Recently the company that delivers Idearc Yellow Pages in the Princeton, NJ, area brought our office a few copies of the most recent edition. I imagine that most people do what I did when the book came, which was to check to make sure both my residential and business listings were in the directory. (They were!)
The next thing I did is probably relatively unusual. I quizzed the guy who delivered the telephone directories. I asked him if he delivers books to the inside of businesses, and he said when the door was open, yes. How many businesses tell him that they do not want a Yellow Pages, I inquired. He gave me sort of a strange look and he said almost no one. In fact, he couldn’t remember anyone recently telling him to take it back. If the door is locked, he leaves a few directories based on a rough estimate of what similar-sized businesses say they want. He did not know the term “opt-out,” and he told me he delivers to everyone.
I couldn’t resist the next question: Do you use the Yellow Pages? He shirked and said no, his wife does, but he himself prefers the computer for local search.
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In an very informal survey of our small community in Lewes, DE, (with both year-round and summer residents of all ages) I found print usage to be high, especially with the summer visitors. Everyone is online, but they all want books delivered. It comes down how/when/where you like to get your information.
Yellow pages continue to be very useful to people who continue to find them useful while, at the same time, an enormous waste for those who’ve turned to other sources of local business information.
It’s great to hear that people find the books they receive valuable. Now, if we can only do something about the delivery of books to those who don’t.
I quiz people on their use of Yellow Pages whenever I get into a mixed company. My last experience was while I was on jury duty so I polled my fellow jurors. Out of the 13 men and women, it was very much split down the middle as to print vs. online. Interesting fact, both postal employees still swore by print as well as the more mature crowd. There was one 30-something that was still using print as well.