Yesterday, a Board of Supervisors committee voted to send legislation to the full board that would restrict the distribution of Yellow Pages phone books in the city.
The original proposal was brought by Board President David Chiu in an effort to reduce waste and neighborhood blight. According to the SFAppeal, “The San Francisco Department of the Environment estimates that the phone books, which collectively weigh 7 million pounds, are disposed of each year at an annual cost of $1 million to the city.”
1.8 million phone books are distributed in the city each year, nearly enough for 2 per resident. But with the advent of the internet and sites like yelp.com, craigslist, etc, it’s easy to find many of the same yellow page listings online along with recommendations and reviews from customers.
Opponents to the legislation argue that it could be devastating to small business owners who depend on the yellow pages for driving business. Others argue that it discriminates against residents who can’t afford internet or don’t utilize online sites for that kind of information.
Consumers can already opt-out of receiving the yellow pages at the website yellowpagesoptout.com, but only about 1,700 residents in San Francisco have done so since the option became available in February.
What do you think? Take the poll above to let us know whether or not you still want the big yellow book landing on your doorstep.
Sarah B.
I don’t want it myself, but some folks who don’t have access to the interweb might need it. 😉 I think you should have to order it, opt in/opt out. It’s SUCH a waste of paper, for everyone to get it…
It should be opt-in only. They could send everyone a letter asking if they want to opt in.
I don’t need it but there should be an opt out feature. Older folks, mainly my parents, do not/will not use the internet therefore they still need those books.
I opted out in February and I STILL recieved one this weekend. I’d also like to NEVER get a flyer or examiner. I’m not sure how to make that known.
Yes, I would probably opt in to get it, they are nice to have, but I can’t stand it when they dump six or seven bags of the books in our entrance way. Even better would be if they just kept them at an AT&T store or affiliate location and people could just go in and get one if they needed it.
I like Rachel’s idea – just publish a notice somewhere of where the books can be found and let anyone who wants one grab one. Anyone unable to pick one up could have one delivered by making a phone call.
Good suggestions, I like the idea of a place to pick one up.
I think part of the challenge is that the book is basically an advertising vehicle (like a newspaper), and part of how they sell the ads is guaranteeing advertisers a certain amount of distribution / eyeballs. So it’s in the interest of the yellow page publishers to get as wide a distribution as possible. The business is at odds with what may be best for the consumer or environment. Tough issue.
Sarah B.
Responding to Jonathan’s ? about how to stop receiving the Examiner, if you email the address on the plastic bag that protects the paper, you can request Stop Delivery. That will work, although it may take several requests, and you may see Delivery resume. Just call or email again. As Sarah says, it’s a circulation issue – advertisers pay for quantity.
Have you looked at the Opt-Out form for the Yellow Pages? I’m *required* to give them every bit of my address, email and phone info in order to opt out. Why can’t I just input my address and ask them to skip it? I do not trust them to not put me and my info on marketing lists. That’s why I haven’t opted out.
Re: Rachel’s idea of centralized drop-offs: libraries generally have the Yellow Pages available for public use, too. Between that and Rachel’s idea, everyone who needs one can access the YP.
It’s a dying medium, and the companies that publish the books are going down the tubes — but not without a fight!
@Jonathan – I think you can also visit this page to stop delivery of the Examiner:
http://intranet.dcexaminer.com/examinerintranet/stopdeliveryreq_sf.cfm
Sarah B.
Once upon a time (read several years ago) many Safeway’s had them in their front of store areas near the rent a steam cleaner machines. This is how we got our from other areas (read: oakland, San Jose, etc.)…all before the interwebs.
Re. Examiner cancellation, you can try Mike Higgins at Tel: 415-359-2862. Also, if you see Examiners lying on the sidewalk because they weren’t properly delivered, it’d be great if you emailed Mike Higgins w/ a cc to Supervisor Eric Mar at: The more email the Examiner gets about misdelivered papers, the more attention they’ll pay to this issue.
Ooops. Supervisor Mar’s email address was skipped in my last email. It’s eric.l.mar@sfgov.org
@Jonathan – regarding the stopping of fliers, if you have a “No Handbills” sign posted on your property, you have a legal right to complaint if a business delivers one.
http://www.sfgsa.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=7440
I want and use the AT&T phone books. I throw away all the others that arrive. On Monday night, the night of the hearing, the Valley Yellow Pages were delivered on my block in the Sunset. They were left on everyone’s top porch sometime after 10:30pm and were there when a neighbor went for a run at 5:15am Tuesday. One neighbor tried calling them to ask them to take it back and got hung up on.
@7 – good point. But distribution and eyeballs are different metrics. I think an argument can be made that a large portion of people that receive the yellow pages (distribution) don’t even take it out of the plastic bag, let alone open it to use it (eyeballs). The key metric advertisers need is how many people would actually USE the yellow pages if they receive it.
Personally if I were a business unless I KNEW that my target market were heavy users of the yellow pages I’d be focusing on the online space.
The phone book might be good for some but mine immediately went in the recycling bin. By the time you get a phone book the data in it is a couple of months old at least. It’s worthless to me.