Phone book publishers spit out over 600 million phone books for just over 300 million Americans. Now the $17 billion a year industry is defending itself from state legislatures that want to restrict phone book circulations so consumers don’t wreck their snowblowers when they hit snow-covered phone books. True story.
The association has paid outside lobbyists about $50,000 so far this year to defend it in communities across the country. Two main points the group tries to get across are that phone books help promote local businesses and that they are made almost entirely from wood scraps collected at saw mills and recycled paper.
In Albany, city councilman Joseph Igoe is trying to build support for a law that would limit the distribution of phone books and require publishers to make it easy for people to halt delivery. Igoe said the issue came to his attention while campaigning door-to-door last spring and saw phone books wrapped in plastic littering sidewalks, driveways and lawns.
If Igoe succeeds in passing legislation, it will be noteworthy. Proposals have been floated — without success — by state legislatures in Alaska, Hawaii, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina and Washington.
Phone book publishers peddle the usual free market babble to defend the proliferation of yellow doorstops, saying it’s a “sign of competition in a healthy business.”
Even residents who do want more than one phone book — such as 81-year-old Jean Angell, who lives in Igoe’s district and likes to keep a phone book by each phone in her house — get fed up with the extras.
“They delivered two to the house across the street, and it’s been vacant since last October,” she said.
What do you think?
As phone books multiply, so do consumer hang-ups [AP]
(AP Photo/Bill Sikes)
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@jamesdenver
I was using the plumbing problem as an example. You could insert any problem you like into the situation.
2,3 – I know quite a few people that leave their computers on 24/7 and they also do not use any power saving features like you. However, the vast majority of people actually either turn their computers off or use some form of power management. Initialization times will vary on your method of conservation.
4,5 – Nonsense? You must have a really special computer that can read your mind like that. Not only can your computer figure out what you are looking for but it can also do advance searches for you based on that ESP knowledge. Can I get one of these computers from Best Buy?
I am not that blessed and have a computer where I still have to move a mouse and type on a keyboard to tell it what to do.
6 – I agree reviews are nice if they can be trusted. Many companies do not have reviews and have been in business for a long time (just not Internet savvy). Then again really crappy companies know how to post false reviews too. However, my point was really about time to search.
“dumbest thing I’ve ever read”? You must not be keeping up with politics because I have read a lot worse. Think about all of the servers that are required to keep those web sites up and running. Private data centers are one the largest consumers of electricity and use far more resources than the printing of a book on recycled material. If everybody had your habits when it comes to computer usage (always on, no power saving modes) then we would really watch that consumption rise.
I am sorry but finding things in paper resources is actually pretty quick. Don’t believe me? Do a test yourself, you and a friend sit on couch and pick a topic from a hat. Then you go to your computer, they go for the phone book. You might even be able to see one web site by the time your friend will be looking at many many more names, numbers and miscellaneous information.
Check this out…
[kob.com]
The phone book publisher didn’t know that all those directories were not delivered. The storage unit employee tipped them off.
I’m wondering why she didn’t use it for a bonfire or try to sell the paper as bulk recycling.
I don’t mind having a phone book. The problem is I get two from the phone company and two others from independent phone book companies. The ones from the phone company are the main one and a smaller ‘neighborhood’ phone book. Neighborhood apparently being any business within and hour’s drive of the city that was willing to pay for a placement. Totally worthless.
As others have noted it’s often easier to find real services in your neighborhood via the phone book than online.
The competing independent phone company books are pretty much garbage/
On a related note (and it probably kills just as many trees over the course of a year) the free newspaper (which is 90% ads and 10% content for retired people) that gets delivered every week to every single residence in the metro area. It took us MONTHS of calling the company to get them to finally agree to stop delivering. We had to threaten to sue them for littering to get them to stop.
Thankfully, I live in an apartment, so I just leave the unrequested yellow litter lying in the breezeway until the apartment management sends someone to clean them up.
Am I the only one that thinks that instead of a phone book, it could be distibuted on a CD or DVD to copy on to your PC?
You would still get all of the ads and listings, but with the added benefit of being able to search.
I was so happy when our recycling company added phone books to the list of items that could be put out at the curb. Now it’s off the porch, into the bin.
Why does it have to be either or???? At YPA we know that millions of consumers use both the book and online search. They complement each other. And for small businesses looking to maximize their investment, YP in print and online is a great investment. Fact and figures are available at http://www.ypassociation.org. At the end of the day, the marketplace, not legislators, should determine which books are useful. Meanwhile, the debate needs to be informed by facts, not by personal behaviors and preferences being projected onto others.
Well what a spirited string of posts… time for my 2cents worth…
I find it interesting that the phone book companies think so little about their product that they allow them to be dumped at the end of our driveways now… right beside the recycling bin… oddly convenient I think… Prior to this they were put placed by the front door of the house.
This pissed me off the first time they did it. They delivered on a Friday and I was away for the weekend. I returned Sunday night to find this bright yellow “No one is home!” flag at the end of every driveway where people had been away for 2 days… I should qualify that this really pissed me off.
