Who Uses a Physical Phonebook Anymore?

[Hawkeye10]

Paper junk mail? It's kindling, bird cage liner, even packing material for shipping.
But I'd gladly sacrifice it if it means the Post Office doesn't have to deliver it to my mailbox anymore.

Nope, have not used a phone book in DECADES. I stopped because in 2003 I placed my very last Yellow Pages ad for my editing services.
I got ZERO calls that year from it, which is when I realized how useless paper phone books really were.
I know that I got zero calls from it because I'd set up a phone number ONLY listed in the Yellow Pages ad.
And I got plenty of work that year. (enough to turn away some jobs)

I have read of HOA's taking legal action against the people who hand these out, labeling them as trash. Yes, the people who make them have long known that they dont get used but that is not the point, the point is to make money, and so long as their sleazy sales people can sell enough ads to make a profit they get made. You might be shocked at the number of people who buy ads year after year not caring if they work or not, out of habit.

 

[Keridan]

......and, iirc, the ads are billed monthly with the business phone bill!?

Depends on the setup. I had this one offered to me a few times and there are also some that aren't the phone company who release their own book. They are dying as quickly as you would think, though, and it just depends on who provides service in your area these days.

 

[PleasantValley]

I keep one of the largest town in my truck and several local area ones in the house.
A local friend needed to find a decent apartment and the internet only listed the most expensive ones.
He and his wife found a nice inexpensive apartment (2BR-$650) within walking distance of the local Walmart.
There was no mention of it on the internet.

 

[Airyaman]

Believe it or not, some older folks don't have computers or smart phones so...yano.

 

[Bullseye]

Same with a newspaper. I saw a guy delivering them the other day and wondered to myself. "Why on earth would anyone still get one of those?"

I still get he daily paper - My father worked for newspapers for over 40 years; whenever we traveled he'd try to stop in at as many local papers as possible, always brought home the latest edition and read every page of every section. I guess I picked up the habit.

Sometimes it's nice on a Sunday morning kicking back in my favorite chair with a cup of coffee and the Sunday edition.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

I have read of HOA's taking legal action against the people who hand these out, labeling them as trash. Yes, the people who make them have long known that they dont get used but that is not the point, the point is to make money, and so long as their sleazy sales people can sell enough ads to make a profit they get made. You might be shocked at the number of people who buy ads year after year not caring if they work or not, out of habit.

Not shocked at all.
About 30 percent of my corporate video editing work winds up sitting on shelves because some corporate muckety-muck just wanted the video done as a "look at me" venture, and in the end no one else on the board of directors thought the video was useful. It's par for the course.

The company that made the Buffalo and Cougar MRAP vehicles for use in the Iraq War commissioned a seventeen thousand dollar music video that played ONCE or TWICE on the CMT channel. It won me another Telly Award for best cinematography but the company never used the video, it was a VANITY project.
I would have loved it if it had gotten wider distribution but in the end I figured if their check cleared (which it did) and I got an award, that's good enough.

https://vimeo.com/87347634

 

[SDET]

I was out in the yard for a while today, Sunday, and noticed what appeared to be trash in the driveway. The house is off a busy secondary road and there are slobs weekly who decide our house needs soda/beer cans, fast food wrappers and all many of other trash as yard ornaments. When I went out to collect the trash, turns out it is an honest to goodness telephone book. Delivered on a Sunday, no less! I am not the most tech savvy person, but I cannot tell when the last time I searched for a phone number on something other than a PC/tablet/phone. Anyone use a phonebook anymore?

I guess if I had a business it would make sense to list there.......

Rant/off

They are still a thing in Mexico. There was one in the hotel I stayed at this month.

 

[hado117]

I USE A SPIRITUAL ONE. and a rotary dial phone. hello?

 

[beerftw]

I was out in the yard for a while today, Sunday, and noticed what appeared to be trash in the driveway. The house is off a busy secondary road and there are slobs weekly who decide our house needs soda/beer cans, fast food wrappers and all many of other trash as yard ornaments. When I went out to collect the trash, turns out it is an honest to goodness telephone book. Delivered on a Sunday, no less! I am not the most tech savvy person, but I cannot tell when the last time I searched for a phone number on something other than a PC/tablet/phone. Anyone use a phonebook anymore?

I guess if I had a business it would make sense to list there.......

Rant/off

Elderly people still use them, that is the only reason they are still in print, well that and business and people who operate where internet is a crapshoot.

 

[Josie]

My students and I were watching a movie the other day and there was a pay phone in it. I thought to myself -- "I bet the majority of these kids -- maybe none of them -- knows what that is."

 

[sangha]

My students and I were watching a movie the other day and there was a pay phone in it. I thought to myself -- "I bet the majority of these kids -- maybe none of them -- knows what that is."

When she was younger, my niece asked me why some people talked about dialing a phone #

 

[Parrish]

LOL

Autocorrect has been killing me the past two days here. Earlier it changed “most of” to “Maoist” and “desegregate” to “desecrate”.

Autocorrect has been found to be a cause for many a breakup and lot's of 'splaining.

 

[Keridan]

When she was younger, my niece asked me why some people talked about dialing a phone #

I had to pause when my son asked me why its called 'hanging up' a phone. I felt so old. He didn't even see a landline until he was 8 years old.

Sent from my LG-TP260 using Tapatalk

 

[RAMOSS]

I asked my niece to pass me the phone book, she laughted at me, and said 'No one uses phone books anymore, here, use my iphone'.. So I smashed that wasp with her iphone.