More Videos- Revenge of the Gangsta Nerds
- It's Beginning To Look A Lot More Riskless
- Topless Business Is Taking Off
- Gambling Drunk, Texting to Live And America's On Sale - Your Emails
- The Lloyd's Prayer, Leggo My Eggo, Plate Hate & Your Emails
- Help Wanted—Please Run $4 Billion University
- Madoff—The Holiday Drink
- Drugs, Booze and Vegas
- Happy World Toilet Day
- Coffee, Tea or My Ad?
MOST SHARED
- Tiger Woods Out of Hospital After Accident
- Get Paid Six Figures to Wear a T-Shirt?
- 8 Retailers that Gain During the Holidays
- Dubai Spooks Investors But May Bring Buying Opportunity
- Finding the Holiday's Best Buys
- Global Selloff From Dubai Woes Shows Signs of Winding Down
- Dubai Fallout Is a Correction, Not Another Crisis: El-Erian
- Longer Lines, Fuller Carts This Black Friday
- The Good Entrepreneur Winner
- Banks Play Down Dubai Exposure, Investors Still Wary
- U.S. Stocks Fall on Dubai Worries
- Black Friday at Best Buy
- Strategists on Dubai: Avoid 'Rash Moves' Now
- Longer Lines, Fuller Carts This Black Friday
- Dubai Stock Market Fear Has 'Legs': Dennis Gartman
- Obama's Emission Reduction Pledge Paints Future for Autos
- Is Super Bowl Halftime Act Too Old?
- Surprising Options Trades in TiVo Shares
- EA Sports Hopes to Pump Up Sales Through Pop-Up Locations
- Global Selloff From Dubai Shows Signs of Winding Down
- Dubai Stock Selloff May Bring Buying Opportunity
- Tiger Woods Out of Hospital After Accident
- Dubai Fallout Is a Correction, Not Another Crisis: El-Erian
- Dubai's Debt Woes Signal New Era for Creditors
- Get Paid Six Figures to Wear a T-Shirt?
- The World's Biggest Debtor Nations
- Five Tips for Buying a Foreclosed Home
- Slideshow: Fantasy Christmas Gifts 2009
RSS FEED
Funny Business
Text Size 
 |
The only time of year I get anything in the mail I want is now, when I receive Christmas cards. But even those are starting to taper off. Hmmm...
But I was talking about catalogs.
A group called Forest Ethics is grading companies based on how tree-friendly their catalogs are. The report carries the headline "Rudolph pleads for Donner and Blitzen's Future, Catalog Industry Continues to Threaten Caribou Habitat and Other Endangered Forests." Why does Rudolph just care about Donner and Blitzen? Maybe they were in favor of letting him play reindeer games.
Forest Ethics has put out a "Naughty and Nice" list which praises companies like Patagonia, Dell, and Victoria's Secret for using recycled paper and reducing overall paper usage in their catalogs (it takes credit for pressuring Victoria's Secret to change its ways with last year's "Victoria's Dirty Secret" campaign). But in the "Naughty" pile is Neiman Marcus, Talbots, Eddie Bauer, Office Max, Lands' End, The Sharper Image, School Specialty, Spiegel, and especially Sears. Apparently "where America shops" is also where trees die.
Forest Ethics says Sears sends out 425 million catalogs a year--that's more than a million a day--using very little recycled paper, and much of the paper comes from threatened forests where reindeer live. Sears responded by telling the Montreal Gazette its paper is "carefully selected to be able to address both our business needs and a responsible approach to reforestation."
By the way, Forest Ethics claims retailers send out 20 billion catalogs a year, and that the average American spends eight months of his or her life opening junk mail. I want those eight months back.
AN ECO-FRIENDLY HANG-UP ON HANGERS
I reported in my "Dry Cleaner Economic Index" that there is no longer any domestic hanger production in America! I should have been more specific...no more domestic WIRE hanger production. There is a homegrown hanger company which makes hangers out of recycled paper and sells ad space on them. Eco-Hangers.
Comments? Funny Stories? Email
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes