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.

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.

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.