Remember that there are still alot of seniors and lower income folks in our community who don’t own computers and can’t afford the $1.25 per information call.

Maybe if they delivered the phone books free to central locations (libraries? Grocery stores?) Then all the seniors, lower-income folks and anyone else who wants one could get one. All the rest of us who think they’re useless trash could leave them alone. Everyone wins.

mine go right into the garbage every time

FYI, they are not owned by the “phone company” anymore. Its now owned be a spinooff called Idearc media. If you check their stock price they are in the dumps. I wouldnt be surprised if they go out of business in the next couple of years.

ro – please don’t throw the phone books in the garbage – they can be recycled! THANKS!

I don’t use a phone book anymore either, but it seems to me that getting opinions on phone books in an online forum does sway the results a bit. After all, collectively we probably conduct more of our life and business online. This still ain’t so for many.

According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 75% of adults use the Internet, which is very high, of course. But among those making less than $30K, it’s only 56%, and only 38% of those with less than a high school diploma get online.

Perhaps a better option would be to let folks opt-in/opt-out on receiving a phone book. Of course, that would create more work for those distributing them, since they’d have to pay attention and not just throw them on every front porch, but it would save a ton — literally — of paper and resources.

You’re right — asking questions about phone books on a forum like this is like asking “how many of us are computer literate?”

Still, if phone books were still so valued by those of us who are not computer nerds, why do I usually see them sitting out day and night until they’re soaked and then all you can do with them is toss them?

These people aren’t distributing phone books as a public service to the poor — this isn’t much different from someone sticking a menu for a Chinese restaurant in your door. It’s just a big, thick, yellow, block of ads. They distribute them so widely so they can maintain high ad rates.

Opting in and out might be difficult. I still think that distributing phone books like we distribute IRS forms could work out. For some of us, it’s easy to print out the forms. For others, they can go to the library or post office to get a paper copy. If a phone book is something you really feel you need, that shouldn’t be that troublesome to do. Deliver a stack of them to some central locations, leave them there for a couple of weeks, collect and dispose of the unused copies. Done.

Ever since we became a cell phone only home we have been phone book free. As more homes go that way, what will become of phone books?

An interesting option is digital phone books. I used to work for a company that put phone books on CDs for various cities. While it won’t help the non-computer literate section of the population, it saves resources, is easier to search and less expensive to produce.