How to Stop Orvis Catalogs: Phone, Letter or Catalog Choice

Why Orvis catalogs keep coming

Your name and address reach Orvis the moment you place an order, return or exchange an item or request a catalog. Opening an account, entering a sweepstakes or signing up for a class or trip does the same. One stated use for that information is to "send you catalogs or promotional offers we believe will be of interest to you." Orvis may also disclose personal information to affiliates, business partners, vendors and other parties. The vendors it names include payment processors, shippers, sweepstakes promoters and website developers. It may also combine what it already holds on you with information it gets from other parties.

For customers who want catalogs less often, or not at all, Orvis links a form "to request a change or cancellation in your catalog mailing subscription." That link opens the Orvis email sign-up page , headed "Can We Drop You A Line? Sign up now so you never miss out on our new arrivals." The page's only fields are Email, First Name and Last Name, above a "SUBMIT REQUEST" button. There is no postal-address field. A separate Catalog Unsubscribe page in the Orvis customer care section has no catalog opt-out form.

Three outside services also handle catalog opt-outs. Catalog Choice is a non-profit organization working to stop junk mail. It is operated by The Story of Stuff Project and has a listing for Orvis. PaperKarma is a subscription app that requests opt-outs from photos of the mail you receive. DMAchoice is a mail preference site run by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), and the FTC explains the service and its fees.

How to stop Orvis: step by step

1. Contact Orvis customer service, or file through Catalog Choice. Orvis customer service is at 888-235-9763, Monday–Friday 9 AM–6 PM ET. The line covers questions about products, order status, returns and more. The Orvis privacy policy gives the same number, with the Roanoke mailing address, under "questions, comments, or assistance." Neither the line nor the address is listed as a catalog opt-out channel, so treat a call or a letter as a request and write down the date. If you call, keep a recent catalog in front of you and read out your name and address exactly as they appear on the mailing label. Then ask for what you want: no catalog at all, or fewer of them.

   On Catalog Choice, the Orvis listing marks it as a company that accepts opt-out requests on its own website. Catalog Choice sends you to the Orvis site to finish the request, after you log in or register with Catalog Choice to create it. If the form you reach has a comments section, paste this text:

   1Please remove me from your postal mailings list. I no longer wish to receive your mailings. Do not rent or sell my name or address to other organizations.
   

   A Catalog Choice request can take up to 90 days to process.

2. PaperKarma. Take photos of the Orvis catalog in the PaperKarma app on iPhone or Android. The photos are your proof that you received the mailer. PaperKarma then looks up the sender and the marketing lists behind it in a database of more than 100,000 mailers, and contacts the mailer and those lists to remove your address.

   The Yearly plan is $24.99 a year , and a Lifetime plan costs $59.99 once. Both include unlimited requests, names and stored addresses, plus the 90-day money-back guarantee. Shorter plans cost $15.99 for 6 months or $3.99 a month, and adding local mailers is only available on the Yearly and Lifetime plans. Most opt-out requests are processed within 24 hours. Larger mailers tend to print one to three campaign waves in advance, though, so expect the catalogs to slow in about two to three months. If the Orvis catalog is addressed to a previous resident, add that person's name to your account and submit the photos the same way. An account can hold unlimited names.

3. DMAchoice.org. Register at DMAchoice and choose which catalogs, magazine offers and other mail you want to get. Online registration has a $6 processing fee and lasts 10 years. It stops most, but not all, promotional mail. To register by mail, send your name and address with your signature and a $7 processing fee. Pay by check or money order, made out to the Association of National Advertisers or ANA, and post it to DMAchoice Consumer Preferences, P.O. Box 900, Cos Cob, CT 06807.

   DMAchoice has two more lists. The Deceased Do Not Contact List stops mail addressed to someone who has died. The Do Not Contact for Caretakers List covers mail addressed to a dependent in your care. A name registered on these lists stays on the ANA's mail and email opt-out lists permanently.

4. Write to Orvis, or use chat. Send a letter to The Orvis Company, Attn: Customer Service, 1711 Blue Hills Drive, Roanoke, VA 24012. A letter gives you a dated record of what you asked for. Include your name and address as printed on the label, say whether you want the catalog cancelled or sent less often, and add the comment text from step 1. Chat and email run Monday–Friday 9 AM–6 PM ET. Open chat from the round button on the right side of the screen on Orvis's site, or use the "Send an Email" link on the contact page. A chat, with a virtual or a live agent, may be captured and kept as a transcript on Orvis's side. Take a screenshot of your request before you close the window so you hold your own copy.

   If you have an Orvis account, sign in and check the name and address stored there. Registered users can review and change their name, address, phone number, email address and payment details at any time.

Want to stop ALL junk mail, not just catalogs? Start at optout.ws .

What to expect

Allow 8 to 12 weeks for Orvis mail to taper off after a PaperKarma request, while campaigns already prepared run their course, and up to 90 days for a Catalog Choice request. Seasonal senders can take up to a year to cycle out. If Orvis catalogs reach you only in certain seasons, give your request that longer window before you count it as failed.

If Orvis catalogs still arrive three months after your requests and they are not seasonal, call Orvis customer service again with the newest mailing label in hand. Ask whether your request was recorded, and whether it was logged as a cancellation or as a reduced frequency. If Orvis has no record of it, send the letter from step 4 and keep a copy.

The email newsletter has its own opt-out: unsubscribe online or through the link in each edition. Orvis text messages are a third channel. If you signed up for them, reply STOP to an Orvis text to opt out.

References

• Orvis Privacy Policy - catalog change-or-cancellation form link, what collects your address, catalog mailing use, data sharing and combining, chat transcripts, account edits, email newsletter unsubscribe, Customer Service mailing address and phone
• Orvis Contact Us - phone line and what it covers, chat button, Send an Email link, hours
• Orvis Email Subscribe - the page the policy's catalog link opens, its heading and fields, STOP for text messages
• Orvis Catalog Unsubscribe - page with no catalog opt-out form
• Catalog Choice: Orvis - non-profit status and operator, Orvis listing, log-in step, suggested comment text, 90-day processing
• PaperKarma - photo as proof of receipt, 100,000+ mailer database, 24-hour processing, campaign waves, two-to-three-month and seasonal timelines, previous residents, unlimited names, 90-day money-back guarantee, 8–12 week drop
• PaperKarma Subscription - iPhone and Android app, Yearly, Lifetime, 6-month and Monthly prices, money-back guarantee, local mailers only on Yearly and Lifetime
• How To Stop Junk Mail (FTC) - DMAchoice run by the ANA, catalog choices, $6 fee, 10-year term, $7 mail-in address, deceased and caretaker lists