Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Reduce your Catalog Footprint!

Tis the season - for too many catalogs. While I rarely buy out of catalogs, my mailbox is brimming with them.  Here are a couple of options for culling the catalogs you receive.

PaperKarma is a free smartphone app.  You register your address(es) and name(s) and take pictures of the business logo and address of the unwanted catalog and/or junk mail, and upload this. within the app. Then, you're done! PaperKarma contacts the business and unsubscribes you from their mailings.  The first three cancellations are free and after that you can continue the service for $1.99/mth or $9.99 per year for an unlimited number of un-subscriptions.

Catalog Choice is currently web-based though they're developing an app.  Their services are free. You establish a free account and type in the addresses of the catalogs and junk mail you don't want to receive. They're a non-profit that was recently acquired by the Story of Stuff project.

Go On Line:  If you go to the company's website, you can often find an "unsubscribe" option.  This can work for catalogs and for junk email.

Call:  Most catalogs still include a phone number for orders.  Call and ask to speak to customer service - or just tell the person who answers that you no longer want to receive the catalog.

Catalogs are printed months in advance, so it may take 6-8 weeks to get OFF any mailing list.  While you may not save a tree this year, you will in the long haul.