The Internet Strikes Again: RIP, White Pages

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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May 9, 2000
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The speculation about the demise of the telephone book is now becoming a reality. Phone companies across the nation are requesting state permission to discontinue the blanket delivery of the environmentally unfriendly phonebook.

Does anyone care about the white pages anymore? Robert Thompson, a "pop culture professor" at Syracuse, told the AP that "anybody who doesn't have access to some kind of online way to look things up now is probably too old to be able to read the print in the white pages anyway."
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Mentioned this on the talk radio yesterday. It also had to do with the fact that so many people simply use a cell phone and don't even have land lines, that printing a phone number for a residencial address is becoming less and less practical.

I will admit, I have not had a land line in 6 years and as soon as they throw the phone book on the front door it goes into the recycle. I use to keep them, until I realized I never even looked at the things.
 
Don't really need the white pages that much anymore. Really can't remember the last time I used it but the yellow pages are handy for finding local business.
 
Last time I used a phone book, the power was out. Guess if my cell phone had the internet, that would not have been an issue. Would still like to see telephone books as more of a request option (for people that don't have a cell phone and/or internet.)
 
lol im amazed its gone this long. bunch of us here at my apartment complex used the free phone books as a bon fire at the fire pit here. no one ever uses them. they just sit in front of the mail boxes til some one decides to throw them away.
 
God, I hope so. I get several deliveries every year of various phone books, all I do with them is put them in the recycle bin.
 
Yup, straight to the recycle bin. I think they should still be available to people who want them, but don't just give them to everybody.
 
twatt said:
Don't really need the white pages that much anymore. Really can't remember the last time I used it but the yellow pages are handy for finding local business.
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myyp.com ya dont need anything else. its also updated way more then the yearly phone book you get.

though the stupid talking chick in the left bottom corner that they added recently is effing annoying
 
They are doing the same here, also they are charging ya extra for sending a paper bill to your home instead of an E-Bill for your phone calls.

No biggie though, as normally people call directory enquiries or look up the online phone book for a number.

It should however still be available for those who want one, but no need to waste millions of mullah by having millions of em printed out and giving to everybody, as most just throw them out.
 
haaa i have white pages app on my android! reverse phone lookup FTW
and i caught them trying to deliver a phone book to my condo, told em to take it back otherwise throw it in my fire pit..the guy threw it in my fire pit and left
 
I have a few years of phonebooks that are still in my stairwell I think I may have used the yellow pages one or two times over that time period, very impractical, although I have to admit I have more faith in a company who ponies up the money for an ad (they ain't cheap) than one posting on craigslist or that's listed on Yelp
 
I must be the only one here that actually keeps one around just in case the internet connection fails (cell phone doesn't have internet service either).
 
I love my phone book. I don't get the newspaper anymore, so I use the whitepages for cleaning my cast iron pans.
 
eh, I remember phone books. they used to charge $150 monthly fees for a two line yellow page ad. see ya! and don't let the door slap you on your ass!
 
Google, Google Maps and 411--landline and cellphone-- are all I use now.

Think the last time I used the White Pages or Yellow Pages or a phonebook for that matter was a year ago, but even before then, it was years before I last used one.
 
I agree with this. Due to the internet, a large percentage of people now just keep their number unlisted so people can't just find their address by doing a google search for their phone number, etc. This all makes white pages pretty useless.
 
The thought of someone looking up a phone number in the white pages is hilarious to me. Getting rid of it is great idea, giant waste of paper. Though I fear old people who haven't accepted technology won't be too happy about it
 
Where I live, they began including a CD version with the paper book last year. I'm guessing that is step one of getting subscribers ready for the complete elimination of a delivered phone book. I suppose the Yellow Pages/Yellow Book will continue on for awhile longer since it is ad supported, but eventually it too will be gone. All the better....I'm no card carrying tree hugger, but the waste of resources printing phonebooks is really unnecessary.
 
Think of all the trees that can be saved and the children who can play in those trees!
 
the tree saving thing is a hoax. trees have been grown for the past 100 years specifically for the purpose of making paper... :)
 
I cannot remember the last time I actually opened a phonebook to look up a number. It's about time.
 
B2BigAl said:
Agreed. Now if they'd just outlaw junk mail...
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Good luck on that, 1st Amendment protection there.

As to Phone books, I've not used the white pages in a long time, Although the Yellow pages are at least useful when I need something done around here.
 
Google replaced the white pages for me easily 5 years ago.... its actually still hanging by a thread after this long?
 
twatt said:
Don't really need the white pages that much anymore. Really can't remember the last time I used it but the yellow pages are handy for finding local business.
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Yea, they better keep the yellow pages at least as it is quite handy.
 
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