off the list

Do something nice for yourself this year — stop all those stupid holiday catalogs with CatalogChoice.org.

While I’ve been recommending CatalogChoice for a while, it was based more on hope than empirical data.

Well, it’s been more than a year and I’m happy to report, the proof is indeed in the figgy pudding.

In October 2007, for example, I received 30 different unsolicited catalogs –almost one per day for you math majors.

So far this October — none, zip, doodley dick.

While my phone call/youTube/blog/opt-out letter blitz deserves the lion’s share of the credit, CatalogChoice has played an integral role as well.

Initially, I had some reservations about using CatalogChoice as a filter because they lack any serious enforcement teeth.

It’s not like they have an army of ninja warriors waiting to pounce on offending catalog merchants — although that would be really awesome.

Nevertheless, none of the catalogs I registered with CC has fouled my mailbox  — who says you can’t get anything good for free these days?

While the economic downturn may lead to a subdued holiday season, at least you can visit CatalogChoice and get something great this year.

An empty mailbox.