Even before I followed the link I knew this was about Restoration Hardware. That catalog was unnecessarily large and made my recycling VERY heavy a few weeks ago.

It was so big and overwhelming that I didn't even open it. It went straight to recycling.

I have yet to get the new one but they usually are too big and I never go all the way through. I hit the website when I want to look up something. But beware! They will raise the price if they spy that you are interested in something. They raised the price $3 on a drawer pull that I had plans of buying multiples. I found it elsewhere for cheaper. I wouldn't shop them again unless absolutely necessary.

It's disgusting, quite frankly. Most RH customers have Internet anyway. Why not slim the catalog to under 100 pages and use the Internet as it's main mode of shopping? So wasteful.

I got the Restoration catalog too. I have yet to open it.
I've only bought their stuff at the outlet in Riverhead, the list prices are ridiculous.

We got THREE of these catalogs - one for me, one for my husband, and one for the previous occupant. I was so overwhelmed and annoyed and felt guilty and sorry for our mail carrier -- even though we had never subscribed to the catalog -- that I didn't open a single one. I called up RH the next day and asked to be taken off their list (all three times).

My two-year old enjoyed tearing it up and "decorating" the living room with it.

After last year's ridiculous RH catalog, I wrote to the company and asked that they never send me another. It is abhorrent that in 2012 a company should be so willfully blind to their environmental impact.

But truly, all catalogs end up as waste after a very short period of time- seems silly when we can look at everything so easily online. Junk mail is a largely unregulated industry that produces literally TONS of waste every year.

I recently discovered PaperKarma, a free app for smart phones that allows you to take photos of any junk mail you wish to stop, upload the photos, and the app does the rest, and contacts the sender on your behalf. It's worked really well for me so far!

The catalog is hundreds of pages of beige furniture with ridiculous prices. Mine went into recycling, toom, but still - what a waste of paper!

Say goodbye to our forests! Guess what - these catalogues with their glossy pages aren't even recyclable. Boycott whatever's in this horrid rag and email the company to say why you've done so. And get off those mailing lists. Until we get a Do Not Mail registry (write Obama) you can pay 41 Pounds or simply call the company. It WILL make a difference.

We received TWO Restoration Hardware paperweight mailers. They both went in the recycling immediately. Who on Earth thought that was a good idea? Who is going to snuggle up on the couch with something the size of the yellow pages? Or a reference dictionary? Ugh.

I recently wandered into a Restoration Hardware and was so BORED. I couldn't believe it - it used to be such a great place to browse.

The catalog is ridiculous.

I'm on the RH list twice so I got 11 pounds of catalogue!
I bought one vent cover from them over four years ago and now I can't get out from under their mail. What a waste.

...And how about that absurd letter from Gary Friedman?!

I love that Lee Valley sends me a little postcard when they have a new catalogue. It's a reminder to check out what's new online and it includes an option to request the full catalogue, according to personal preference. It's environmentally and economically responsible and it serves the same purpose as a full catalogue.

I am so glad you posted this so we can all rant about this totally irresponsible company. I wrote them last week and told them that this catalog was the last straw and I was no longer purchasing things from Restoration Hardware. If you want to opt out, create a Catalog Choice account and asked to be removed from their mailing list and the lists of every other company that behaves in such an irresponsible way.

At least 7 of my neighbors (and our building is only 17 units!) got that catalog-- I know because they were too big to fit in the mailboxes, so were left on the floor.

As an American kid before the Internet, I loved paging through JC Penney's huge catalogs. They ran in the 1,000s of pages, selling everything from sweater vests to drapes to board games to recliners with built-in massage. Nowadays, though, I think J. Crew and Anthropologie have a better model-- show some aspirational images featuring a variety of products in 50-some pages, and point to the website for the exhaustive list.

i thought it was restoration hardware too!! i was shocked, and completely overwhelmed when i got mine that i just threw it right in the recycling...

Coated paper is recyclable. It is a different process than newspaper, but it can be done. (I presume some communities don't have the service, though.)

Catalogs are mailed because they are an effective way to generate sales. They aren't free to produce or to send, so if they aren't effective, no company is going to waste the money to send them. Of course, ideally, they'd only send them to people who really want them and use them, but culling their mailing lists is also expensive -- cross checking of the rented lists is a service the catalog company has to pay for, and if it only saves them sending a hundred catalogs out of a list of 100,000, it's not worth it to them. Just ask to be removed -- but if you subscribe to lots of magazines or whatever, your name could wend it's way onto a new distribution list. Don't be shocked.

I no longer get ANY hard copy catalogs, and I don't miss them at all. I don't subscribe to any magazines, so my name is on very few distribution lists, and now, those are mainly opt-in situations for coupons or other things I can actually use. My junk mail is mostly associated with memberships such as AARP (which you can join when you are 50...)

