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Stopping Unwanted Catalogs

In the past, I have blogged about my efforts to stop unwanted newspapers and magazines from showing up uninvited in my mailbox. 

This task has been quite successful and I have found that most publishers make it easy to be removed from their mailing lists (though often one or two mailings are already being worked on and it is too late to stop them.)

One time I forgot that I had already called a company to be removed, so I called again. 

The person in that department actually remembered my name and gently reminded me that on my prior call she had informed me that I would still receive two more mailings, since the processors had already begun working on them. 

Once she said that, it did sound familiar and I remembered our conversation, connecting it to her company.

Now that I am only receiving the magazines that I want and actually look at, I am turning my attention to catalogs.

There is a promising website that might help me in this regard; it is catalogchoice.org. It allows you set up a simple account profile and then enter in the names of the catalogs you want to cancel. 

If the catalogs you pick use their service, then they do all the work to stop further mailings. If a particular catalog does not use their service, then they can contact them and try to get them to join.

Although their purpose is to help reduce waste and save trees—which they have done for 1,091,096 people so far—they do have an option to request “Cool Catalogs,” so if you’re lonely and want some mail, this might be an easy way to receive some.

Unfortunately, they do not have the option to cancel all catalogs; you need to do that one at a time. Now, if I can just remember the names of the catalogs that I want to cancel.

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

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