A twist in business ethics: Direct mail marketing mogul pays more to save trees

Clearwater, Florida June 16, 2005 PostcardMania, a direct-mail marketing postcard company, announced that it switched its large paper use from virgin paper (fresh off the tree) to a more expensive recycled environmental paper called Kallima, absorbing the higher cost yet keeping the price the same for their customers.

The paper is made with post-consumer waste and the savings is directed toward the forests actually saving 1,200 trees per year. Environmental benefits for the company’s project are calculated based on research done by Environmental Defense, the other members of the Paper Task Force and Conservatree, who studied the environmental impacts of the paper industry.

According to the Taipei Times, there is a loss of 14.6 million hectares of forests every year — an area almost four times the area of Switzerland attributing it to irresponsible forest management, enhanced by poor governmental regulation and enforcement, and markets that reward illegal logging. There seems to be a trend of trying to evade environmental concerns instead of seeking to solve them.

However, growing pains caused the owner of PostcardMania to halt and take a look. When increasing sales pushed rapidly up over into the multi-millions, a look was taken to see what could be done to conserve on all that paper usage. I just couldn’t justify using paper that wasn’t environmentally committed. The more successful we got, the more I felt the need to do something about it said Joy Gendusa, owner of PostcardMania.

The customers are pleased as well – even though it is costing the company more than $50,000 per year to switch paper, their prices are staying exactly the same. So, instead of any savings to the owner’s pocketbook, the savings will go to the trees.

New Leaf Paper www.newleafpaper.com, the distributor of Kallima, launched the first 10% post consumer paper line in 1997. Some say it actually makes the end product look better due to the fact that it holds the ink better.

Reported in a Conservatree Press Release in 2002, Cosmopolitan, which uses 328,577 trees every year, could save at least 32,858 trees a year by switching to competitively priced recycled paper offering the same performance as virgin paper.

I feel that industry leaders need to set an example. The game isn’t always about how much money you can save, it’s about what you can do for the environment, for people and the world at large. said Ms. Gendusa.

Costing more to be environmentally friendly yet not charging more to the customers appears to be, for PostcardMania, the politically correct thing to do. And their executives predict other companies will be turning over a new leaf and respecting environmental values as more continue to set the example.

To inquire about direct mail postcard marketing, call 800-628-1804 or visit http://www.postcardmania.com.

About PostcardMania:

PostcardMania, founded by Joy Gendusa in 1998, is a full service direct mail postcard marketing company providing businesses with full service postcard direct mail marketing which includes graphic design, printing, mailing list acquisition and mailing services with free marketing advice.