# Do you still use a "phone book"? How do I get them to stop delivering one? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 27, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048 "2011-06-27T18:21:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/21 "2011-06-28T14:19:03Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > I grew up “letting my fingers do the walking,” and it never ceases to amaze me how terribly some things are classified in the yellow pages. I can’t think of an example off hand, but it would be something like looking for “hardware fasteners”, and having to search through “sporting goods retail.” Here, the Yellow Pages are marketed with the slogan “Stop searching, start _finding_. Yellow Pages - The _Find_ Engine.” It seems to me to be abysmally poor judgement to remind potential customers of the existence of the internet. Why would they invite comparison? Have they got some new format that allows you to find the closest [blank] to you, evaluate them based on unbiased reviews, visually confirm that they have good parking and that the premises are well-maintained, and print out driving directions from your home - in a fraction of the time that it would take to arrive at a shortlist from the phone book based on the single criterion of proximity? I used to keep one around for internet outages - on principal - but don’t recall ever needing to resort to it, and now I think that if I ever find myself without internet in the home (ie; both ADSL and 3G connectivity have simultaneously failed) I’ll probably be more concerned with keeping the zombies at bay than trying to find a number for a pizza place. Yet the phone books were delivered yesterday. Recyclng day is Thursday - I expect that I’ll be pitching 10 out of the 12 sitting there in the lobby of our building. (Not so bad. 50 out of 50 delivered to our office went into the recycling bins for three years before I could get them to stop delivering them. “No, really, we have redundant internet here - this pallet of books is nothing but a waste disposal problem for us. Just stop it!”) ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/22 "2011-06-28T14:20:30Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > On the front cover of our recently delivered Yellow Pages, I noted there’s a phone number to op out. So Toronto is another city that is doing it. Oh! That’s good to know. I threw mine out without even looking at it. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/23 "2011-06-28T14:37:20Z")
If you ever do figure out how to opt out, please let me know. I get at least two new phone books a year, sometimes more, at home…and a truly ridiculous number of the damn things at work. It’s an obscene waste of resources. I don’t even remember the last time I used the things. In my area they are not mailed. The various companies hire people to go around and deliver them door-to-door, and they always seem to come while I’m at work, so refusal is not an option. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/24 "2011-06-28T14:39:14Z")
This web site seems to be nation-wide opt-op: > **[Opt Out of Yellow Pages, White Pages & Phone Books Delivery, National...](https://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/)** > > Want to stop delivery of Yellow Pages, White Pages, Phone Books? Opt out of Yellow Pages with us and stop the delivery of printed directories you don't want to receive. I live in Florida, and used it to opt-out of all directories. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/25 "2011-06-28T15:40:33Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > I still receive, unsolicited, two different phone books delivered on my front step each year. For about the last 8 years, both of those books go directly into the trash or in the last 4-5 years into the recycle bin. If I need a phone number, I use the internet. > > Our office discontinued receiving phone books about 6 years ago, and encourage employees to look up phone numbers using the internet. > > First, how do I get these phone book companies to stop delivering a phone book on my front porch? > > Second, do you still use a “phone book”? If so, why that versus using the internet? You can opt out of receiving books by going to [http://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/](http://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/26 "2011-06-28T15:42:00Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > If you live in Seattle, you can [opt out for future phone books](https://seattle.catalogchoice.org/). But I don’t know if other cities are doing this yet. > The phone book people are not happy about it. San Francisco effectively banned the things in the past month. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/27 "2011-06-28T15:49:40Z")
> [@vapelife](#): > > Phone books are great for starting fires. No they’re not. As someone who spent a good chunk of his life working with people who deliver the damned things, I can truly attest that they don’t burn well at all. I had this one dipshit contractor in Louisville, KY who took out about 800 phone books, put them in the middle of a corn field, tried to light them on fire, then panicked when the dried stalks around him started burning faster than the phone books. I get a call around 7 in the evening from the local fire department wanting to know what I wanted to do with the books - 800 books and about 20 of them were scorched (the rest were destroyed by water damage), in the middle of about a half-acres patch of burnt corn. Good times. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/28 "2011-06-28T15:56:06Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > Here, the Yellow Pages are marketed with the slogan “Stop searching, start _finding_. Yellow Pages - The _Find_ Engine.” > > It seems to me to be abysmally poor judgement to remind potential customers of the existence of the internet. Why would they invite comparison? Have they got some new format that allows you to find the closest [blank] to you, evaluate them based on unbiased reviews, visually confirm that they have good parking and that the premises are well-maintained, and print out driving directions from your home - in a fraction of the time that it would take to arrive at a shortlist from the phone book based on the single criterion of proximity? Oh, you have no idea. You go to some of these company’s websites and you can barely find mention of their printed product at all. > **[LocalEdge: Digital Marketing Services](https://www.localedge.com/)** > > LocalEdge offers a full suite of online advertising products and services