# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/41 "2011-06-28T20:38:13Z")
Yep I use mine pretty often. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/42 "2011-06-28T20:58:29Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > This web site seems to be nation-wide opt-op: > [http://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/](http://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/) > I live in Florida, and used it to opt-out of all directories. Does this really work. The first thing I noticed on this website was this disclaimer: > [@](#): > > Alert: Directory publishers listed on this site generally do not accept opt-out requests from third parties or websites proclaiming to submit such requests on your behalf. Please protect your personal information by using this website to work directly with the directory publishers. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/43 "2011-06-28T22:07:07Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > This web site seems to be nation-wide opt-op: > [http://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/](http://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/) > I live in Florida, and used it to opt-out of all directories. Considering that in my city there are multiple phonebooks delivered, not just the Yellow Pages, and none of them are addressed to anyone individually, they just get dropped off on your front porch, I don’t see how this opt-out service could work at all. Usually they are delivered by someone driving a 20 year old beater and have their kids (ages 7, 10, and 12) running around putting them on everybody’s doorstep. ETA: I assume they get paid by **JohnT** for every book delivered. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/44 "2011-06-28T22:09:09Z")
That’s interesting. I dug this year’s Yellow Pages out of the recycling bin and looked more closely at the cover. The top left corner gives you opt out instructions, as I mentioned earlier, but it seems if you WANT the residential listings, you have to ask for it. I had noticed in recent years that we’re not getting the white pages anymore, but I hadn’t thought much of it. Last year’s Yellow Pages has no opt out information on the cover of first few pages, that I could see. ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/45 "2011-06-28T23:06:09Z")
I don’t have a phone book and I wish to goodness I did. In my town and the surrounding rural area, a lot of businesses don’t have an Internet presence, or if they do, it’s a shitty impossible-to-navigate website. It’s a perfectly good store or restaurant or whatever, but it’s ten times easier to call them up and ask when they’re open until, rather than hunt down their shitty website that may or may not still have a valid number. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/46 "2011-06-28T23:07:31Z")
The way I understand it, the Yellow Pages are at least partially advertiser-supported, like newspapers, so it actually benefits them to drop as many copies as possible on peoples’ door stops because that is wider circulation and thus, higher ad revenue. That said, I always try to keep a copy in the back of the drawer in the kitchen, for those odd occasions where the internet is down and I don’t feel like leaving the house for food or whatever. They’re handy, they don’t take up much space (well, one doesn’t), and they don’t cost me anything. Don’t get me wrong, I love the internet, but I’m tech-savvy enough to know that there is a good reason my boots are held onto my feet with a tied up loop of string and not some fancy high-speed self-fastening mechanism out of Back to the Future. That said, I prefer the miniature phone books. ---
**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 29, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/47 "2011-06-29T00:27:05Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Considering that in my city there are multiple phonebooks delivered, not just the Yellow Pages, and none of them are addressed to anyone individually, they just get dropped off on your front porch, I don’t see how this opt-out service could work at all. Usually they are delivered by someone driving a 20 year old beater and have their kids (ages 7, 10, and 12) running around putting them on everybody’s doorstep. > > ETA: I assume they get paid by **JohnT** for every book delivered. It’s like any door-direct delivery, you have a list detailing addresses which require delivery exceptions like opt-outs, large users (businesses who take more than X phone books), etc. At a prescribed date prior to the book being printed (usually 30 days), all opt-out requests for that book are downloaded from the website and incorporated into previously-existing opt-out requests. The addresses are scrubbed (meaning that they are cleaned up - sometimes you have to call the opt-outer (is that a word?) to get a good address) and incorporated into the delivery routes, so that when you take route 45, you’re handed a list of all the people who opted out for that route. Far fewer people take advantage of this than you would think - I’ve never seen an opt-out list that even approached 1% of the total number of households in a delivery market. ---
**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 29, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/48 "2011-06-29T00:35:14Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > The way I understand it, the Yellow Pages are at least partially advertiser-supported, like newspapers, so it actually benefits them to drop as many copies as possible on peoples’ door stops because that is wider circulation and thus, higher ad revenue. Actually, there are two different types of phone books: CLEC phone books, those published by the Common Local Exchange Carrier. These books are mandated by the various State’s Public Service Commission and must be printed and distributed by law. So far, about 19 states have rescinded this mandate, so the number of CLEC books (both titles and total copies) have been dropping. These are the big ATT, Dex, Verizon/Superpages books you see. Independent phone books are those published solely for the purpose of selling advertising. Yellow-Book USA, the aforementioned Local Edge, and many others - there’s plenty of directories out there that are just mom 'n pop operations, where a couple sells ads for a few phone books they independently publish to put $50-200k/year in their pocket. These things are full of ads, and everything different about a listing has been