Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing the world today.  Despite forward-thinking statements on web sites and in annual reports, many businesses do not follow sustainable environmental practices.  In some cases, companies may not be aware of how their practices affect the environment or that consumers notice.  We believe that consolidating the voices of consumers can make a positive impact and change the way companies conduct business.

The idea for this website began with a frequent business traveler who wanted to e-mail hotels about their turn down service. The process of finding an online e-mail form to send a comment and getting the response for that individual comment was arduous. From there, the idea for a single source that had already collected the relevant contact information was born.  A website where users could also see feedback from other consumers and the related business responses seemed to be a great way to create a community of concerned consumers.  The more consumers that raise an issue, the more powerful the feedback, and the greater the likelihood for change.

What type of feedback should I provide?

Consumer Change is dedicated to changing business practices that affect the environment. Our Did You Know page is full of examples and related statistics showing how small changes can make a big difference.

Some examples include:

• Lack of recycling facilities in hotels or coffee shops
• Use of disposal items (cups, plates) instead of re-useable ceramic or other material
• Use of incandescent light bulbs instead of compact fluorescents
• Over packaged goods
• Availability of fuel efficient cars at car rental companies
• Use of eco-friendly cups in coffee shops
• Reducing unnecessary promotional material
• Additional electricity use with hotel turn-down service (i.e. radios and lights on when the room is not being used) 

You can provide positive feedback too. For example, Tully’s Coffee recently implemented the first fully compostable hot beverage cup as their disposal cup. You can e-mail them from our Feedback Directory to thank them and encourage other coffee houses to consider a similar change.

Consumer Change does not support feedback on service related matters that do not impact the environment at this time. Please visit sites such as www.my3cents.com which support this type of feedback.

Which businesses can I provide feedback to? 

You can provide feedback to any business that has operations in the US, whose services or products are available to individual consumers and who accept e-mail comments. Our current listings include:

• Hotels
• Coffee shops
• Restaurants
• Car rental companies
• Shops

What if I don’t see a business listed?

If you don’t see a business listed, we just have not gotten round to adding it yet. Simply request a business through our online form (click here).

What if someone has already provided feedback to a company about the issue I am writing about?

Even if someone has provided the same feedback before, sending a similar comment to a business shows that the issue is a concern for many consumers.  The more people who add a comment, the more likely a business will be to change.

We believe that collective action in a public forum will be a greater stimulus for companies to change their environmental practices.

I sent some feedback through, but I have not received a response.

Your feedback is e-mailed directly to the business, we cannot control when or if they will respond.  However, we do contact them approximately two weeks after your feedback is sent to remind them of the open feedback.

Why do you collect state and zip codes information?
State and city legislation on items such as recycling, use of certain materials and other related items vary widely.  By collecting information on the residence of our users as well as location of where they used businesses we are able to give better feedback to businesses to improve their environmental processes in a certain location or region. This information is never used to identify individual users.

Do you sell mailing lists?
Consumer Change LLC does not sell mailing lists.