Crushalogs II: Eclectic Bugaloo.

One of the most popular posts I've ever made on this blog, going by traffic numbers, was the one from November 4, 2016, detailing the crush of catalogs that were all timed to arrive right after Halloween, testing the strength of the mailman and the holding power of my mailbox.

Well, it happened again on Monday -- thirteen catalogs in one day.

Catalanche!!!!

Seriously, if my life was a cartoon I'd have opened the mailbox on Monday and been flung across the street by the Christmas catalogs bursting to get out.

Most of them went out with the recycling a couple of days later. Actually, I think we only held on to the Shutterfly book, and that's just a reminder that if we want to make our own cards again this year we had better get to it.

We wondered why, in the Internet age, companies are still willing to spend a fortune mailing these things. After all, the rising cost of paper and postage over the years is one of the reasons so many magazines have gone belly-up, but the catalogs march on. Don't people who shop at home usually do so by the Internet? What gives?

Well, the US Postal Service -- not a disinterested party by any means -- had lots of pro-catalog data in this article, from which I quote only a few things:

📮 72% of people surveyed said that catalogs make them more interested in that retailer’s products, and 84% have purchased an item after seeing it in a catalog.

📮 Studies show that catalogs even help ease the anxiety around receiving bills.

📮 Easy to consume, catalogs provide the opportunity for consumers to slow down and enjoy the experience of being transported through images and stories—all over a cup of coffee.

📮 Even though they are a tech generation, millennials are embracing mail. 

I guess these people know what they're doing. It certainly doesn't bother me to get them, it just astounds me when they arrive all at the same time. When you get thirteen at once you're not being transported over a cup of coffee, you're being transported over a seven-course meal. But I have had relatives for whom I had no idea what to get as a present, and the timely arrival of a catalog for an outfit I had not been aware of saved the day. Of course, then I get that same catalog again until they put me in a box.

If, however, you get a lot of these kind of mailings and wish you didn't, there are some tips to help cut down on the crap. The USPS might be unhappy if you do, but I'll bet your mail carrier would be pleased.

The main tip is to use Catalog Choice, which they say will automatically stop any catalog you get that you would like to not get anymore, and do it for free. How is it possible?

Aliens.

No, Catalog Choice is a nonprofit outfit that's trying to cut down on the waste of paper and other resources used in junk mail. I guess that's a good enough reason.

I suppose if I get tired enough of the catalogs I will do something like that, but I admit that I kind of like the box full of festivity that shows up when I get the mail. And maybe it does help "ease the anxiety around receiving bills," even if shopping is a major cause of bill anxiety. Around the middle of December when the catalogs stop appearing, I feel a little sad, like Christmas is already coming to an end.