Why bother sending out such a huge catalog when most people would just prefer to view it online? Printing and shipping certainly aren't free.

I agree that the J Crew and Anthro down selected model is much better, but even those I would prefer to just not receive a hard copy of.

It was so large I didn't browse through it. I think I took a look at the first couple of pages and got bored so it went straight in the garbage.

I have to frequently call companies to be removed from their mailing lists and hear the maddening news that I may receive them for three more months. Often, these are companies with which I have no history. Maybe all magazines should be canceled as well--I guess that is one course of the mailing lists--so much for helping the magazine industry stay in business.
I once wrote my congressman about a do not mail registry and his response included the gem that these things keep the post office in business! Ridiculous. If a company sends me a catalog unsolicited, I will NEVER shop with them. If I get the RH catalog, I may have to throw it through their window.

Of course to add (wasteful) insult to injury... the catalog is BORING! Page after endless page of beige, parchment, light gray. No other colors allowed in the new RH world apparently. I used to love visiting Restoration Hardware, especially during the holiday season, but now?... I feel as if I am touring a ridiculously-overpriced museum of over-sized "stuff" that unless you happen to live in a castle or more precisely, Gary Friedman's personal estate, wouldn't fit anyway. Yawn.

I can't figure out how Restoration Hardware is still around?! Their model wasn't working, so they went the beige and grey distressed direction which bored everyone to death. And then on top of it all, they're spending a fortune on these catalogs? How is this even possible? Wow.

I am using the new reply feature to agree. I would be so SAD if I lived in those boring gray rooms. Blech.

...except I am not sure if the new reply feature works. Hm.

I don't know why I'm on their mailing list. I strongly dislike their new look, and the catalog went directly from the mailbox to the recycling. Recyclable or not, it's such a waste of paper.

Saved the last RH mostlyreprintcompendium and the current edition for our new fireplace. It might take a few years, but I'll read and burn it page by page. See you folks on the internet!

In Canada the RH catalogue is delivered by courier! Imagine the cost of that. Much prefer to browse online.

What's the difference between one super thick catalog I get once a year and the 50 a year I get from JCrew? And they aren't unsolicited....you requested a catalog and you can just as easily ask that your name be removed from future mailings. What a dumb thing to complain about.

I agree with Paige. Catalogchoice.org has gotten me off of a huge number of catalog mailing lists.

Om, no many companies will sign you up without your consent when you fill out warantee forms and other companies will just sell your name and address.

@ValHalla I'd be curious to know which Congressperson that was.

Ugh. I couldn't even get this out of the mailbox. We have a light fixture right above and I couldn't angle it out enough to pull it out. I was pretty annoyed. I left it in there and one of the roomies got it out later.

It's an abomination. I flipped through it to confirm that I still hate the restyled RH (their new stuff all look s like stage props) and tossed it into recycling. Think of all those wasted resources. Shameful.

Thanks for the notes about Catalogchoice.org -- I'm going to head over there right now!

Catalogues themselves are a holdover from a time before the internet. Once upon a time, they were the only way you could shop from home. I suppose that catalogues still have some purpose, if only to put the name and aesthetic of the company in front of you once a season -- but I won't mourn them when they're gone!

Not only was it ridiculously large, you can flip through the whole thing and the color/tone doesn't even change. Are there really that many people out there that live with only shades of beige, black and gray. I got depressed just looking at it. And based on the prices I definitely don't think I am their target demo anymore. I recycled it.

The RH catalog is just absurd! I remember pulling it out of my mailbox and thinking, "You have got to be kidding me! Who is going to sit down and look at this monstrosity?" It made me tired and bored just looking at it sitting there without ever cracking it open. So unnecessary!

The only one bigger I think was the Sears Catalog that appeared during the holidays when I was a kid.

I think it is ridiculous. If I requested the catalog, that is one thing...but I didn't. I used to like Restoration Hardware, but now, the furniture is either too big, too expensive or just too bland. I spent 5 seconds of my time looking at it before it went into the recycling bag. What a shame...it's a waste of paper, resources and heavy for the mail carriers...especially when it is all online.

The catalogue is the same as the store.. big bulky set pieces

My other thought is this...If people order from your company via catalog, then send them your catalogs. If people order from your company via the internet, do not mail them a catalog. They obviously know where to find you!

The size of the RH catalog is a metaphor for their prices.

Good post. Really, who would want a airplane wing desk.

That Restoration Hardware catalogs were insane! And why 2?!!!

We got this catalog at work. No one wanted it, so I took it home and have been using the pages to to make origami and small boxes to store jewelry in.

I love browsing catalogs to get ideas and inspiration. However, this RH one is too much even for a catalog lover like me. I've done the small space one but haven't gone thru 1/4 of the regular one. I can't afford any item from RH nor have I bought anything from it. Don't know how I got on its mailing list....

