Do People Still Use Phone Books?

Badeau P.O.V.

By Chelsea-Badeau
Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:35:00 GMT

In my last blog post, I waxed nostalgic over the looming demise of the video store industry, but there is a business that I would like to see become extinct. OK, maybe extinct is a bit harsh, but I would like to see the phone book business make some major changes.

I mean, do the masses actually still use phone books? I know I don’t. Yet, three to four enormous books are still delivered to my house every year. They go directly from my porch to the recycle bin. I may not be the “greenest” person in the world, but even I can recognize this needless waste of resources. It’s a waste in every way possible--a waste of time, a waste of paper, a waste of energy, and a waste of advertisers’ money.

I am sure there is still a segment of the population that has a need for paper phone books and this segment should continue to be served. However, phone books should be made by request only, so that everyone else who doesn’t need or use them won’t have to automatically receive them.

According to internetworldstats.com, approximately 74 percent of the U.S. population uses the Internet. If these people are anything like me, they just do a quick search for the address or phone number they are interesting in finding. In addition, many people have cell phones or other mobile devices that serve as portable phone books for important contact information.

Here are a couple of interesting stats I found on yellowpagesgoesgreen.org:

-As of July 2007, the U.S. population was an estimated 300 million, yet 540 million directories were printed, which equals about 1.79 books per person.

-Approximately 24 trees, 380 gallons of oil, 7,000 gallons of water, and 4,000 kilowatts of energy are needed to produce a ton of paper, and three cubic yards of waste are taken up by a ton of paper.

If you want to join the movement against unsolicited phone book delivery, go to www.yellowpagesgoesgreen.org to sign up to stop the delivery of telephone directories to your home or office.

Message Edited by Chelsea-Badeau on 09-29-2009 05:38 PM

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.

Comment

I disagree, I know several people who are still on dialup connections, my mother in law is not even online. She needs the phone book in order to call for prescriptions, etc. That said, what do you do when your internet goes out, especially for an extended period of time? Need a number? Phone book. So yes they still have some value. And hey you know what, I've used them to move furniture across tile and wood flooring, so they have multiple uses! Bookends, impromptu elevators for getting your LCD television to sit higher then Comcast's cable boxes and they'll make an effect weapon in the coming zombie apocalypse... okay joking about that last one.

I do agree you should be able to opt out if you really feel you don't need one.

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:33:35 GMT | XavierSaintX

Comment

I own a service company, 10 yrs ago you had to have a yellow page add to exist. Today we do not use the yellow pages to advertise, what psses me off is the stat sheet the Dex pages guy - show us says Yellow pages still #1 form of advertisment and you know its a lie - it is compairable to a FULL pressure used car lot - it doesn't work!

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:31:13 GMT | installs1

Comment

The company I owned was a franchise and Corp. made us keep track of where all our business came from. We had an excellent Dex display ad. It was well written and in color. Each year, my territory was only getting about 5 calls per year on an ad that cost me about $100 per month. I stopped participating in the ad because I knew most of my business was coming from online search engines.

I did use the phone directories because I am in my late 50's and just wasn't that used to looking up businesses on line. Finally, i realized how much easier it is to read listings on line rather than the SMALL print of a book directory. I keep one set of books around, just in case, but the others go to the recycle bin.

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:40:43 GMT | KayCeeChase

Comment

I am a business owner and it is VERY obvious yellow page ads are going the way of the rolodex! In fact I just canceled my ad today and the deceptive tactics used to force another year of advertising is down right criminal! I was told I could only cancel the ad with my rep (didn't know I had one but OK) so I called my "rep" multiple times but no return call so I called the customer service line back and they stated if I didn't cancel within 3 weeks my contract would auto renew! I became frustrated and asked what do I have to do to make sure the ad cancels? He stated I needed to get with my rep and I said BS she's avoiding me so my contract auto renews! (WHOOPS TOO LATE NOW YOU HAVE TO WAIT ANOTHER YEAR!) I got her superior's # and made sure she knew to cancel it! They feel the impending doom and are ripping people off to slow down the inevitable! AT & T has lost me FOREVER internet included!

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:17:34 GMT | Benjo

Comment

AT&T desparately wants me to renew my yellow pages ad. I know this because I get calls from a call center. My ad is so important that I don't even have a local rep. Yellow Pages has become a dinosaur and expensive!

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:39:16 GMT | lrcrowntrophy

Comment

I can't remember that last time I used a phone book. I use the internet (several great sites) for looking up phone numbers, both commercial and residential.

My dad, however, does not have a computer and relies on the phone book for numbers. I would hate to see the yellow pages go away for his sake and for others like him that don't have a computer.

The companies that produce the phone books need to come up with a better way of getting and keeping companies with listings and giving people the opportunity to opt out of receiving phone books.

Just yesterday, I had two huge phone books delivered to my house. Both went immediately into the recycle bin.

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:45:27 GMT | Rottndog