Two Adaptations: Environmental And Privacy Policy

Market forces will require catalogers to make two adaptations in the future.

Adaptation #1 = Environmental Policy: I predict that in 2008, we will see the first of numerous catalogers who openly publish "environmental policies" on their website, and/or in catalogs. Market forces and third parties are going to require our industry to actually talk about the positive things we do, or require us to start doing positive things!! We will craft statements that read like a privacy policy, but will speak to the positive things we're doing to stave off a global crisis.

Adaptation #2 = Privacy Policy: We've either read or written statements like this: "We may occasionally provide your name and postal address to a select group of companies whose products and services you may find of interest". If you think our industry is fed up with third parties and lobbying partners managing our opt-out process for us, wait until organizations dig into the italicized statement above. Market forces will eventually require us to have a more collaborative and forthright arrangement with our customers. In the next few years, we'll allow our customers to make the decision whether they want to be informed about products and services they may find of interest.

Industry leading catalogers will take these steps in 2008, charting a path to our future. Who do you think will lead the catalog industry in the practice of publishing an "environmental policy"?