Qwest DEX telephone directories: 2,162 pages of waste

Does the bag to the right look familiar? If you live in the Portland, Oregon area, it should. Chances are you found one sitting on your porch recently. The question is, will you use it? I want to acknowledge up front that I'm a bit of a tech geek and probably have more options than many for looking up phone numbers electronically—online, via cell phone, etc. But more options are coming out all the time for even the most non-geeky among us to get the information we need electronically.

I don't think I've touched a printed telephone directory in years except for when I've found myself in an area where I don't have Internet access or cell phone service. Which isn't very often—once every few months or so at most. And never at home. I'd rather save the thousands of pages of paper by calling directory assistance should I find myself stranded offline.

Qwest's own research must show that hardly anyone uses these things anymore. The problem is, there are huge sums of money to be made by printing and distributing them, even though they go straight to the recycle bin. Qwest makes money, the printers make money, the delivery agents make money and so forth. What I don't understand, though, is why advertisers continue to throw their money in the recycle bin.

I went to the DEX Media site and tried to get a feel for numbers. They've very cleverly phrased everything so as to mask any numbers other than gross distribution. To me, this means they recognize the problem.

Dex directories reach far across our 14-state region, providing 44.6 million¹ households or businesses...

Wow! I don't know how that 44.6 million breaks down between homes and businesses, but I have to think that phone books at businesses—at least offices where most people have Internet access available to them—are used even less than in homes. When is the last time you went searching for the phone book at your office?

Other cute bits include:

Florists: did you know?
94% of people who use the Yellow Pages follow up with a flower purchase.

Every other piece of usage-related information on the site is like this. That could be 94% of 100 people total. If you're an advertiser, this means nothing.

Anyway, this is not meant to be an exhaustive research piece—just observations based on my own experience.

Someone in Washington DC blogged about this recently, as well:

Look! Phone books! Wow. I cannot believe they still make those things. I guess there are still couches missing legs. Or maybe it's a cheap way to heat when firewood runs low.

DC Phone Book Waste - Metroblogging DC

Comments

[Lelo]

They're useless to me. What I hate is that we get so many of them, from different companies now, throughout the year. It's gone way beyond just these three. I hate them. Wasted trees right there.

[Julio]

I agree completely, and I think you're giving too much benefit of the doubt here. While it's likely that a large percentage get recycled in Portland, what about all the other cities and towns where people don't really put any effort into recycling? The amount of paper going straight into landfills must be staggering. There needs to be a "do not drop" list for phone books. And don't even get me started on newspapers that print out weekly mini-papers for non-subscribers!

Like so many other broken or breaking models (think TV advertising), change can be quite slow. The provider doesn't want to lose their $$, and the advertisers want to stick with what they know for fear of losing theirs. There are still businesses that only advertise in the phone book, so it is still difficult to do some searches online. I've noticed that the majority of contractors do not have an online presence (try finding a good, complete listing of drywallers online). I think Qwest charges extra to put ads on their website, and many of the "resource" sites are really just paid listings of a limited number of businesses. About once a year I'll end up needing a phone book to look up some obscure local business. And then I'll have to try to find one at work, because I already recycled it at home...

[nonlineargirl]

Like most Portlanders, we got the bag last week too. The book is useful at my house, not as an information resource, but because my daughter sometimes decides she wants to sit in a regular chair. Without those books, only her forehead reaches the tabletop. She likes the phonebook better than a booster seat.

[jj]

we used ours to press leaves in the fall for my son to take to his preschool.

otherwise, yeah, they pretty much just take up space in a drawer in the kitchen. i don't really know why i keep them around. habit, i guess.

[Lelo]

Hey, I just came across this information and thought you'd be interested. It sounds like there's some good effort towards stopping this incredible waste.

Check out the work of the Product Stewardship Institute and the project with King County in Washington:

Product Stewardship Institute > Phone Books

[martin]

Verizon dropped off 3 dozen bags of phone books at one of my apartment complexes on Thursday. I've called the "customer service" number (1-800-888-8448) every day since then asking them if they would please come and pick them up. They tell me each time that the directories are delivered by a contractor, and that they will contact said contractor to pick them up. It's been nearly a week, and they are still there.
I REALLY want them to pick up these directories, so today I'm going to start calling the businesses that buy ads and complain to them since Verizon refuses to cooperate.

[martin]

I finally got sick of the inaction on the part of Verizon (and Idearc, their directory wing) and just decided to deliver the phone books to their Beaverton branch. If you want to see a poorly-edited video account of the affair, it's here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aILOOuG3-Vw
I run four apartment buildings in the neighborhood, and so far they've only hit one. So I expect I'll be doing this all over again next week.

[wireless cell phone business]

This will disappear forever in the near furture. I have not touched a phone book in 2 years. there is no use for one.

[Ronald G; Bozik]

I live in Florida and Phoenix, our Phoenis home is used only a few months out of a year.

When they deliver the phone books they are in bad shape when I arrive, could you please send me new Phoenix quest phone books, or tell me where to pick them up. Thank you, I have had quest service for several years--602-678-5184--R.G. Bozik, 1522 E. Turquoise Ave 85020-1026--thank you--rgbbeachside@yahoo.com