Do You Still Use The Phone Book

This may seem like an odd question, but do you still use the phone book?

Annual phone book deliveries took place in my area last week. As I picked up that gigantic paper tome, I thought to myself, “Is anyone still using a phone book these days?”

I haven’t looked up a number in the white pages or a business in the yellow pages of a physical phone book in almost ten years! I can’t even imagine the amount of money the phone company is wasting by printing those and still delivering them to every residence and business. I suppose the cost is partially offset or perhaps completely so and they are turning a profit by selling yellow page advertising. Even that must be on the decline. If less people are using the printed books, then the yellow pages aren’t effective as they were before and would therefore be less attractive to advertisers.

I remember when I was a kid how excited we were every summer when the phone books arrived. We couldn’t wait to go through them to check for our own numbers and then look up all our friends to make sure they had been listed correctly. I assume those days are pretty will long gone since the phone number databases have migrated first to CD’s and now to Internet based services.

Also, everyone has cell phones these days and can call directory assistance or surf the net on their phones and other devices if they need a number when they are away from home. There are also several services that you can call for free to search for local businesses by category and retrieve their phone numbers and even be connected to them. In fact, the Magellan GPS systems have that exact capability too.

I know there is another side to the argument…not everyone has an Internet connection at home or uses the computer constantly at home. Still, I think the phone company should make receiving phone books optional. Think of the environment al impact. How many trees could be saved and how much landfill space not used if annual phone book consumption was cut significantly? phone book

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