Now I have mellowed and I am not quite sure what to do with the phone books that will get delivered in the next couple of months. Will they go into recycling? Will they go into the backyard chimnea? Will I throw it onto the front lawn of the phone book company (they have a local office I pass frequently)? Not sure, but it will be interesting.
Downside of this of course is that other folks who deliver this sort of unwanted crap to my house think they can also get away with dumping it just about anywhere they feel like… for their convenience.
By the way, I just realized the option of taking the phone book into the house and using it for its intended purpose doesn’t seem to be an option anymore.
I voted for yes because those who use the internet should be able to opt out and save the recycled paper for something else.
I used a foil-wrapped phone book as a base for a gingerbread house last Christmas. So, yeah, they’re not totally without utility.
I’m actually afraid to “opt-out” of anything anymore. I keep thinking I will wind up on yet another “list”. I’ve been trying to fight off junk mail and nothing seems to help.
I can certainly see why some people would prefer to have a print phonebook. I can’t imagine why it’s not an opt-in or even a premium service.
Phonebooks are obsolete the second they’re printed, anyways.
Online phone directories should be the same as the book form. Every listing should be included. Why isn’t this happening? What better way for the phone book companies to sell targeted advertising? They could still charge businesses for listings and it would cost them less than printing and delivering the books. Then they can offer an opt out of the book but keep their “circulation” high.
Consumers should absolutely be able to opt out. There are useless phone books wasted everywhere. And the residential listings are particularly worthless nowadays, as maybe half the people I know even have a land line, and of those, another half are intentionally unlisted.
That said, DAMN was I glad for a phone book, in a major storm, with no power and no Internet access available. I think a phone book and a $10 non-cordless phone, together in a shoebox, are great to have somewhere in case of emergency.
I actually like getting a phone book. To me, it’s quicker than turning on the computer, waiting for it to power up, etc., etc.
But I only need one phone book, not the two that I usually get. The 2nd ends up in the recycle, unopened. I don’t even use the coupons because I get them online.
What a waste. And even if the paper will decay, the plastic that it’s wrapped in, well, that never will. Yeah, I’d like to opt out.
Wouldn’t it make more sense for most people to just have some central place to pick these things up?
I honestly don’t mind ONE phone book. Sometimes, it really is more convenient to flip through the Yellow Pages or through the residential numbers when you’re not sure exactly what you’re looking for or how someone’s name is spelled. I especially use the government section a lot, since their Web sites usually are poorly designed and hard to find phone numbers on.
Our situation in Tallahassee is excessive, though. Embarq (Sprint) is pretty much the telephone magnate here. They issue phone books to their customers. Some stupid company tries to get advertising dollars by using their data to print its own phone book, the “Talking Phone Book” or some crap. Of course, that one never seems to have all the numbers. Then, AT&T makes its own phone book, “The Real Yellow Pages”. To top it off, each company gives you on average 1.5 books for each line, so you’re bound to end up with four or five phone books before it’s all over with.
Some people never use them; I just need one, and I’m fine. There definitely needs to be an opt-out system. It’s obscene how many trees are being killed for their advertising.
@Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen:
N– no… Then you get to deal with their spamware and ads that conveniently won’t let you view the actual number until you watch a 30-second YouTubesque advert? Good idea.
Yes.
I bet half the industries in the U.S. commit suicide when they realize that it’s supposed to be a free marked for consumers, not for them….
All I want is the phone book issued by the phone company..
Not four from different companies. The extras go straight into the trash.
I guarantee I can look up a number in a book faster than you can look it up on on the internet.
I’d rather use the card catalog at the library too, if I could find one.
@darkryd:
“Phonebooks are obsolete the second they’re printed, anyways.”
Really? Cause it’s amazing that I can pick up a 2 year old phone book and find numbers that I’m looking for.
I have one phone book; I use it to kill mice that get caught in my glue traps.
I have two phone books in my home office I use daily. They keep the ancient monitor I have hooked up to my home server at eye level. I’m not sure what year they are, but they do a great job as a monitor stand.
It is a waste of resources, though sometimes there are great coupons in phone books. What I hate is when they deliver phone books within a few days of Christmas, New Year or other major holiday WHEN I’M OUT OF TOWN, along with many of my neighbors! Lets just paint a sign that I’m not home and come rob my house.
Why not charge a fee for them? Less ads means less pages means less waste and the people who want them can get them, the people who don’t aren’t stuck with a tree-killing (and mower-killing) doorstop.
I always keep a single phone book in my house, and I still get 3 too many every single year.
The problem here is that phone books are a big cash flow generator for phone companies. Letting customers opt out of delivery would mean their circulation numbers wouldn’t look as good. Which would mean less ad revenue. So sounds like it would take serious government intervention to stop the flow of thin yellow paper.
