How can you tell Christmas is just around the corner? No, it’s not the sound of bells and carols at the grocery store. And it’s not the displays of Christmas lights and tinsel at the department stores. It’s the 2.125 pound stack of catalogs I received in the mail yesterday. In one day alone, I got catalogs from:
Plow & Hearth
Cabela’s
Casual Male
Penzeys Spices
The Company Store
J. Crew
Levenger
The Vermont Country Store
Zingerman’s
It amazes me how much people gripe about receiving email spam, but the complaints about junk mail (which actually wastes considerable paper and fuel) are muted.
Which is a good excuse for me to give a shout out to http://www.catalogchoice.org/
I am giving them a try this year, hoping it helps reduce the pile of dead trees sent to my house each week.
“Plow & Hearth”? Interesting. I’m not sure that most people in this day and age would even know what a “plow” or a “hearth” is, let alone need a catalog about it. However I’d bet that the catalog is full of useless things shaped like ducks or roosters that you can put badly scented dried apple potpouri in, and they probably don’t sell plows at all. Useless!