for any size business and budget across the country. Our digital marketing connects local businesses to their ideal customer. The above is for a company that used to be called “White Directory Publishers”, and they still publish (as the largest share of their revenue base) about 5 million books up and down the eastern seaboard. But looking at their site you don’t see a single reference to the product that brings them their largest share of revenues, do you? Since 2007 the number of printed phone books in the US has decreased from 600 million to 425 million. It is a rare book that is expanding nowadays, and the publishers are doing all they can to slash costs - removing the white pages, shrinking the size of the book from 9X11 to 7X10 and smaller, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/29 "2011-06-28T16:15:03Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Second, do you still use a “phone book”? If so, why that versus using the internet? Yes. Two reasons: 1. If my internet connection is down or the power is out and I need to call someone, I’m hosed without a phone book. And yes, it does happen more frequently than I’d like. 2. With two or three strategically place bookmarks I can frequently find the number I need in the book before the browser has had time to launch. Bonus third reason: Every once in a while someone just does not show up in an online search, even though they are listed in the physical book. This is especially true of small businesses. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/30 "2011-06-28T16:32:49Z")
Think that’s bad? We get _five_ a year. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/31 "2011-06-28T16:34:54Z")
I use it occasionally. It’s surprising how many businesses hereabouts have little or no web presence, sometimes you’ll find a number online for a company and it’ll be a disconnected line, or just plain wrong. When that happens I consult the phone book. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/32 "2011-06-28T16:38:34Z")
😕😕 The internet is ok for business numbers. Only if you know a business name. If I need a hardware store, then I look in the yellow pages under hardware. I always look up individuals in the phone book and get an address. I use my phone book every week of my life. I do use google for business names. “Pizza Hut” search gives the addresses and phone numbers in my city on googles 1st page. Saves time and I can order my pizza ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/33 "2011-06-28T16:46:18Z")
How often do you need to call a person whose number you don’t already have? ---
**Author:** ![geneb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e4f/32.png) [@geneb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geneb)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/34 "2011-06-28T16:49:54Z")
I’m surprised to see how many people don’t use phone books anymore. It’s the first place I go when I need to find a business for something or need to find the phone number of a business I know the name of. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/35 "2011-06-28T17:08:29Z")
My business has 9 telephones. So, we receive 9 phone books. I then have to find a way to dispose of or recycle 9 phone books. A small town nearby had a nice recycling dumpster with paper/glass/plastic/etc slots. It was removed last year because it was being used _too much_. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/36 "2011-06-28T17:27:03Z")
I’ve used the things until fairly recently. We’ve lived where we are now for, let’s see, four or five years, and I don’t know whether it’s a local thing or the state of the industry, but the ones we’ve been getting here just suck. They have LOTS of listings for businesses that aren’t there (and in some cases haven’t been there for years), and are missing lots of others. So I’ve got out of the habit. The last time I used one it was to try to brainstorm for a restaurant we weren’t bored of that would deliver, and it was a great big puddle of fail. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/37 "2011-06-28T17:57:47Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > How often do you need to call a person whose number you don’t already have? All the time. Usually, it’s a business, rather than an actual person though. How do I find your restaurant? Do you have X in stock? How late are you open on Sunday? I need to set up an appointment for an eye exam. That, and think about any kind of remodelling. Last year, I had to find a couple of city offices for permits, a plumber, and electrician, a painter, an appliance store and a cabinet seller. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/38 "2011-06-28T18:33:39Z")
My wife at home during a power failure, calling me at work: “Could you go online and look up the number for XXX?” Me, wanting to sleep on the couch: “You know, someone should print out all of those numbers and take a copy to everyone’s house.” I do use the phone book on occasion looking for repair services which have coupons in the yellow pages. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/39 "2011-06-28T18:36:36Z")
Oh yeah. Like so many things, useful if the internet gets cut off, or the computer is in the middle of maintenance. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/40 "2011-06-28T19:10:17Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > The internet is ok for business numbers. Only if you know a business name. If I need a hardware store, then I look in the yellow pages under hardware. 😕 “Only if you know a business name?” You’re kidding, right? If I Google “hardware store” and my city, it will give me a list and a _map_ of all hardware stores in the area and all their contact info, I can zoom into my neighborhood and look at Google Street View to see each store front if I want to. And agree with whoever said some of the categories suck. I needed to buy a new suit for a funeral from a specific shop that does custom-tailored suits. Never found the shop I was looking for in the Yellow Pages because it was listed under “athletic goods”, because they make “_sport_coats, suits, and formal attire.” We keep our Yellow Pages around, but we use it mostly for physio exercises, and it’s the right high for my front wheel when I’m using the bike trainer. > [@foolsguinea](#): > > Oh yeah. Like so many things, useful if the internet gets cut off, or the computer is in the middle of maintenance. Yah, we don’t actually like being slaves to electric gizmos and tend to have some alternatives around the house. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048.md?page=3)