PLANO, TX — If you're of a certain age and socioeconomic status, you probably have intensely fond memories of getting those gigantic holiday catalogs from department stores in the mail.
In some ways, it was an occasion even more momentous than Christmas, getting those hundreds of pages of the latest and greatest toys delivered to your doorstep.
Well, those days are coming to an end: JCPenney today announced a new strategy aimed at cutting costs and paper use in its catalog mailing operations.
In a nutshell, the company is cutting out its twice-annual "big books" and replacing them with a range of shorter, specialty catalogs and focusing more heavily on internet-accessible catalogs.
The results of this operation are impressive: JCP estimates it will save 25 to 30 percent of the paper used for its catalogs, which already incorporate post-consumer recycled content to the tune of 10 percent.
It's a good move for JCPenney, and for the planet and people who don't have such fond associations with those huge catalogs -- but the end of those massive mailings also feels a bit like the end of an era.