Comments on: The Trouble with Phone Books

By: ir_kr

ir_kr — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 02:49:00 +0000

if it were less profitable there would be less publishers and less frequent renewals. maybe the economic situation will force a strike by advertisers and help this happen. the bad economy could be good for the environment, and benefit advertisers in the long run! i also like the idea of only distributing them via convenient pick-up locations, and hotels for travelers; the decreased distribution would also drive down profits and have the same effect.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:47:00 +0000

It used to be the norm that you got a phone book from the phone company when you established a new account but I didn’t get one when I moved to where I am now 3 1/2 years ago.

Maybe because I am in a gated complex, I don’t hardly ever get any phone books but there is a display at a local grocery store with some if I needed one…. mostly, I don’t, I used YellowPages.com

I have found that sometimes a phone book is better for somethings and keep one around just in case but I always recycle it when I get a new one.

By: Alex Ireland

Alex Ireland — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:30:10 +0000

Consumers can “opt out” of receiving telephone books at http://www.YellowPagesGoesGreen.org. They will contact the publishers and inform them to stop delivering books. This is a free service for consumers. http://www.YellowPagesGoesGreen.org is working with state and local governments on ordinances concerning the delivery of unsolicited telephone books. http://www.YellowPagesGoesGreen.org is not against the telephone books but against the delivery of 4 to 5 pounds of paper on people’s door step 5 to 6 times per year and being told it is our responsibility to recycle something we did not ask for. If we need a book we will call. Otherwise I “opt out” from receiving it.

By: tami

tami — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:33:25 +0000

omg.. the phonebooks. last year i moved from california to texas into an apartment. for 2 months i was sad to not have a phone book, because i didn’t know where anything was or have any important phone numbers. when i finally got one, i was really excited. then a couple weeks later i got another, so i put it in the closet with the first book. i now have 5 different phone books in my closet.

the number of books is annoying, but having one is convenient.

recaptcha: felony stately

By: Beth

Beth — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:23:56 +0000

My husband is still afraid of the internet – he would much prefer to pull out the phone book to look up a number (I’m slowly breaking him of that habit). But they do come in handy when a major storm has come thru and you have no power but do have a cell phone and need to call a roofer. But then sending a text message to google will also find you a number pretty quick but only if you have a cell phone.

We keep a phone book by the phone in the barn so you don’t have to trek all the way inside to find a number and then head back outside to call the repair shop while looking at the broken piece of equipment.

To get rid of the mass of phone books we have we burn them in the boiler – the density ratio of that big book is almost as good as a nice dry pieces of hardwood – they burn along time.

I’m going to have to try burying them in the garden for water purposes (thanks JenPo) – I’ve started to use newspaper for weed control but never thought about using the phone book instead.

By: Rick Zwetsch

Rick Zwetsch — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:16:49 +0000

Best bet is to call each of the directory publishers direct. I wrote a post about it at yousnoozeyoulose dot com

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:54:04 +0000

Go back to Russia!

By: Nicole

Nicole — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:20:55 +0000

I don’t know how common this is, but I always get two phone books per company: one in English, one in Spanish. Also, I tend to get only Spanish listings from some companies. Even though I don’t speak Spanish, they assume because I’m Hispanic, that I need it. I hate it, and they never seem to listen to me if I tell them to go away.

I happen to like getting the menus from restaurants. It’s a waste, but the smaller companies don’t put their menus online, and I sometimes can’t get out to pick up something for take out. Granted, I don’t get many of these, either.

By: Vickey

Vickey — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:57:30 +0000

JaneM, if you are getting resturant menus rubberbanded to your mailbox (not inside), call your local post office and tell them you are getting them. It’s actually illegal for resturants to do that. Sic the post office on ‘em.

But as for the flyers some you can get rid of but some you can’t. If a mailer is doing a ’saturation mailing’ then every stop on your route gets one. But to get off of many many mailing lists, write to: Mail Preference Service Marketing Assn. PO Box 9008 Farmingdale NY 11735.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:49:01 +0000

if you use AT&T you can go to realpageslive.com Don’t see anything for other companies though…