Since someone at RH will likely be reading comments here, and since a few comments mentioned high prices, I would like to mention their shopping prices. A couple months ago I wanted to buy a set of RH sheets on sale, but when I put together my online order I found the shipping was outrageous -- something like $45. There is a store close enough to my home to justify driving there, but they never have adequate stock on hand (and the people working there always seem to be chasing their own tails and ignoring customers, but that's anther issue). So I dumped the order. RH lost the sale. Using "shipping and handling" as a profit source just stinks.

Oops...shipping, not shopping.

Agree with all the other posters, and I've requested that RH remove me from their mailing list. Their catalogues have been getting larger and more ridiculous for years now - a complete waste of time and resources.

Mine went straight to the recycling bin and I wrote to RH to complain about the waste and asked them to remove me from their mailing lists.

Not only did I never request a catalog and can't recall having once shopped there, but I used the online form last March to be removed from their catalog list and still got one this time around. In fact, I got two.

Agree - I was so appalled to see the size this year. And I do think it's vastly different than getting a September issue of Vogue or the like. You have opted in by paying for that, whereas this is somewhat unsolicited.

There should minimally be a way to opt out of the Look Book but still receive other catalogs from RH. Even better would be that you have to opt-in to receive the Look Book, because honestly it's so irresponsible to send that much paper. When I allow catalogs come to my home (by explicitly signing up, or by not opting-out once I receive one), the expectation these days is 4-6 catalogs per year of <80 pages or so. I don't think any normal person would assume that opting to receive the RH catalog would result in almost 1k pages. So if it's not within the normal expectation, then there should either be an explicit opt-in process to get the look book, or they just shouldn't do it at all.

I receive two MASSIVE BH Photo Video catalogues each year now, and I live in Australia. We bought our laptops from them as they were half the Australian price, and because we made individual orders, we receive individual catalogues all the way from New York.

I receive two MASSIVE BH Photo Video catalogues each year now, and I live in Australia. We bought our laptops from them as they were half the Australian price, and because we made individual orders, we receive individual catalogues all the way from New York.

I am SO GLAD FINALLY someone is writing about this!! I called the company and told them to get my name off of their 500 lb catalog list. As a person who likes to rip "design inspiration" out of magazines, I couldn't even find anything to rip out because it is the same look/color over and over AND it was the same stuff in the last magazine. I don't understand what the goal is of the company. I will tell you another company - Lands End. I ordered stuff recently and have received a magazine every single day! I remember back in the day my mom complaining about Victoria's Secrets but I think they finally realized how many trees they were killing!

I too am so glad to see this post!!! For some time now I've been unable to stomach even looking through the catalogs and immediately throw them in the recycle bin. I've become increasingly disheartened by RH in general... their former retro appeal has been replaced by a product line so grossly ostentatious - their catalogs are just a symptom of their apparent over-inflated egos. Especially hard to swallow in these economic times.

It's almost the size of my phone book - which is something else I wish they wouldn't leave on my doorstep. I put it directly in the recycling! It's too much to get through. Before I saw this post, I thought they mistakenly sent me a designer/decorator copy rather than the issue for the general public.

I recently moved, and there was a mix-up with my Restoration Hardware catalog. Instead of delivering it to the current resident, the Post Office left me a postcard saying I had a delivery from Restoration Hardware and I needed to pay postage due. Turned out it was the catalog, and the postage due was over $6.00! Needless to say, I declined.

So, then who sold our addresses? Was it Elle Decor; Country Living; This Old House; HGTV Magazine, Martha Stewart Living...? All of the sudden I received my first copy of RH earlier this month I subscribe to the aforementioned mags. And, yes; that dual set of catalogs full of items I cannot afford was massive!!

@DonaldN: NO, you do not typically request catalogs, they come because you either gave your business previously, they bought a mailing list, you bought something from their associated companies, your credit card sold your name and a million other ways they sneakily got your information.

What I find most frustrating is that companies are now associating your browsing on your computer when you have purchased before and sending catalogs. I realized a horrible pattern with a company that I had unsubscribed multiple times over the years from the catalogs. If I went to the website to see something within a week I would get a catalog. This after not having one for 6 months and immediately calling to have myself removed. I don't know how to stop this problem aside from my not ever going on their website ever again, which I have not. We do unfortunately need a Do Not Mail list regardless of the postal systems financial issues. This is downright harassment.

@Austur my boyfriend always uses a fake name when signing up for stuff (if he isn't paying or signing a warantee deal) and he uses different fake names for each company. That way he knows if someone sold his name. He uses the names of obscure extreme skiiers, fictional detectives, it's pretty hilarious and he knows exactly who gave out his home information.

I find it repellant, but that's the direction they've been moving: oversized, ostentatious and in just plain bad taste.