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Fewer Catalogs = More Trees + More Cash + Fewer Sweaters?

I've managed to stay off catalog mailing lists since high school (might have something to do with moving an average of two times a year since then), but one of my best friends is on the lists for Anthropologie and J. Crew, which send her catalogs with the regularity of a Newsweek subscription.

I'm guessing she probably flips through a little less than half of them, but then volume is how direct mail works. Marketing 101: She's not going to get through all of those catalogs, but bombard her with enough images of cashmere sweaters, and she'll have to have one.

Get off the catalog mailing lists, and you're bound to save some cash money.

-Toshio...off to put on a sweater...
Posted by: tmeronek on 01/11/2008
related tip
Then you won't need those catalogs anymore. This year, get off catalog mailing lists to save energy, paper, and embarrassment when your neighbor sees you pull an unwanted mail-order-marriage catalog out of your box.  
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Kristin  on January 11, 2008 at 07:16 AM 1
My favorite way to stop credit card offers is to write on the form: Please Stop Killing Trees and Wasting Paper. Stop Sending Me Unwanted Junk Mail, and then sending the whole thing back to them in their pre-payed envelope. Only takes once and they do stop. I also use the Do not call lists, and the opt-out mail lists. Thanks for today's tip.
Sarah  on January 11, 2008 at 09:37 AM 2
I was glad to see this tip, but surprised that you didn't mention GreenDimes: http://www.greendimes.com/ They are a company that will remove you from unwanted mailing lists AND plant trees. Sarah
Lisa  on January 11, 2008 at 09:47 AM 3
I was going to also toot GreenDimes's horn. Yeah Sarah! My husband and I use it and we've also given it as a gift to family members.
Serge  on January 11, 2008 at 10:56 AM 4
The main problem I still have with junk mail is those pesky fliers on newspaper-grade paper that are delivered by USPS to each mailbox. They are not addresses to me, but have either no addresses or are 'To the occupant'. I wish we could get USPS to stop delivering that junk. Any way?
Pascal Gillon, BASc of infogatherer.com  on January 11, 2008 at 11:05 AM 5
Is it me, or are we getting better by the month, at making this planet better? Mmmmm...cool! The good news are: for our kids, we do the right thing here. There is certainly LESS junk mail coming in our mail boxes then even five years ago because we, one by one, are taking steps to stop it with sites like Greendimes, Directmail and Catalogchoice.org. Well done everybody! Positive moves equals positive results. Ah, yeah...Idealbite Team? YOU ROCK!
Andree  on January 11, 2008 at 11:20 AM 6
I would also like to mention Green Dimes- I've been a happy member for over a year! The amount of junk mail coming into my apartment has dropped dramatically and I love that they give back by planting trees. Definitely check it out! http://www.greendimes.com/
susan  on January 11, 2008 at 12:47 PM 7
"81,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools each year" full of junk mail is such a shame seeing as how only 1 in 10,000 ads is useful to the targeted recipient. We reuse some junk mail in our product: Papergeist books
Sarah Kennedy  on January 11, 2008 at 01:07 PM 8
I just have to rave a little bit more about GreenDimes. The organization I work with, Sustainable Harvest International, is one of their tree planting partners. So far, GreenDimes has donated enough for farming families working with SHI to plant 246,220 trees in Central America. Hooray for GreenDimes and their work to reduce waste by getting rid of junk mail AND their the support of crucial reforestation projects. You can see photos of our tree planting projects here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sustainableharvest/sets/72157594471620685/ Thanks Idealbite for the opportunity to share/rave about a great project! Sarah
Suzie  on January 11, 2008 at 02:24 PM 9
I definitely love the fact that GreenDimes plants trees but some people are still reluctant to pay the $20. There is a new site that wasn't mentioned in the bite which offers the same service for FREE! Check out www.ProQuo.com. Yes, it really is Free! I have accounts on both sites.
Kate Trgovac  on January 11, 2008 at 05:16 PM 10
I'm also going to chime in on behalf of GreenDimes.com - they work for Canadian junk mail too! So, yay, GreenDimes! I've been using them for about a year now and LOVE them!
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