Phone Book Opt-Out

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As the Star Tribune reported this weekend, phone book companies have started offering opt-outs to residents who don't want to receive physical copies of the phone book anymore. I welcome this initiative by the industry. I'm also encouraged that the Legislature is poised to require this sort of opt-out offer.

My office often receives complaints from residents just after phone book delivery dates. Folks are concerned about the amount of paper that is used to make each book, especially when a household uses electronic lookup services rather than hard-copy versions. If you're concerned about the ecological impact of receiving phone books you don't need, I encourage you to opt out using the following contact info (from the Star Tribune article):

"To make changes for Dex phone books, go to www.dexknows.com and click on "directory options" at the bottom. You may also call 1-877-2-GET-DEX. For Yellowbook, call 1-800-YB-YELLO. For Verizon Yellow Pages (Idearc), call 1-800-888-8448."

Comments

Ed Kohler said…
Cam, thanks for writing about this. The challenge with the opt-out systems - as they exist today - is that residents are faced with the hassle of contacting each directory company individually.

Additionally, there is no incentive for delivery people to NOT delivery to a do-not-deliver house, so there is no guarantee that being on an opt-out list actually means you won't receive more print directory spam.
11:51 AM
Anonymous said…
You can also look at www.yellowpagesgoesgreen.org. They will contact all the publishers with your request,
2:30 PM
Ed Kohler said…
As I understand it, some phone book publishers are refusing to honor opt-out requests from 3rd Party services like yelowpagesgoesgreen.org. So it won't hurt but may not achieve the results you hope it would.
9:24 AM
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