Phone books

I don’t have a land line at my house. I shouldn’t get a phonebook. Or 3.

A week or so ago, The Talking Phone Book delivery guy showed up with TWENTY phone books. I told him we didn’t need so many, but they were already packaged together. Whatever. Maybe we can use them.

Then today The Real Yellow Page delivery guy showed up with 20 MORE phone books and an additional 10 of the mini version. Seriously? We have 50 phone books. We don’t even have 50 phones in building.

They probably called someone here and they told them to bring them by, but nobody really needs phone books anymore, if you have one that is from the past 3 years you should find the information you need. And really, if you have access to the internet you can find the information almost immediately. I’m not trying to put the phone book printers out of business, I’m just trying to reduce the numbers of books we have at our office…

If you live in Columbia, you can recycle your phone books in your recycling bins, or you can bring them by the following drop off locations from now until March 15, 2009:

• A Recycling Center – 1009 Fontaine Road, Columbia, SC 29223
• City of Cayce Public Safety Department – 1800 12th Street Extension, Cayce, SC 29171
• Blythewood Branch, US Post Office – 401 McNulty Street, Blythewood, SC 29016 (near the intersection of Blythewood Road and Boney Road)
• Clemson Sandhill Research and Education Center – Clemson Road across from the entrance to First Citizens and Regent Banks at the Village at Sandhill
• Forest Acres Recycling Facility – 3724 Covenant Road, Forest Acres, SC 29206
• Fort Jackson Recycling Center – Building #6568 on Lee Road, Fort Jackson, off Imboden Rd. Enter the Ft. through Forest Drive entrance; be prepared to show valid driver’s license, proof of insurance and current auto registration.
• Harbison Sam’s Club – 350 Harbison Blvd., Columbia, SC 29212
• Lexington County Collection and Recycling Centers – All 12 locations (Hours: Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat, 7:00 am to 7:00 pm; Sun, 3:00 to 7:00 pm)
• Lower Richland Recycling Drop-off Center – 10531 Garners Ferry Road (Hours: Mon – Sat, 8:00am to 7:00pm; Sun, 12:30 to 6:00pm)
• Richland County C&D Landfill – 1070 Caughman Road North (off Monticello Road), Columbia, SC 29203 (Hours: Mon – Fri, 8:00 am to 6:30 pm; Sat, 12:30 to 5:30 pm)
• Richland County Public Works – 400 Powell Road, Columbia, SC 29203 (Hours: Mon – Fri, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm)
• SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) – 2600 Bull Street, Columbia, SC 29201 (Bin located in the rear of parking lot next to City of Columbia’s recycling drop-off site.)
• University of South Carolina – parking lot at Gadsden and Greene Streets, caddy corner to Colonial Center parking lot

Grande Americano, Extra Green

My office recently switched from Styrofoam coffee cups to a “bring your own mug” policy. Sounds like the right idea, but with all the water and paper towels we now waste on washing mugs, I’m not sure this is a huge net gain for the environment. What is the “greenest” way to drink coffee around the office?

Judging from all the letters the Lantern gets on this topic, you and your office-mates are not alone in being confused about how to balance a caffeine addiction with a concern about responsible consumption. It’s true: You’ll have a hard time finding a more eco-unfriendly product than the material most of us call Styrofoam. Those soft, white cups are made of highly processed petroleum (polystyrene, to be exact), and they’re almost certain to languish in a landfill for centuries. Still, it may not always be the right move to switch over to ceramic or stainless-steel mugs. It all comes down to which aspects of the environment you care about most.

http://www.slate.com/id/2200158/?GT1=38001

Reducing mail waste

This is a touchy subject, as printers are the ones printing junk mail and our customers are the one producing mass mailings.

If you are a customer and want to reduce the amount of “junk mail” you send out, consider revising your mail lists. Mail lists can be purchased to target certain audiences/age groups/populations/zip codes. The more specific you get on your lists, the more likely that you will see a higher ROI. It’s estimated that about 40% of junk mail is thrown away without being opened.

If you want to get even higher response rates, consider cross media. With cross-media you directly target a group of people based on very specific designators. Cross media response rates are significantly higher than traditional mass mailings. The cost/piece for crossmedia is higher, but if you will get a higher response rate/piece. Combine that with variable data and personalization and your response rate goes even higher…

We should also consider postage rates. Mailing 10,000 pieces is not cheap. Sure you get a postal discount for volume, but  you can send out 1,000 pieces with a bit of a discount and have a higher ROI.

Personalization/variable/custom mail lists

Less paper + Less postage costs + less waste = higher ROI

If you are interested in reducing the amount of mail you send, while increasing your ROI… give us a call. We can help you out.

In the mean time, if you want to reduce the amount of “junk mail” you receive, visit 41pounds.org . For $41 (for 5 years) they will take your names off of mail lists. You can also do this yourself by calling your credit card and catalogs and requesting to be removed.

blackle.com

Google now supports blackle.com, a search engine that saves energy by having a black screen instead of a white screen. The idea is that a black screen utilizes significantly less energy.. estimated 750 mega watts/hr/year.

Another idea is to have your screen saver kick in around 10 minutes and default to a black screen (instead of flying windows and slide shows) or have it completely shut off. Turning the monitor off (using the button on the screen) is also a great way to lower your energy consumption.

I know I’m guilty of it, but it is a great idea to turn your computer OFF when you are done/leaving work for the day. If you are lazy (me) and don’t want to reopen every excel/email/website/pdf/etc screen, sending your computer into hibernation is better than keeping it at full power all night long. Flat screen monitors also use less energy than the tubular models.