a coming fact about garden catalogs

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread

i just wanted to pass along something i've been told by several seed catalog companies. the old days of the mailed out paper copy is becoming extinct. seems it is costing more and more to print and mail paper copies, coupled with fewer people gardening, therefore quite a few companies have plans to phase out paper copies and go strictly to the internet.

i don't know about you, but i treasure the mailed out paper catalogs, the internet is great but it has its limitations. therefore, i am creating in a space in my file cabinet to store and protect my paper catalogs, fearing the day when they will be collectors items, probably sold on ebay.

just wanted to pass that along. happy gardening everyone

gene

-- gene ward (gward34847@aol.com), September 04, 2000

Answers

Do away with seed catalogs?!?!?! That's my favorite mail!!!!

-- Mona (jascamp@ipa.net), September 04, 2000.

I KNEW there was a good reason for me collecting and hoarding all the seed catalogs I can get my grubby hand on!

-- Laura (gsend@hotmail.com), September 05, 2000.

That's no way to start my Monday morning, Gene.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), September 05, 2000.

Cindy, I think you might want to consider that its Tuesday....

-- Anne (HT@HM.com), September 05, 2000.

Thanks for the heads-up! I have a big stack waiting to go to recylcing. I think I had better go through them again and see if I need to keep some!

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), September 05, 2000.


Anne, with news like that it might as well be Monday. Oops!

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), September 05, 2000.

Seed catalogs are one of the signs that "Yes, Virginia, there IS spring a'commin'." How do we get thru cold and dreary February without seed catalogs?

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), September 05, 2000.

I've noticed in general, not just seed catalogs, that the paper catalogs are much better for getting information about and viewing a product, and it is faster (Gasp! Yes, faster than the internet) than clicking pages and waiting for them to come up!

Can't drag the computer into bed, or to the breakfast table, or the throne room with you either! Nor fold the corners over and circle the items of interest! Phooey!

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), September 05, 2000.


NO SEED CATALOGS! It's like Christmas with no tree, or Thanksgiving with no pumpkin pie - it just ain't right. What about those poor unfortunate uncomputerised folk? (Heavy sarcasm on the unfortunate - doesn't quite translate thru the comp). Good Lord, whatever shall we DO all winter!!??!!

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), September 05, 2000.

Personally I don't see this happening anytime soon. Not even 20 years from now. Problem for the seed companies is they would be limiting their client base to only those who have home PCs. Say all but one goes to electronic catelogs. That one would likely do a thriving business for the reasons cited above.

Before I took early retirement the buzzword for about the previous ten years was the 'paperless' office. Bull, PCs generated as much paper as previous methods. May have sped up the process and eliminated the jobs of word processing clerks, but the paper still flowed on and on.

I suspect, due to rising cost, if you don't order for two years you will be dropped off the mailing list. But, then Publishers Clearing House has been threatening to stop mailing me magazine subscription opportunities for as long as I can remember.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), September 06, 2000.



I would feel the same way about loosing our "printed" seed catalogs as I did when Sears quit publishing their Christmas Wish Book! Christmas just hasn't been the same since!!!!!

-- Suzy in 'Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), September 06, 2000.

This is so timely. Just this weekend I was eyeing the bookcase in the bedroom and thinking I have got to throw out those old seed catalogues because they are taking up too much space. (these are for the last two years, I have several more years worth in boxes in the cellar.) Don't ask me why I am keeping them. I keep thinking that when I finally get my landscaping done I would cut the pictures out of these catalogues and set up a record book of my layout which would remind me what everything looks like in bloom. My mother did this and kept it as a keepsake on her coffee table. This is my excuse anyway. I just can't let go of those pretty catalogues. Besides some of them have some really helpful info about where to plant (sun or shade), bloom times, etc. This is particularly true of the Thompson Morgan catalogue (my favorite). Okay, I admit, I am obsessed with them. Sure hope they don't stop sending them out. Life wouldn't be the same without them. But I think maybe I'll hang onto my "collection" for awhile. Maybe they will become worth something in 30 years. LOL.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), September 06, 2000.

I don't foresee paper seed catalogues going away anytime soon. However, companies like Burpee could reduce cost (and waste) by only mailing out one or two catalogues a year, rather than the four or five that I've been getting from them. I mean, c'mon... As I recall, this year there's been the "Early Spring" catalogue, "Late Spring", "Summer" and just a week or so ago I got their "Fall" catalogue. And that doesn't count the duplicate copies I've received.

I think 2 a year is plenty, one sent out in late winter, to cover the entire upcoming growing season, and then another in late summer, to cover bulbs, etc.

-- Brett (bretfromok@aol.com), September 09, 2000.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