"Off The List"

I came across the most brilliant project- and one I think you will all appreciate very much. A fan of the site, jonnyHal, e-mailed to let us know that he was keeping a video diary of his quest to get off of the solicitation lists that keep catalogs continuously pouring into his mailbox.

Here is what he wrote (Disclaimer- I have asked for and obtained his permission to post this):

BACKGROUND:

On June 6th, trash day, something inside me snapped.

I was tossing the assorted glossy brochures, magazines, sales come-on and catalogs we received that week into the appropriate bin at the curb.

Pottery Barn.  J Crew.  Crate & Barrel.  Victoria's Secret.  Into the dumper.

Now I know what you're thinking -- why would he toss the Victoria's Secret catalog?

The point being on June 7th, I began a telephone campaign to get off as many mailing lists as possible -- part of a gung-ho effort to reduce our ecological footprint or some crap like that. In my extensive research - 2 questions on Google - I came across this staggering fact:

The average American receives about 50 pounds of unwanted junk mail each year.

And that's just from West Elm.

Catalog retailers.  Banks.  Magazines Publishers.  Credit Card companies.

All buying, selling and trading names -- just yours and mine, so don't worry- making money by sending us stuff that we didn¹t ask for, don't need and can't afford.

So I called them and asked to be taken off their lists. Bad idea.

Incompetence was met by inertia. But enough about me.

Fortunately, I did have the foresight to record many of my fascinating encounters with the machine/human hybrid that now qualifies as telephone customer support.

But rest easy, these calls were recorded purely for quality-assurance purposes. They are in no way an attempt to poke cheap fun at or gain back a measure of control from the faceless behemoths who control our very existence on this planet.

The project is called "Off The List".

To view the trailer, go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vilQTe9UErc

Getting off a list.  How hard can it be?”

-jonnyHal

Make sure you check back every week- we are going to update the blog with his episodes as we get them!

Kendra

www.greendimes.com

Comments

[Tim]

I like getting catalogs, and they have to be way more efficient than some giant Walmart or shopping mall, and do way less damage to the environment.

I do hear you on buisinesses making money off renting my name out though.

[Sam Davis]

A few thoughts:

1. Most, if not all, the trees cut down to produce junk mail come from pine tree farms, where the trees will be harvested and sold for some use whether or not it is to produce paper. No one buys paper from old-growth hardwoods to send direct mail.
2. The Direct Marketing Association has maintained "do not call" and "do not mail" lists for many years. This is nothing new.
3. Plenty of people, including me, actually do not mind getting "junk" mail since frequently it comes from nonprofit organizations I may wish to support or companies offering products that I wish to buy.
4. If you think first class postal rates are high now, just wait until "junk" mail is significantly suppressed. A major revenue stream for the US Postal Service is "junk" mail. Without it, first class rates would soar into the stratosphere.

Environmentalism - which is an ideology as opposed to the discipline of scientific ecology - is premised on the notion of using coercion, blatant or insipid, to compel individuals to adopt behaviors and lifestyles which correspond with that ideology. This is directly akin to what the Roman Church did in Europe in the Middle Ages, what the Puritans did in the early days of settlement in New England, and what the Prohibitionists did early last century.

Environmentalism is, at its core, another form of theocratic authoritarianism masquerading as progressive and scientific. This may be the first time many visitors to this site have ever heard this analogy. But please think about it.

And think about this: if the time and energy spent by environmentalists theoretically saving trees (remember, they're going to be harvested, anyway) were instead spent on saving American and Iraqi lives by insisting that Congress end the war now, it would be over next week.

[terry]

It would make a lot more sense for those who actually like receiving junk mail (which what sane person would) to SIGN UP for the stuff and leave the rest of us alone. The vast majority of people don't even read what these people send, so I hardly think or economy is going to collapse from lack of junk mail. Think about that- to use your phrase. I personally have never bought a single thing from a piece of unsolicited mail.

I don't think these businesses have the right to send me crap I don't want. I have to sacrifice my valuable time to sort and recycle all this junk I didn't even request. It amounts to harrasment. At one point I was receiving so many unsolicited catalogues the post office refused to deliver my mail! THAT'S what is stupid...

The best thing to happen in recent times for the average Joe was the do not call list. Let's only hope it's not repealed... and let's hope for a do not mail list to be added on. That would be progress.

[Leisa Bilyeu]

Dear Greendime-

Are you responsible for my work in-box being inundated with "Please do not mail and do not share" messages?
These messages are coming from people that are NOT on our lists.

It has taken much research to determine WHERE these emails are coming from, as you are not proud enough of your mission to identify yourselves in your "form letter."

As a recipient of NUMEROUS emails over the past week requesting to be removed from our catalog list, I have a request:
Rather than sending INDIVIDUAL emails to businesses, please send one .csv file on a weekly/bi-weekly basis.

The amount of wasted person-hours researching, sorting, filing, and forwarding each INDIVIDUAL request is a tremendous strain, and is eating away about an hour of my day, so far...
This is a TREMENDOUS waste of human power, not to mention the electric, air conditioning, printing each email so we have a hard copy onfile, etc...

If you were providing a TRUE service, you would forward ONE .csv file for RESPONSIBLE companies to merge/purge against their databases, instead of placing the bulk of the service your company offers to provide on the backs of retailers.

[Lisa]

After requesting for a catalog to be removed, & I place an online order am I then added to the companies mailing list? Repeating the process yet again?