Do You USE Your Yellow Pages Anymore?

[ralph124c]

I ask because I just threw my newly-delivered book out. I haven't used the book in years-if I need a number I use Google.
How long will they continue to print these things?

[Phlosphr]

Our company used ot advertise in Yellow Book, Yellowpages, and ATT Yellowpages.

We dumped all but ATT as they are our telephone/internet carrier.

People by in large are using different media to find information IMHO.

[fishbicycle]

As of yesterday, we need a dishwasher repairman. So we will look in the Yellow Pages to find one. Other than that, I can't remember when I've ever opened any of the dozens of books various companies have thrown on our lawn over the years.

[Khadaji]

Mostly I Google it, but sometimes I will get the old book out and check for local listings. Primarily for local pizza places.

[Martian Bigfoot]

Originally Posted by ralph124c

How long will they continue to print these things?

Until all the old people die.

[Ca3799]

No, I never use mine and I wish they would quit leaving them at the door. It seems like I get 4 new phoe books a year. I take them directly to the paper recycle bin 4 blocks away. They are a nuisance!

[Patty O'Furniture]

We've had a stack sitting at our front door for months, and just the other day I noted a whole new stack sitting on top of the old one.

I can't remember the last time I opened a YP. I suspect they've become even more a victim of the Internets than the dictionary & encyclopedia have.

[Quartz]

I use mine: the phone isn't near my computer.

[samclem]

This one is better suited to IMHO. Moved.

samclem GQ moderator

[ivylass]

I'll use it to look up a phone number for a business I know, (Home Depot, Sears, etc) but if I need to find a particular something, I'll Google it. Even then, you can use online http://www.whitepages.com/ for your local area.

[Larry Mudd]

Around here, we have big yellow billboards with the Yellow Pages logo and this copy:

Stop searching. Start finding.
Yellowpages^tm The Find Engine^tm

This invitation to make the comparison between a dynamically-updated, random access internet search engine and annually-distributed linear dead-tree media suggests to me that the publishers of the Yellow Pages are really sick of the whole business and just want it to stop.

We received forty-five (45!) copies of the Yellow Pages at our office, nicely bundled up. Trying to get them picked up by the phone company was not fruitful. After a month or so, they went directly into the recycling bins, as soon as someone could be arsed to take all the plastic jackets off them. What a waste.

[jacquilynne]

I use mine about once a month. I can almost, but not quite, reach the recessed light fixtures in my ceiling when the bulbs need changing. Stepping on a copy of the Toronto Yellow Pages is just enough to close the gap.

[delphica]

I still use the yellow pages sometimes. It seems the most helpful when I can remember some stuff about a business, but not much that is useful in a google search. Maybe I don't know the name of store, and I know the general area where it is but not the exact street . Looking at the ad spread in the yellow pages helps me find it quickly. A lot of the ads still say things like "Near the Fairgrounds Exit!" and that's exactly what I'm thinking.

I think when those Google Earth/Google Map tools get better, that's when I'll stop with the Yellow pages altogether. Right now they feel very incomplete to me, based on areas that I know well.

[Q.E.D.]

Originally Posted by jacquilynne

I use mine about once a month. I can almost, but not quite, reach the recessed light fixtures in my ceiling when the bulbs need changing. Stepping on a copy of the Toronto Yellow Pages is just enough to close the gap.

Change a bulb, save a tree.

[beowulff]

I rarely use the Yellow pages, but I find that it many ways they are much better than yp.com or google. The information is simply presented better in the Yellow pages, so if I'm looking for "appliance parts" I can quickly see who is in the area and compare their ads. It's almost impossible to do the same comparison on the web.

[WhyNot]

Yep, we use ours. There's only one high chair in a house that regularly hosts three toddlers - Yellow Pages are great for the tallest ones to sit on.

The paper is also good for lining the table before art projects - newspapers get greater coverage per sheet, of course, but you have to BUY newspapers. Plus the little ones love to use the tape to tape the yellow sheets together.

For actual phone numbers? Not so much. Google is my friend.

[olivesmarch4th]

I work in a call center and one of the required questions for new clients is invariably, ''How did you hear about us?'' We hear ''Yellow Pages'' at least 1/3rd of the time. There are people out there still using them. God knows I don't -- but guess who looks like an idiot when the power goes out?

[Glory]

About 3 years ago, my pipes burst in the middle of the night. We had no power (due to the ice storm) and an only an outdated phone book to try to call a plumber for repairs. It was amazing how many plumbers were no longer in business. Normally, I wouldn't touch a phone book, but I keep an up to date one around - just in case..

