I've used Catalog Choice to attempt to stop 19 catalogs so far. I'm not sure any of them have actually stopped yet, but the site says it can take three months, and dates range from one to 45 days ago, so I guess I have to be patient.
Interesting to read, though, that rather than write me off as a waste of marketing money, the catalog industry wants to ignore my preferences and keep sending them. According to Business Week, a Direct Marketing Association honcho e-mailed all members to pull up the drawbridge:
How did they respond? Some—mostly outdoorsy brands like L.L. Bean and Lands' End (SHLD)—made soothing noises. Others blew off the Web site (and subsequently, the people declining their catalogs), and have done nothing with the names. Still, despite being less than three months old, Catalog Choice has managed to spook an industry. Consider the Nov. 29 e-mail from the Direct Marketing Assn. Bearing the subject line “JUST SAY NO,” it warned retailers that Catalog Choice's “priority is to eliminate catalogs as a marketing medium. It is not in your interest to further their efforts!”
Charming, isn't it. More at the Catalog Choice Blog. If you want the view from the (relatively) enlightened wing of the marketers, check out MineThatData Blog.
If you really want to stop anything coming in the mail — including third-class junk mail that is otherwise completely impervious to your charms — file a form 1500 (PDF).
“..if you are the addressee of an advertisement, and consider the matter (product or service) that it offers for sale to be “erotically arousing or sexually provocative,” you can obtain a Prohibitory Order against the mailer.”
You, and only you, are the determinant of any mailing’s character.
I’ve been too lazy to file one lately, but if I get too many coupons one day, I’m filing the sucker.
See also junkbusters.
I’ve thought of that — it’s an old dodge that people have been advocating for 10, 20 years — but decided that it felt too much like lying. Perhaps I don’t get sufficiently exciting catalogs.