I used to believe the telephone book, both white and yellow pages, were part of the very important resources I used to do any research.
Recently, new telephone books arrived on my front doorstep. I picked them up feeling puzzled. I couldn’t remember the last time I had used phone books.
The white pages used to be good for looking up people’s phone numbers. In this era where everyone, including myself, appears to be unlisted, and many people use their cell phones exclusively, this book seems virtually obsolete.
Now, the yellow pages. When I was young, we always turned to the yellow pages when deciding which businesses to patronize. I haven’t used the yellow pages in three or four years — and will likely recycle it rather than have it take up space in my dining room.
Why no yellow pages?
Conventional wisdom would not have people using the yellow pages to select doctors, lawyers, or home contractors.
Second, with the explosion and proliferation of area codes, yellow pages cover smaller and smaller areas. I live in one such area. In L.A., we’re now in the 323 area code, covering Hollywood, Hancock Park, and Mid Los Angeles. We’re not in a particularly good business corridor. Many of the businesses I patronize are east near downtown, or west in Culver City, Beverly Hills, or West Los Angeles.
None of these are in my phone book, making getting phone numbers or addresses virtually useless.
Lastly, in my zeal to eliminate clutter — all organizing experts suggest getting rid of anything that has information that can be easily accessed another way.
In the era of the Web with pretty thorough search engines, store websites, and on-line directions, information otherwise accessible in the phone book can now be gotten on-line in the blink of an eye with little effort and no bulky paper.
Having been solicited by yellow pages salesman, I can tell you those little ads you see in the phone book are expensive. If I owned a business I wouldn’t waste my cash — perhaps they’ll look to spend money on Overture or AdWords instead.
