Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

I do most of my holiday shopping via catalog and the telephone; and it seems to work well. There’s just one thing I find annoying about the process, and that’s getting an email confirmation of my order.

Don’t get me wrong; I like to have a confirmation number in case things run amok. But what I learned last year is that once the company (It could be Land’s End or Orvis or Cooking Enthusiast) has my email address it bombards me with regular notices of sales, free shipping, new merchandise, you name it. And it bombards me all year long.

I know I can “unsubscribe,” but that requires effort on my part. So this year, I’m returning to the old fashioned way of tracking my packages. When the sales associate politely asks, “And would you like an email confirmation of your order?” I politely say “No thank you. Just give me the number over the phone.”

Of course this won’t stop me from getting notices from those companies that already have my email address on file, but at least I won’t get additional communiquйs. And, after the holidays, I think I will unsubscribe to Red Envelope, Macy’s, Joanne Fabric, etc.