sold. For example, to **bold** your white pages listing will cost you about $50-100/year. Multiply that $50 times the 2,000 bolded listings in a typical book and you’re looking at $100k/year in revenue just for a $50 increase in the amount of ink you’ll use. You’ll also notice that the back of books tend to be lawyers. Why? Because there’s a phone book beside every phone near the holding cells at the local jail. Those ads can go for over $40k/year. ---
**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 29, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/49 "2011-06-29T00:47:39Z")
Here is a typical rate card for a small publisher phone directory: [http://www.communitylittlebook.com/menifee-lake-elsinore-canyon-lake-ad-rates.php](http://www.communitylittlebook.com/menifee-lake-elsinore-canyon-lake-ad-rates.php) CLB is a publisher in Riverside County, CA, who prints 2 titles of 175k each year. Given an industry average $22 of revenue per copy, they’re generating almost $4 million in revenue and the principals are likely taking home about $150-300k/year. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/50 "2011-06-29T01:15:48Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > I’m tech-savvy enough to know that there is a good reason my boots are held onto my feet with a tied up loop of string and not some fancy high-speed self-fastening mechanism out of Back to the Future. So you use a book to use the telephone, which is a high-tech digital network run on a bunch of computers your little phone company (whichever little outfit you happen to have out where you are) owns and using much of the same infrastructure your Internet connection does. Right. Makes perfect sense. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/51 "2011-06-29T03:10:04Z")
I still keep one handy for outages and oblique searches; what used to bug me at my previous apartment was, since I was the only one in my set of apartments who worked, when the damned things were dropped on our communal doorstep, the other three apartment denizens would simply kick their unwanted books in front of my door – so even if I took mine inside, I’d still have three sat in front of my door. I ended up disposing of all the extra books when I got tired of tripping over them.:mad: ---
**Author:** ![FrustratedIdiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@FrustratedIdiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrustratedIdiot)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/52 "2011-06-29T03:42:25Z")
I use them occasionally for the business listings. They make great bonfire fuel–look at it burn, Omar! ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/53 "2011-06-29T03:58:24Z")
I had a phone book at my desk for about two years. A coworker asked to borrow it. I realized he had used it one more time than I had. I gave it to him. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/54 "2011-06-29T04:51:08Z")
We either recycle it at our office or give one to our housebun, Kashi, to tear up and play with. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/55 "2011-06-29T06:27:02Z")
> [@geneb](#): > > 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. Usually when I need to look things up, I’m already at a computer with internet. It’s way faster for me to type in what I want in google rather than getting up, flipping through the pages, not even finding the category I want (Who the hell says the word Apparel when they want clothing?? seriously?? :mad:) > [@Doug\_K](#): > > 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. If you only have a landline, get a phone that plugs directly into the wall instead of a cordless. Phone lines have their own power source from the phone company, they should still work in power outages. Or if you only have cell phones, write down the number for the power company somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/56 "2011-06-29T09:35:27Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > So you use a book to use the telephone, which is a high-tech digital network run on a bunch of computers your little phone company (whichever little outfit you happen to have out where you are) owns and using much of the same infrastructure your Internet connection does. > > Right. Makes perfect sense. To quote Doctor Horrible: “It’s not… a perfect metaphor.”😃 Not everything that takes out my internet access is going to take out my phone service. For one thing, I get them from two different companies, so if Cox is just being retarded, that means I could lose internet access while the infrastructure itself is intact (as opposed to, say, a major earthquake or severe storm ripping up the telecommunications lines, as I’ve seen happen). In any case, I’ve had plenty of occasions, for various reasons, that I lost internet or cell phone service, but not both. And if all else fails, maybe I can just look up the address and drive to the place myself. Or use those messenger pigeons I have trained to carry my delivery orders to the local pizza place and Chinese take-away. The wife says I should just get rid of them, but I swear, they’ll come in handy one day, and she’ll see! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/57 "2011-06-29T10:33:05Z")
I can’t remember the last time I used a phone book, probably not in the last 10 years. If my internet is out, I would use my iphone to look up a number. It wouldn’t even occur to me to look in a phone book. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/58 "2011-06-29T14:04:35Z")
I quit using the Yellow pages years ago when other companies were trying to take over the market from AT&T, or whoever was making the things before. We received a number of rival “Yellow” pages. Their information was wrong so often it was surprising. Limited listings, bad phone numbers, crappy indexing. I just stopped bothering with Yellow pages all together. ---
**Author:** ![vapelife](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ecd19e/32.png) [@vapelife](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vapelife)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/59 "2011-08-15T14:17:16Z")
such a waste of money ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-still-use-a-phone-book-how-do-i-get-them-to-stop-delivering-one/587048/60 "2011-08-15T14:27:56Z")
I use them for menus. Most of our local food joints don’t put their menus up online, so if I want to do takeout I have to look it up in the phone book. Otherwise, nope. [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=2)