving catalogs from these companies.
Meanwhile, Catalog Choice maintains a list of all the companies I entered, and for each one I can see the current status and even change my mind and start requesting catalogs again. I really like that list because I can see whether I have already canceled the catalogs or not. In addition, there is a link to each company's web site, so if I want to see what's new or am in the mood to drool over a particular type of consumer good, I can easily do that.
This was perfect timing, because although I have been quite enjoying getting some of the catalogs, the thrill is wearing off. In some cases (Crate&Barrel, LL Bean), there are just way too many catalogs and I get updates via e-mail. In some cases (Sur la Table, The Container Store), my occasional visits to the actual store are enough. And in some cases (Lehman's, Williams-Sonoma), I feel like I'm just looking at the same fabulous things but not getting anything. And of course many catalogs arrived unsolicited and are of no interest.
The first step is to collect the actual catalogs so you can find the customer numbers. This no-brainer is the follow-up to November's mini-brainer to start saving the catalogs you receive that you don't want, so I had a stack of 14 catalogs from 11 companies. Alternately, I bet you can find a few in your recycle bin.
For each catalog, search for the company. All 11 companies I searched for were there, even the ones I'd never heard of before receiving the catalog.
For each company, enter the name to whom the catalog is addressed, the reason you are canceling it (optional), the customer number (if available) and the key or source code (if available) and whether you want to cancel all the catalogs or, for some companies, just some of them.
I couldn't do this for one company because apparently the mailing label was on a plastic bag that I didn't think to keep.
Two companies required an additional step: either sending an e-mail or filling that all out on their own web page instead, but this was superbly handled to make it very easy.
After ninety days (in most cases), we will stop receiving catalogs from these companies.
Meanwhile, Catalog Choice maintains a list of all the companies I entered, and for each one I can see the current status and even change my mind and start requesting catalogs again. I really like that list because I can see whether I have already canceled the catalogs or not. In addition, there is a link to each company's web site, so if I want to see what's new or am in the mood to drool over a particular type of consumer good, I can easily do that.
This was perfect timing, because although I have been quite enjoying getting some of the catalogs, the thrill is wearing off. In some cases (Crate&Barrel, LL Bean), there are just way too many catalogs and I get updates via e-mail. In some cases (Sur la Table, The Container Store), my occasional visits to the actual store are enough. And in some cases (Lehman's, Williams-Sonoma), I feel like I'm just looking at the same fabulous things but not getting anything. And of course many catalogs arrived unsolicited and are of no interest.