More Phone Book Pontification
Even though I have strong libertarian leanings on some issues, nothing would make me happier than government imposed mandatory opt-ins for phone book delivery.
A ridiculously large percentage of phone books that are DELIVERED wind up in the garbage. Its wasteful plain and simple, and the only reason they’re given out like candy on Halloween is to trump up circulation numbers for advertising rates.
Last year Yellow Pages industry head Ken Clark commented on my frustration, and in March some good folks gave info on how to opt-out in this post. The high profile site The Consumerist also ran an opt-out story earlier this month with some good ensuing discussion.
By the way I only really get inspired to bitch about phone books when an inky yellow dinosaur arrives my doorstep. So why is it this happening over FIVE TIMES A YEAR? This delivery thanks to Verizon, who I didn’t even know served our market. (I thought it was Qwest.)
Some phone book industry advocates like Ken Clark have touted how easy and convenient these are to recycle. (This is irrelevant. It’s still wasteful.) So today I’d like to debunk the “easy to recycle” statement: This morning’s phone book by Verizon arrived entombed in a tight clear plastic covering, inside of a loose plastic bag. (More waste.) So before heaving it into the paper recycling bin you need to remove it from the bag, and then peel off the tight plastic wrap. Ladies don’t break a nail.
Also stuck to the front of the book was a refrigerator magnet for an urgent care center. This can’t go into paper recycling. Nit-picking? Yes. But its still work to be done, and you probably just want to go to work right?
Also consider many individuals and families just don’t recycle. So while its not the green thing to do, some just pitch the whole mess, magnet and all, into the trash.
James:
if your local government is not recycling phone books, perhaps you should direct your consternation at them. Through your taxes you are already paying for recycling of beverage containers, newspapers, cardboard, etc etc etc. Each of those have their own little recycling issues too, but you never hear about those, do you.
And thanks for the promotion to “industry head”. But for the record I am but a lowly servant to businesses in the industry.
Peace be with you.
Hi James,
I totally agree with the desire to opt-out. I’d take it a bit further and ask that we should have to opt-in to get the phone books. If I want it, I can ask.
I recycle them, but I shouldn’t have to take time to recycle something I didn’t ask for.
We wrote a post about this today also at http://current.pic.tv/2008/08/19/phonebooks-still-showing-up-like-bad-house-guests/
Ken also commented on my post, but I thought he was very civil in his tone, so I think him for that.
Thanks again for your post on this.
Cheers
Where we live, recycling doesn’t accept phone books. I get so many from different companies that don’t have the info. I need. Aaaarrrrggggghhhh.
PowderLover
Great News! Today Lifehacker promoted the site “Yellow Pages Goes Green.” on their site.
They’re an excellent resource on stopping unwanted phone book delivery. Check it out.
http://www.yellowpagesgoesgreen.org/index.html
I happen to be one of the owners of MyJunkTree and as a new company I search the web to see if we are getting any visibility out there and I post on relevant blogs.
We launched the company because we were tired of all the junk mail we were receiving and we personally did not want to bounce all over the web to contact all the different companies to stop it all. First and foremost we wanted to let people choose what they wanted to let come to their home knowing that some people really do like some of the coupons and catalogs. So our clients choose what they want stopped.
We also had to provide a service that is different than the other services out there, so here is what we offer:
1. We have a database of over 1300 catalogs that you can choose to stop.
2. We have over a 2000 charities/Non-Profits that you can stop solicitations from.
3. Stop the delivery of the national phone directories.
4. Stop the delivery of the weekly coupons.
5. Stop the general credit card offers as well as the ones from your own major bank.
6. Stop the miscellaneous junk mail from the data brokers.
7. You can register on the National Do Not Call Registry from the website.
8. You can order your no strings attached free annual credit report right from the website.
9. We plant trees with every new membership.
And, yes we are a paid service and yes you can do everything that we do for free, if you want to do all the research and spend the time contacting the companies yourself it can easily be done. We have just done all of the legwork for our clients and feel there is value in the service we provide.
Thanks Tim. Your site looks like a pretty good one-stop clearing house for stopping junk mail.
The only problem with phone books is they’re distributed early morning by temporary labor who probably don’t care if our addresses are on a list or not.
Maybe if communities forced the Yellow Book companies to pay for postage to MAIl the books – then that might be an incentive to follow junk mail opt-outs.
Ken Clark cracks me up. He suggests that you should spend your city’s tax dollars on recycling phone books you never asked for in the first place. That is about the least logical approach to dealing with unwanted paper spam I can think of.
As a libertarian, I would expect you to be of the mindset that other business’ rights end where your rights begin.