Black Friday Prep: Who's the Worst?

We had hoped stores would take advantage of this internet thing to tell us about all of the black friday deals, and it seems some of them have, with tons of web sites popping up claiming to have the latest ads.

So we were dismayed when we read this tip for bargain shoppers in Tuesday's Oregonian: "As soon as an ad gets leaked, print it out -- a retailer might threaten legal action and have the ad pulled off the site within days, or even hours."

Oh, the waste. Furthermore, our readers are sick and tired of the onslaught of ads in the mail. Read on for the story and ideas about what you can do.

Clickchick reports:

I must get full color solicitations from Comcast cable AT LEAST three times a week. I just got off the phone with them to be sure I'm off their mailing list. Apparently, doing that two months ago wasn't enough.

Honestly: I don't want cable. Please stop wasting the resources... or at least take the flyers to the landfill yourself instead of making me do it.

Grrrr.

• Only print out things—ads and otherwise—you intend to keep for more than a week. Otherwise, jot down notes on scrap paper, and learn to use the "Print to PDF" (if you have a Mac) and "Save As Web Archive" features of your browser for clutter-free and paper-less storage.

• Call, call, and call again to get and stay off mailing lists. Keep a list of the offenders and call when you're waiting for the bus or stuck in traffic. Or dedicate a half hour to make calls on Friday—while everyone else is consuming like crazy, you'll be doing your part to cut back. And fill out this web form over at The New American Dream website, which will also help get your name and address off the junk mail lists.

• AT reader BonivaGScott recommends opting out of "prescreened" offers for credit by writing the credit reporting agencies using these directions from the FTC.

• Another resource: Green Solution: Stop the Junk Mail!

What's worked best for you?

image by branox via sxc.hu

Comments (3)

In Canada if you put a "No Flyers" sticker on your mailbox, the carrier is supposed to not put flyers in your box. I have never done it but it seems to work. There's also the Canadian Marketing Association which keeps a database that is updated quarterly. You can put yourself on the no mail or no call list via that organization.

I like flyers, but I can access them online as well.

I love "print as PDF" -- I use it all the time for everything I want to save online, especially recipes. The best part is that Spotlight indexes the full text of each (Mac, of course), so you can easily find them again...

Have you taken a look at catalogchoice.org? I cut back on my catalogues and junk mail by calling them individually during one of The Cures, but these guys sound like a faster way to do it, and they're sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Resources Defense Council...