I found a Yellow Pages book sitting on the porch when I went out to pick up the New York Times this morning.

And, following the protocol my spouse and I agreed upon after the last one arrived, I took the book inside and dropped it in the recycling bin. What once was an important consumer reference tool has lost its relevance for us now that we can look for businesses online.

Which raises the question — what do you do these days with your Yellow Pages?

Bill Smith is the editor and publisher of Evanston Now.

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9 Comments

  1. Yellow Pages

    Of the 18 sets [for 18 units] left at our building, only two people took a set. Then 1-2 weeks later they delieverd another load of the same phone books—but this time they left 25 set which of course no one took any of.

    1. More Yellow Pages !!

      Another load was dropped off today but from a different company !

      I'm sure these will all wind-up in the rc-cycle bin.

  2. Yes, the Yellow Pages are irrelevant and wasteful, but…

    "I found a Yellow Pages book sitting on the porch when I went out to pick up the New York Times this morning."

    Bill, why are you still getting a paper copy of the New York Times?  

    I wouldn't pay a single penny to read the nonsense of Thomas Friedman , but if I did subscribe to the NY Times, I would get the electronic version.

  3. Yellow Pages still useful

    I may be in the minority, but I still save the book and use it often. 

  4. Yellow Pages usage

    I am tired of hearing the phrase no one uses the yellow pages anymore.  I still do and I am positive that there are hundreds of thousands that still do also.  I feel that the underlying truth is that,  it is  a smear campaign by the internet marketers to sway people's marketing plans to the internet because the internet is a buzz word for today.  I use the yellow pages because I can find a business much faster than going on line. 

  5. Yellow Pages

    Phone Books are distributed once every year to our residence and I am one who keeps a book by every telephone, one in the kitchen and one in the office. i refer to the book when I need it and still use the computer as well. The book is a great product and delivers when I need it unlike the computer at times. Please do not get rid of them, they are a neccesity and every business that advertises in it or has a presence would probably agree considering it brings billions of dollars nationwide.

  6. Yellow Books

    I used to agree it was a waste of resources however i was wrong. If we are stuck  without internet service and cant access our precious net we have to use the yellow book.  its a resource that never goes down. and i will tell you it happen everywhere!!@

  7. I do use the phone book to

    I do use the phone book to find a restaurant or a local business. I use the internet for research not for buying.

    I believe in buying locally when ever possible.

    Gary

  8. Yellow Pages

    Yesterday I received my FIFTH yellow-page-type book this summer.

    It was from AT&T and a duplicate of one I had received weeks earlier.

    It went right into the recycle bin because I just keep one — "just in case"

    — and I feel really sorry for the merchants who must pay time after time

    for one publisher's edition after another. 

     

    I have recycled four in one month!

     

    I doubt if I've used yellow pages as often as once a year in the last 20 years —

    but that may also be because I've lived here for 40 years and use the same 

    companies and repairmen over and over.  In earlier years when I moved twice,

    I strongly relied on the yellow pages and new neighbors' recommendations —

    and it IS quicker than the Internet if I'm not already sitting at a live computer!

     

    I DO really miss the more comprehensive WHITE PAGES that enabled us

    to look up residential addresses and phone numbers in all the nearby suburbs

    as far as Lake Forest and Palatine. Again, often a lot quicker than the Internet search.

     

     

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