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You’d never know that mail volume is down from looking at my overflowing mailbox, which can be packed with more than 20 catalogs a day. There’s just no way I can leisurely peruse a catalog anymore, as the sheer number of books I receive creates pressure to get through them quickly just to get back the use of my kitchen table.

The good news in recent years was that these unwieldy stacks would be filled with marvelous ideas.

Not this time.

OK, there were some, but they were few and far between.

Of 93 covers reviewed over a somewhat light two-week period, 30% were old-fashioned multiproduct presentations, 28% were old-fashioned single-product presentations and 27% had pictures of people. Only two came in an envelope, another two featured mostly copy on the cover and a couple took a humorous approach. Just eight chose a contemporary single-product treatment. Since there were so many traditional photos, most of the catalogs were in boring brown tones. Sure, there were a few white, red and cobalt blues, but only two catalogs really stood out from the pack color-wise.

A real surprise was that less than half (38%) had a promotion of any kind. Fourteen offered discounts and 11 dangled free gifts, free shipping, buy-one/get-one promos, or shipping upgrades. Considering the overheated retail promotions environment, things were pretty quiet.

From my perspective, the best catalog cover award goes to Athleta, which showed an athlete in motion, graceful and appealing, and to Orvis, with its new puppies-in-a-row cover. The Museum of Modern Art had the snazziest single product presentation: You have no idea what it is but you want to find out