The Telephone Book - A Resource or A Waste?

I opened my front door a couple of weeks ago to find a dinosaur sitting on my front step. The new phone books had arrived. I went through my annual ritual with them. Take them out of the plastic bag, put the bag in with the collection to be taken to the thrift store for reuse, open the cabinet over the stove, take out the old phone books, put the new ones in, take the old ones to the recycling bin and drop in. I felt guilty throughout the ritual this time, I actually have felt guilty the last couple of times I've done this, I could not remember pulling out the old phone books even once to look something up. They had arrived nice and new and full of information and then sat in a dark cupboard until pulled out to be thrown away without fulfilling their intended purpose. The new ones that I had carefully put in there so I'd know where they were will likely meet the same fate. Why is that?

Because I do what anyone with a computer - desktop, home phone, laptop, smart phone, pad - does, I look stuff up on the computer. Phone numbers, addresses, hours of operation, what services or products they provide, all the information in the phone book and a whole lot more is available on the Internet. Why go to the phone book any longer? The Net not only provides the information that the phone books do but you can go to the website of the company you're looking for and get even more information and e-mail them without even touching the phone. Another symptom of the technological evolution that we enjoy with the techno-toys that we carry with us.

I don't want to imply I haven't had a long and meaningful relationship with phone books. Who hasn't? Over the years they have been booster seats for toddlers, a prop for strong men to rip apart, a press to hold items together that you're gluing,a door stop for when you needed it open for a bit, a valuable clue finder for both movie and TV shows, the list of uses for a telephone book are as varied as the people that used them. Some people even use them to look up telephone numbers, addresses or to decide which plumber to call when the kitchen sink backs up. But the percentage of users is shrinking. As more people use the Internet to find items, including phone numbers, that huge chunk of paper that appears on your doorstep each year is starting to look more and more wasteful as time goes on.

Is there a way to stop the madness? I'm so glad you asked. Here's a sequence that I just went through. I won't be able to tell you until next year whether or not it worked.

- Visit the Yellow Pages Goes Green website.

- Complete the short OPT-OUT form to stop receiving phone books (White Pages and Yellow Pages). Enter the information as prompted and Yellow Pages Goes Green will contact the Directory organizations.

OR

- If you prefer to call the phone book companies yourself, here are the big three. Any other phone books you receive you'll find the contact information in the information sheets in the front of the book.
AT&T/YellowPages: 800.792.2665
Verizon: 800.888.8448
Yellow Book: 800.373.3280 or 800.373.2324

OR

- There is also a Paperless Petition site where you can enter your information to be added to an opt-out list for yellow pages delivery.

The Paperless Petition site has very interesting statistics on the revenue generated by phone book ads which shows a valid reason why the corporations will fight to keep the phone books wasting resources as long as possible.

Telephone books will not disappear entirely, there are plenty of people that don't use the Net on a daily basis and there are still uses for the 6 pound brick of paper that lands on your doorstep. But if you're not using them then save some space in the landfill and/or recycling truck and save yourself the effort of moving them in that direction. And save the guilt trips for your interpersonal relationships, which is where it really belongs.