[KlondikeGeoff]

Almost never use the books. Here, at least, Qwest will send a free CD to load into the computer. It has both while and yellow pages, and works very well.

So, I either Google or use that program. I expect many other phone companies will supply such a CD. Worth asking.

[Revtim]

Let's not forget that everybody here is at least a casual internet user, so this poll is vastly skewed. There are still plenty of people who cannot afford a computer+internet or are simply not interested.

I personally keep my yellow pages around in case the power goes out or my internet connection is down when I need to look something up, but that has yet to happen.

[Anne Neville]

Yes, to add weight to the bottom of the cat tree and make it more stable.

[Silver Tyger]

Does it count if I use it to keep a cabinet shut? Ever so occasionally I use it for its intended purpose.

[tremorviolet]

Originally Posted by beowulff

I rarely use the Yellow pages, but I find that it many ways they are much better than yp.com or google. The information is simply presented better in the Yellow pages, so if I'm looking for "appliance parts" I can quickly see who is in the area and compare their ads. It's almost impossible to do the same comparison on the web.

Yeah, I agree with this. I rarely use the Yellow Pages either anymore but I still find comparing ads helpful. Online searches get you a list of businesses and a possible website. In the YP, you can fairly quickly determine what type of business it is from the ads (i.e. one aimed a lower income people, a long established business, etc.).

[Savannah]

I don't use them much; I Google instead. Even at work, I can't remember the last time I looked up a number in the phone book. So many people, including us as a couple, are cell-phone-only, so we are not in the white pages. That section is getting less useful all the time.

But my husband still does use the yellow pages regularly, so we have "the phone book" around. (We are in a small enough city to have white and yellow pages in one book--and blue for government numbers.) The point above about needing them for emergency calls when the power is out is enough for me to hang onto them.

They do have lots of 'extras' in there, too--earthquake info, first aid, maps, seating charts for local venues, and most importantly--menus of local restaurants.

When we get a new phone book, it's been my habit to toss the old one in the car. That's come in handy a time or two, even if it's just to pick a place to eat or confirm an address.

[soulburnz]

I keep a phone book in the car, because they have city maps in them. 2 other phone books are serving as a very cheap monitor stand.

[Terrifel]

Absolutely. If I want to know a phone number, I consult the phone book. It is extremely simple.

Contrariwise, I just went to Google.com to look for their "phone number search feature" and couldn't even find it.

[PastAllReason]

I use mine because the places I order take-out from have their menus included. Not that I've ever looked, but I'd be surprised if my favourite local Thai place has their menu online.

[Sattua]

I just moved to a new town, and depended on the yellow pages to find out what restaurants were where. Very useful. Now that I know what's what, however, they're less useful.

[Canadjun]

I almost never use the white pages and only rarely use the yellow pages. On those rare occasions that I use the yellow pages I'm browsing a large category (e.g. are there any lawyers that perhaps write wills within easy wheelchairing distance of where I live?). However, I still like to have them around just in case for some reason I can't use my computer. I use www.canada411.com for my normal looking up of people and companies.

[FairyChatMom]

We live in a very rural county, and there are some businesses here that don't have websites. Using the book is lots quicker than trying various searches to find what I want. I figure I use it at least once a month.

[Cunctator]

Yes, I use mine. It's easier to look at the book than it is to go online. And I like to be able to see different companies' listings all together, rather than looking them up one by one.

[jacquilynne]

Originally Posted by Q.E.D.

Change a bulb, save a tree.

Thanks, but they're not that kind of bulb -- I bought something like that and it didn't work, so I took it back.

[Eonwe]

I use it a few times a year, certainly.

Anytime I need to find a trades person, auto mechanic, or other local business person who's running a small shop without their own IT dept, it comes in handy.

[GusNSpot]

I think us rural folks use them more in general.

This is a bad place to take this poll unless you want it focused on heavy intwar net users....

[Ice Wolf]

I use the online version, it's easier. The paper copies hang around here for a bit, then go out into the recycling.

[Aspidistra]

I'm using mine right now, as it happens. It's weighing down a bit of fabric I'm glueing over a threadbare chair.

[Cicero]

Originally Posted by Peak Banana

Until all the old people die.

Yep- only old people use them. And of course, people are just going to stop aging so there won't be old people.

[Dinsdale]

Yeah, I use them somewhat regularly at home and work. At home, I don't always have a computer up and logged onto the net, and all of our computers are usually upstairs or downstairs from the main living area. So it is often easier to simply pull the book out of the kitchen drawer, than to go to a computer, turn it on, wait for it to boot up, and search.