These ‘Yellow Pages’ b*stards need to be taught a lesson. I hate having crap thrown on my lawn and left there while I’m on vacation. What better way to advertise to house thieves that you’re out of town? Last Saturday I was out in the front yard when an SUV (what else???) drives by and throws the ‘local phone directory’ in my driveway. I yelled at them and they actually came back, then I made the woman get out and pick it up otherwise I was going to call the police. She started spouting ‘Yes sir, God bless you sir’ WTF??? I said just cut the religious crap and get your garbage out of my driveway. I still reported them to the police for littering.
I would like to have a phone book that covers my entire county. You see, in Oneida County, New York, we have two cities, Utica (pop. 59,000) and Rome (pop 23,000), and the phone book we get from Verizon covers one or the other, depending on where you live, but not both.
The problem is, we don’t live in either Rome or Utica. We live more or less equidistant from the two. Nevertheless, we get only the Utica phone book, so if we want to look up a number in Rome, which we often do, we’re SOL, or at least we would be if I didn’t get the Rome phone book from work.
Actually, it would REALLY be swell if we would get a book that covered the entire 315 area code, but that would be asking a bit much.
I get several delivered to my place each year and each time it goes straight into my recycling bin. What a waste.
I find the phone book very helpful when cleaning up any messes I’ve created after having my fun on the internet.
When I tell people that I don’t use the phone book, they look at me like I’m a freak. I do not remember the last time I even opened a phone book. They are bulky, awkward, dirty, take up too much space in my cabinet, and slower than using the Google. Our phone books go directly from our front porch to the recycling bin. I WISH I could opt out of delivery.
They definitely have a use and a place even in today’s electronic age. However, we should be able to decline them if desired.
I suggest having the phone books provided by the local governments, at locations like town halls and post offices. If you want one, you know where you can get one. Simple.
I live next to an apartment building with some really obnoxious kids. My driveway was littered with their phonebooks after the latest edition was delivered.
Choice is always nice, but phonebooks aren’t bad. I actually still use mine when I get it. The thing about phonebooks jamming snowblowers is funny though. At least here in PA, phonebooks are always delivered in July.
I think having a phone book is nice and useful.
However, we don’t get 1 phone book, we get 4 (I think it’s up to 4) now. All different companies. There’s Embarq (which is the phone system), there’s The Talking Phone Book, there’s The Real Yellow Pages, and then I think there’s another.
The only one that is any where near accurate is Embarq. Seriously I was at work and could only find the “fake” phone books and both of them had my doctor’s previous phone number and his address from 2 moves ago. Not to mention other wrong or missing informaiton.
And there’s no way to opt out. They just come to you. I don’t think phone books are useless but there’s phone book overkill.
Why not use them as fire starters for your fireplace?
Just don’t get high off the ink.
Otherwise, they should be set outside the homeless shelters during the winter when hobos are freezing to death, they can have something to burn in the barrels to keep warm.
Umm, if you had mentioned your business by name in your comment, you’d have a ton of free advertising!@williehorton:
I sometimes use at least one of the phone books – and I run a very small ad in one. (It’s not a great source of clients, but it certainly pays for itself.) Personally, I wouldn’t choose to opt out of getting the books. (Well, I guess I’d opt out of one company’s book; I really don’t need two!)
But I certainly think anyone who wants to opt out should be able to do so.
I was just writing my own post on “how to stop getting those phone books” when this post came out on Consumerist; you can see my post at [jdorganizer.blogspot.com]
@B:
The companies that make phonebooks make their money from advertising. By not having any metric to show how many people actually keep/use their products, they can claim that they deliver to MANY more people than if they allowed you to opt-out.
It’s funny, I actually sell advertising in the exact phonebook that is in the photo on this article, and believe it or not, people actually do use this particular book to conduct local business transactions – the internet is still too scattered in central, ma and many companies don’t have web presence whatsoever. I do, however, agree with legislation that would allow consumers to opt out of delivery. After all, that would only increase the credibility of usage/distribution statistics and provide a better overall value to our advertisers, as current advertising pricing is based on distribution and median income in the distribution area, among other factors. Also, I’ll definitely admit that usage is not where it was 10 years ago, but my company offers every one of our advertisers the ability to track calls made through their advertisements. We place unique call-forwarding numbers in their advertisements, for example, 555-1234 would appear in the advertisement, while the customer’s real telephone number is 555-4321. The 555-1234 number appears only in the printed ad in the telephone directory, and nowhere else. Each call that is made to 555-1234 is instantly forwarded to 555-4321 and a note is made of all the call details including caller id information, date, time, length of call, origination point, etc. I too, was amazed to see a pizza restaurant averaging over 250 calls per month from an advertisement that cost him well under $150/month. Surely a good investment. There’s no doubt that the industry is moving to the internet, and QUICK. Compare telephone directories year over year, most are losing 20% of their advertisers to other marketing avenues, but this simply means better results for those who continue to advertise since there are fewer choices. It’s a necessary evil. I see both sides of the argument, Our books are printed on 100% recycled paper with 100% soy based ink, and are distributed along postal routes.