Kalmbach Publishing Co. Privacy Policy
Gathering Information
Uses of Information
Maintaining Your Personal Privacy
Special Privacy Protections and Safeguards for Minors
Contact Information

Last modified: March 02, 2006.

Kalmbach Publishing Co. is committed to providing service that exceeds expectations while treating all customers as VIPs. This includes maintaining your privacy and that of the members of your family, when it comes to use of any "personally identifiable information" you may voluntarily provide us via the Internet or otherwise.

We believe it is important to explain our information gathering practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used. To make this notice easy to find, it is prominently displayed at our home page and at each place where personally identifiable information may be provided.

This explanation of our privacy policy answers the following questions:

How and what kinds of information does Kalmbach and its affiliated entities collect?

How is this information used?

What can customers do to retain their privacy?

What special policies, precautions and safeguards are employed with regard to children?

Gathering Information

Kalmbach Publishing Co. is the publisher of the following magazines and web sites: American Snowmobiler, Astronomy, Art Jewelry, Bead&Button, BeadStyle, Birder's World, Classic Toy Trains, Classic Trains, FineScale Modeler, Garden Railways, Model Railroader, Model Retailer, Scale Auto, Trains, and The Writer.

Kalmbach Publishing Co. is also the host for:

• www.beadandbuttonshow.com


• Bead&Button Show Online Registration


• www.beadshopfinder.com


• www.hobbyretailer.com


• Kalmbach Hobby Newsstand


• Kalmbach Online Catalog


• Model Train Magazine Index


• Trade Sales & Service - B2B


• www.trainshops.com

Personally identifiable information is collected by Kalmbach when you decide to place an order (personally or as gifts for others), enter a contest, participate in a survey, or make a general inquiry. The information collected when you order from us or enter a contest includes some or all of the following: name, address, phone / fax number, e-mail address and credit card information. With regard to credit card information, we employ the Internet's strongest encryption tools and technology, allowing your transaction to be instantaneous, while as secure as possible from unauthorized access or misuse.

With regard to surveys in which you elect to participate, we may request demographic information (age, family income level, etc.) along with basic information regarding your reading and/or hobby interests and how Kalmbach may better serve those needs. After all, that's the business we're in! Finally, name, address and other contact information may be collected so that we can respond to any customer service issue, request for information or other general inquiry, along with (of course) information about the nature of your inquiry.

It is important for you to understand that no personally identifiable information can be captured or retrieved by Kalmbach unless you directly volunteer it. When you access one of our web sites, our server cannot identify "where you're from," nor are we able to identify "who you are." Kalmbach does not passively collect any information, particularly your e-mail address, and does not use "cookies" for storing or collecting any information, other than in the cases of Kalmbach Publishing Co.'s www.modelretailer.com site, and selected magazine sites where we allow visitors to voluntarily participate in quizzes, forums, discussion boards, clubs, event calendars, or to access premium content relating to the hobbies. In these unique situations, registered users (primarily hobby shop owners, manufacturers serving the hobby industry, etc. for www.modelretailer.com and the readership at large for the hobby magazines) do have the opportunity to store their registration information on their personal computers in the form of a cookie. The cookies are used solely for the visitors' ease of access back into the respective web sites.

Uses of Information

The fundamental (and essential) use of the information we collect is to respond and fulfill your needs as a customer or prospective customer. In other words, the information is necessary and is used by us to send you the magazines, books or other products you have ordered, to process your payment, to fulfill your request to enter a contest, to acknowledge your interest in participating in a survey, or to resolve the customer service matter or other inquiry you have brought to our attention.

Demographic and other information volunteered in connection with surveys is used primarily for internal purposes to improve the company's responsiveness to customers' wants, needs, interests, opinions and suggestions. On occasion, the aggregate findings and results of such surveys may be published as a matter of interest to the hobbyists/respondents who provided the information, and/or for the benefit of trade associations or others who may occasionally sponsor such surveys. Demographic information volunteered via surveys is captured "blind" with respect to any personally identifiable information provided by individual survey respondents, and is not linked in any way with such information. Information volunteered by you in any message or postings on Kalmbach-provided forums, discussion/bulletin boards, club membership sites, event calendars, etc., becomes public information. You should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information in any such posted message.