At work in Chicago I often use the Yellow pages for places near my home in the suburbs. Not sure why. Probably just habit. But especially if I have looked up a number before and underlined it and/or dog-eared the page, I feel I can find it quicker and more reliably than on-line.

I also feel Yellow pages are better than Google for looking up a particular type of business in a particular area - say pizza places or plumbers near you. If you know the name of a business, Google is great. But if you just know the TYPE of business, Google might not be quite so great.

[Maastricht]

Not while I have an Internet collection.

But we will get paper ones as long as the publishers can get away with offering dual sale to customers: thye can't get in the on-line version unless they also pay to get listed in the paper version.

OTOH, one could always make a costume out of Yellow Pages-paper.

[Infovore]

If I'm looking for the number of a particular place, I use the net. But I find the phone book quite useful for looking up repair people/tradespeople/etc. I've never had an easy time finding a plumber, roofer, painter, etc. on the net. I like the display ads in the paper phone book, because they tell me a bit more about the business.

That's about it, though. For everything else, it's the net all the way.

[ratatoskK]

Does anyone use an online yellow pages that works well? Lots of people say they're using Google, but I assume that's for finding a business whose name you already know. I have tried anywho.com and they totally suck as yellow pages, I get tons of ads and stuff that has no relation to what I want.

[Acsenray]

If I want to find local businesses, I find the phone book much easier to use than the Internet. As others have said, it's easier to have all the vendors presented to you on a page with ads than having to try various kidns of searching and click on a million Web sites before you find what you're looking for.

I also find it easier to grab the phone book and take it to my car.

[WhyNot]

Originally Posted by ratatoskK

Does anyone use an online yellow pages that works well? Lots of people say they're using Google, but I assume that's for finding a business whose name you already know. I have tried anywho.com and they totally suck as yellow pages, I get tons of ads and stuff that has no relation to what I want.

No, just google. I have no idea how people are finding this difficult, or yielding less results than the book. Generally, google HAS the yellow pages results, as well as other results.

Go to google. Click "Maps". Underneath the search bar is "Find Business". Click it, enter What and Where as indicated and Bob's your uncle. 16,651 results for pizza near Rogers Park, Chicago, IL - and at least the first 200 hits (I didn't bother looking further) are all correct - pizza serving restaurants within a 15 minute drive of my front door.

Although usually I get just as good of a result googling Pizza delivery Roger's Park or whatever, right in the main search page.

[ratatoskK]

I see now! That's great, I never tried it before!

[Martian Bigfoot]

Originally Posted by Cicero

Yep- only old people use them. And of course, people are just going to stop aging so there won't be old people.

Sir, you intrigue me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

[Mesquite-oh]

I am a fairly heavy internet user and to echo what others have said, there are some situations in which the printed yellow pages win hands down.

If I wanted to get the numbers, locations, and hours of all the Best Buys, Driver's License offices, or Libraries in the big city near me, I would use the internet- all that info will be there and I woud get it quickly.

In the past year I have needed an appliance repair man, a pro tree trimmer and hauler, someplace to buy some turf, a guy who repairs decks, and someone who could do an pants alteration quickly. Using the interent looking for these services was a frustrating mess. I would get a few local hits, but mostly I would get a lot of garbage (national ads?). The paper yellow pages ads allows me to find ALL the businesses grouped together and gives me info to compare.

[Airman Doors, USAF]

There's nothing like a big, thick book to beat your kids with. I whale away on my son all the time with the Yellow Pages. It's character building.

[Santo Rugger]

Originally Posted by ratatoskK

Does anyone use an online yellow pages that works well? Lots of people say they're using Google, but I assume that's for finding a business whose name you already know. I have tried anywho.com and they totally suck as yellow pages, I get tons of ads and stuff that has no relation to what I want.

I tend to use dexonline.com with pretty good success.

[susan]

Yes, because Google and online fake yellow pages are full of out of date information. Frankly, I've had much better luck with the book when I need to browse a category.

[Leviosaurus]

Back when I had Verizon DSL I used my phone book about once a week. I could never remember the number of the Verizon service line, so when the DSL went down (which it did at least once a week,) I'd have to look it up. Eventually I just tore the page with the number out and left it sitting next to the keyboard. Finally I changed to Comcast cable internet, and have never had an outage (or need to use the phone book) since.

Pretty sure Verizon screws up their DSL to justify the cost of printing those directories.