The Catalog Chronicles Blog

This is an organization based about 200 yards from my old digs in Palo Alto, CA – probably in the old Bank of America building just off University Avenue near the birthplace of Debbie Field’s little cookie bakery. It is a classic Silicon Valley start up but what makes it unique is that it is part of a larger entity, Tonic Generation, which poses the question “what if capitalism and social good can co-exist?” The “Board of Creators” of Tonic Generation includes among others scions of the Buffet family, son Peter and wife Jennifer, Donna Karan, and Chris Blackwell of Island Records.

How does GreenDimes work? Basically you register your email and snail mail address for free, $20 or $36. I registered for free – hey blogging without advertising does not pay much - and received my validation code by return email. I then logged in and was presented again with three options (Get $1 mailed to my home mail box, plant a tree, or get a subscription to Plenty, the hip trendy magazine for green living). I was then presented with “My Dashboard”, pre-filled with 9 mailer (large, national mailers ala Valassis or Publisher’s Clearing House) to which I could take an action and have my name removed from their list.

I moved on the “Add Catalog” tab. Begin typing in a catalog name and, voila, up pops a bunch of catalogs and direct marketers that have those letters in their names. For instance, “linen” brought up Anna’s Linens, Linens & Things, LinenSource, Scheur Linens and Schweitzer Linens. I get one; I like it; I have bought from them; I did nothing. The basic service is “self serve” and applies to one recipient only. If I want my wife and daughter to be taken off, I have to bump up to one of the pay services. Or if I want, the GreenDimes staff will do the work for me.

Is this a challenge to Catalog Choice or DMA’s efforts? I don’t think it is. What I do see is a brilliant idea to have consumerism redirected from “all about me” to “help the planet and people survive” and then I get solicited to buy a $45 T-shirt. What is ingenious about this is that the list of catalogs is being created by the users/consumers that type in the catalogs they “don’t want”. So if you’re a T-shirt cataloger, GreenDimes wants your customers and will get them for a $1 or by planting a tree.