Catalog Choice

I was talking to my mail man yesterday and congratulating him on getting through all the political mailers that had been adding to his load (something we had discussed a few days prior). He said that the political mailers were nothing compared to the rise in catalogs that he expected would continue through this holiday season. I mentioned that I had signed up for Catalog Choice, an amazing Internet service that lets you opt out of any unwanted catalogs that come to your door, and he was so pleased! So, for mailmen everywhere (oh yeah, and the environment too, I suppose), I am sharing this info....

Just keep track of the name to whom any unwanted catalog you receive is addressed and/or the customer number, and create an account at www.catalogchoice.org. You will create a running tally of every catalog that you enter and its status. You can change the status at any time.

In our conversation, my mailman also painted an interesting picture of the effects of our consumer choices. He shared with me that each day he brings about 3 1/2 crates of mail to half his route (the Clifton Gaslight district, which is the section my house is in) and 1 crate to the other half (a stretch of Vine Street). The two halves he was describing represent two very different demographics. And the difference in mail volume, he said, is made up in catalogs. So, basically, most of the folks up in the Clifton Gaslight are shopping away to their hearts' content, and with each purchase generating a new slew of catalogs, while the folks down on Vine are not. The mailman also noted that my house probably received the lowest mail volume on my half of his route. I was surprised that he would have even noticed. It was a great reminder to me of how often people are noticing our actions and their effects even when we aren't even aware that they're noticing.