If you subscribe to one or more of our magazines, you will also receive a notice or notices about renewing your subscription prior to its expiration date. You may request to be excluded from such renewal mailings (see below). You may also receive periodic mailings from us about new products, services or upcoming events, and -- from time-to-time -- your address information may be made available to other reputable companies or organizations for marketing or information gathering purposes. Typically, such third parties serve the hobby and /or leisure-time industries in one form or another. You may again request to be excluded from such mailings by contacting us directly or by taking other proactive measures, as specified below.

Maintaining Your Personal Privacy

At the time you volunteer personally identifiable information and at anytime thereafter, you can direct us not to use this information for promotional or informational mailings. At your option, you may also elect to suppress the mailing of renewal notices for any of our magazines. If you do so, your personally identifiable information will be flagged in our system as "do not promote" to correspond with your request, and you will be excluded from the related Kalmbach mailings. You can also elect separately to be excluded from mailings by any third party to whom your address might otherwise be provided. Simply let us know, and we'll be happy to tailor things according to the degree of privacy you may choose!

You can, at any time, send such directions to our Customer Service Department at Kalmbach Publishing Co., P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha WI 53187-1612, or simply contact us at customerservice@kalmbach.com or webmaster@kalmbach.com. Customer Service can also be reached by calling toll-free, 800-533-6644, 8:30am - 5:00pm Central Time, Monday - Friday. Outside the US and Canada, call 262-796-8776. The fax number is 262-796-1615.

There are also national clearinghouse organizations and governmental entities where you can register to suppress unwanted solicitations. The most prominent of these is the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), of which Kalmbach Publishing Co. is a member. The DMA provides mail, e-mail and telephone data base "preference services" free of charge to consumers who wish to block all unsolicited direct mail, e-mail and telemarketing contacts, respectively. For more information, visit DMA's web site at www.the-dma.org, or contact them at (202) 955-5030.

In addition to the special measures you may take to suppress unwanted solicitations by contacting us directly, Kalmbach has implemented procedures whereby files that otherwise would be used for promotional mailings are processed with the DMA to remove any records belonging to individuals who may have registered with DMA's Mail Preference Service (but not with Kalmbach). As yet a further safeguard, many third parties to whom Kalmbach may provide personally identifiable information take the additional step to suppress the solicitation of anyone who has just recently registered with the appropriate DMA preference services, by doing so just prior to their mailing dates. Although Kalmbach Publishing Co. uses reasonable good faith efforts to require third parties to regularly follow this practice, we cannot, of course, guarantee that they adhere to our expectations.

Special Privacy Protections and Safeguards for Minors

Although we can ask all children to please ask your parents for permission before sending any information about yourself over the Internet, it is not possible -- within the capability of current technology -- for anyone to know for certain who is transacting business with them online. We cannot and do not require minors to provide or disclose more information than is necessary from any other customer in their dealings with us. Kalmbach does not directly market to children or other minors.

To promote parental awareness and consent to our use of any personally identifiable information submitted by minors, we take special measures to confirm all orders received online. For prepaid orders, a valid credit card number and expiration date is required before any of the personally identifiable information is captured.

For other transactions such as those where we have provided online customers with the option to order and "bill me later," we will - in the very near future -- take special steps to directly notify parents and to obtain verifiable parental consent. We will do this by sending a confirming postcard addressed to the "resident" ( not to the attention / name of the individual) at the address provided with the order. The postcard will display the information provided for the parent/resident's review, advising them that they may request to have it deleted, disallowing any further use of the information. The postcard reiterates the procedures and options spelled out in the section above on "Maintaining Your Personal Privacy," which parents can follow as safeguards against use of the personally identifiable information for unwanted promotions and solicitations. This includes the option for the parent to agree to the collection and use of the information by Kalmbach to fulfill the minor's order, with or without additional parental consent for Kalmbach to provide the information to reputable third parties, subject to the controls and criteria specified by our privacy policy.

Contact Information

Kalmbach Publishing Co.
Customer Service Department
P.O. Box 1612
Waukesha, WI 53187-1612

customerservice@kalmbach.com
800-533-6644 (US & Canada)
262-796-8776
262-796-1615 (fax)