In the very least, the useless proliferation of these tomes that hit my third floor door step is annoying. I MIGHT use one if there were one set that was meaningful. BUt the three or so that are thrown up on my Rapunzel-y Heaven? Nope. I used to fight forest fires in my youth. I saw men die for those damned trees. Let's consolidate into ONE opt-in option. Like the good old days when I was a girrul. And ban the wholesale tossing business.

I, personally, am totally against any effort to get rid of phone books. We simply can't afford it during this recession.

Whenever I hear the phonebook truck come through my neighborhood, I hop in the car and follow the trail, picking up the phonebooks off people's porches and driveways and filling my pickup full of the tomes. Then I head off to recycle a couple of tons of paper to earn a few bucks.

Where would my income go if people had to opt in?

Amen, amen and A--MEN, Kari!

Opt-out doesn't work---I've tried it and as pointed out above it's not like "the old days" where you got one phone book. I get FOUR in Gresham and every damn one of them goes directly into the recycling bins. Even if I wanted to keep one around, none are accurate anymore and they are all missing various companies, etc because the only way to get into a phone book anymore is to pay for the privilege.

It's utterly ridiculous and we need a statewide Opt-In Program.

I don't mind getting one phone book per year, I just don't need three of the furshlugginer things. It's one of the downsides of the breakup of the Ma Bell monopoly, IMHO. I keep the Dex, recycle the rest.

I suspect (and hope) that the problem will eventually go away on its own. Why print them in the first place? Because the printers make money from selling advertising in their Yellow Pages. If dead-tree editions of phone directories continue to decline in usage, and if advertisers wise up to this fact, the "lesser" phone books won't get enough advertising dollars to turn a profit and they'll dry up and blow away with no intervention needed.

I'm not against some kind of opt-in regulation, but in a few years it could conceivably be a moot point.

As I am sitting at my desk looking at 6 different phone books I say: the sooner the better.

While you're bothering Amanda Fritz about the awful fact that you had to walk all the way to your recycling bin with that unwanted phone book, the city council will have gone off and wasted millions on yet another west-side urban renewal boondoggle. And those unpaved streets on the east side will continue to be unpaved. And torridjoe will write another stupid commentary about how those geniuses on the city council are actually doing the right thing spending more money to subsidize South Waterfront.

Come on, Commissioner Fritz, do the right thing. Spend your time on the important stuff.

I'd just as soon not have the phone book(s) delivered unless I requested one. Someone's probably going to fight that idea though. Phone books probably represent big money income for somebody.

A person could probably use all these phone books to build a house. Didn't the Oregonian publish an article just last week featuring a woman in our area that does that type of thing with straw bales?

It helps to rip them in half before tossing them into the recycle bin.

Kari,

For one who disagrees with some of your posts, and shrugs at others, I gotta say this time that these books are a waste. Frankly, I'd rather the publishers (and by extension the advertisers) lose a lot of money and be forced out of business by the free enterprise system, but the waste is tremendous. A free-trader (me) agrees that we should find some way to encourage a by-request-only process, and through that, have a situation where every one printed is wanted.

My parents want a phone BOOK, not a phone SITE, but those like them are fairly few in our connected society.

Red and Blue agree? Seas to blood? Lions and lambs lie down? Hmmmm. Perhaps the end times are being encouraged by this post. Maybe I'm an end-times nut!

I say YES!!! Twice even!!! I have never seen a post that I so whole heartedly agreed with. A thousand curses to those who drop these obnoxious things on my doorstep.

By the way: I would like a URL to a real tel phone number site. I get directed onto those "pay up so we can tell you where to find 'em" sites! And frequently recieve fax numbers for my trouble! What's a good one?

@mike Re:your phone book.

Could you send me the url for google? I looked it up in my phone book but it wasn't there.

The Yellow Pages and their many copiers are certainly a victim of technology. Much like buggy whips and Tv antennae, they will become a museum piece. The sooner we stop the wholesale printing and distribution the better.

Kari, I also "recycle" directly from my driveway when the books are thrown there.

Carrying the offensive phonebook all of what, 25 ft., to the big blue bin is such an ordeal. Absolutely, we need to schedule public hearings and appoint a commission and pass legislation to address this terrible problem. Some things take care of themselves. The private phone book industry is withering on the vine as folks wise up to the fact that they are wasting their money. Let's focus political resorces on problems that are a little more pressing.

The books are actually a good source of paper starter for barbeques...but more than two is too much.

I'm going to waffle on this issue and I think that many people will agree with this. Against - 1. yes it is hard for us to have to get away from our computerscreens and 2. walk out to the dumptster or (god forbid!) go to the dump and recycle them - gee you might meet somebody there that has an intelligent idea of how to constructively solve the "problem". 3. Some phone books have different listings for government services in your area. Like I sometimes have to call the DEQ with questions about my projects. That means I may consult different phone book for different locations where I can get a live answer from a live body (which is nice). Like I just found out that their office in Eugente has moved ... about six months ago. Saved me from driving around Eugene aimlessly. That's common down here in rural Douglas County.

Unfortunately some of us aren't fast keyboarders and don't have the time to sit down and click away to get the phone number that they need - especially those of us who ain't fast at moving around because of age. As anybody who's in their "golden" years when they need a phone# what do they do - reach for the phonebook.

For- 1. Ever reach for the phonebook and get a wrong (or disconnected) number??? This is happening a lot now with so many small businesses (like mine for example) going broke and closing up shop or finding that your listing has been dropped; like mine. If you have another mailer's directory they might have the current listing. Different phone books are published for/on different times of the year. 2. Your phone company used to be a big monopoly there was one type of phone, and one directory, and one rate for the services provided. Now there's dozens, many of them are 'piggyback' carriers and use different towers and carriers for their services - meaning their numbers may be listed in God knows where directories. I've had the experience of getting a call from somebody who needs my services from the other side of the country. Once they figger out from the area code (even that may not be as sacrosanct as you think it is locationwise) they've realised it and hung up. 3. Many people have no land lines or cell #s, even so your name may (or not) be listed. Different books have different methodologies for listing. Some have reverse listings - that's really nice before you decide to drive a hundred miles for that garage sale item.

I say if you don't like 'em keep throwing them away - the market will weed out the losers and fewer directories will wind up on your doorstep, meanwhile I'll peruse the selection of directories and keep the ones that are useful. We have chosen to deregulate our phone services and leave them to the "free market" (aka competitive zoo). That's the result many phone books. There is NO central master directory.

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