Why Do We Still Have Phone Books

The Phone Book. The poster child of a waste of natural resources and the base ingredient of any landfill.

When I arrived home today, I had to crack a sarcastic smile at the box on the counter. Via UPS, AT&T sent me 21 pounds of phone books. Why? So I can add to the other 40 pounds of phone books sent to me by the 'real' yellow pages (they sent us 2 sets...just to be sure!).

I realize that they do come in handy; prop a door open, replace a leg on a desk or table, kindling for the fireplace. Oh, yeah....to look up a phone number in case the power goes out and you want to wile away your time trying to figure out what catagory the listing you are looking for is under.

Granted, not everyone has access to the internet yet. I get that.

Here's an idea - Offer the ability to opt out or in. I can only imagine how many hundreds if not thousands of tons of paper, ink and glue would be saved, let alone wind up in a landfill.

Being in public relations, I realize this is advertising, sort of. Personally, I look for recommendations. I don't remember the last time I sought service from the yellow pages (real or not!). I steer all who inquire away from this shotgun approach that is quickly going the way of the wired phone line.

At any rate, I'm off to borrow a handtruck to load my 60+ pounds of yellow to be recycled.