Was your mailbox crammed full of mail order catalogs this Christmas season like mine was? It was unbelievable how many off the wall subjects and whacky products are covered in mail order catalogs. I received dozens of catalogs pimping everything from massage stones to bird feeders to health food supplements to plus sized lingerie.
After a little digging, I found out that when you do buy something from a catalog, the transaction is reported to a company called “Abacus,” which is owned by DoubleClick Digital Advertising – and if you surf the internet you KNOW who these guys are! They sell, rent, and pretty much whore your personal information to other catalog companies and junk mail publishers based on what you just ordered from any of their other catalog companies.Your name and address and the fact that you’ve bought from a catalog is worth money to these guys and you get put on their sucker list for a very long time.
We can all stop getting these junk mail catalogs by sending an email to the “Abacus Catalog Alliance” at this address: optout@abacus-direct.com. Tell these guys, in no uncertain terms, that you want off their lists and never want to hear from them again. Make sure the email includes your first, middle, and last name and the same for anyone else in your household who receives mail in names other than yours, include your current address, and if you’ve moved in the past year, include your previous address, too.This will stop the catalog madness and save a lot of trees, too.