Why I’m Still “Bullish” On Print
On my YP Talk newsletter, I received the following email the other day from a “Dominic”:
Ken: In the condo complex where I live, I estimate that 30% of the print directories delivered end up in the collective trash bins on the day of delivery. I see it with my own eyes when I dump my directory. I understand your vested interest in print YPA, but I fail to see where your bullish position about print directories has merit. They are dying.
Dying??? Here is my response back:
Dominc:
Thank you for your comments. Couple of points:
How many people in your complex?? Let’s say 2,000. And you say 30% of directories end up in recycling?? How exactly did you come up with the 30% number?? Could those be older books, books from last year that people are replacing and recycling?? That still leaves 70% (by your count) of books still being used regularly.
My “bullish” position on print comes from some very real facts:
1. Many print publishers use tracking numbers in the ads. That phone number only appears in that that ad, in that book, and in no other forms of advertising. Hence the only way that an advertiser can receive a call on that number is from an ad in the book. The overwhelming majority of publishers I have talked to big and small indicate that those call volumes are UP in the past year. So if “no one” is using the book, how can that be?
2. The printing presses for phone books are full. There is virtually no excess capacity anywhere. Publishers are not dumb people who just want an excuse to print more than they need, so again, someone must be using these books are the publishers wouldn’t be printing them.
3. The formal research the industry has conducts annually just showed the print usage as flat from the prior year. This research is conducted by a viable, highly respected research group who does research for a number of media industries, so it is not plausible, as some have suggested, that they are cooking the result just to give the industry the numbers they want.
4. Print gives you something the Internet doesn’t – a sense of a company’s size and worthiness based on the size and information in their print ad with others in that heading. When a Google type search brings me back a zillion plus hits, you still need to cull through all the results to find what your looking for, and even then there is no way to differentiate between possible suppliers
Are there more options out there for consumers to find information – heck, yes. But that old print book still is the most mobile product available, requires no special connections or technology, and is available in every home and business – it people would just take a minute to keep it. They might discover as billions did last year that it is a pretty poerfull, but low tech informaiton source..
on April 21, 2008 on 9:14 pm
Ken,
Dominic states he see the telephone books go in the collective trash bin. Maybe we need to ask him what the term “collective” means? I read it as the trash can.
You assume that they will be recycled?
The industry prints 520 million books a year? 30% of these end up in the trash if Dominics assumption can cross the entire populous. I tend to lean towards 85% ending up in the trash. The 85% of telephone books going into the trash year after year. Don’t you think this is crazy? How much landfill is being taken? How much is this costing the country in lost resources?
Just not sure the telephone book is as great as you feel it is.
Just my opinion. Look forward to your response and posting my views.
Randy
on April 22, 2008 on 1:21 pm
Randy: Let’s go through your comments.
“You assume that they will be recycled?” – Yes. The printed Yellow Pages are fully recyclable. And we all want to see that done. But we also don’t get 100% of all glass, plastics, papers, cardboard, etc etc that can and should be recycled. But is that the fault of the publishers?? I think the local/state governments need to do a better job of “encouraging” recycling. In the first days of curbside recycling, an enforcement manager (not sure their exact title) would follow behind the trash truck and write a summons for any household that was just tossing their recyclables into the garbage. People got the message quickly and became more vigilant in their efforts. Specific to Yellow Pages, the EPA, not me, not the Associations, the EPA itself has indicated that they only take up 0.3% of the landfills. So I don’t think that book is your issue when it comes to landfills.
Related to that issue that you are probably not aware of is that foreign countries such as China are buying up massive amounts of our recycled paper waste. Why is that an issue? Some would think it’s great that they are taking our trash off our hands, but the truth is those materials become the key raw materials that are reused/recycled into new products, including the paper used by Yellow Pages industry. Hence, we some of that paper trash is now becoming a precious commodity.
“520 million books printed….. How much is this costing the country in lost resources?” – Not sure what your point is there. If the issue is recycling, then I think I addressed that in the prior comment. If you are concerned about the value of a printed Yellow Pages, then consider the millions of small to mid-sized business that rely solely on the product to grow their business. You can check the any of the government agencies that deal with this area but the net net is that small business is the primary economic engine that drives this country – it employees the vast majority of the people, they provide the bulk of the products and services we need and use. Without this key advertising/information media, you would see a dramatic economic impact that would rival anything ever experienced during the Great Depression. Looking at the documented ROI that a business receives from Yellow Page advertising, and you are talking about TRILLIONS in commerce. And that doesn’t even include the 50,000+ people who’s livelihoods are involved directly or indirectly in the industry.
So yes, I think the printed Yellow Pages is more than just great – it has been the single most effective information source ever developed to date. The Internet is a powerful media, but it has yet to achieve the full impact print Yellow Pages have.
Ken
on April 23, 2008 on 8:32 pm
Did I read this right? ALL TELEPHONE BOOKS are recycled? And they end up in China? And they are being used by this superpower to win the world? But, the best way to stop this is to have the government (tax payers) pay to have a recycle cop drive down the street behind a trash truck and give tickets to people who throw away the Telephone Book. Is this a blog on Yellow Pages or a script for a skit on Saturday Night LIve? How about not sending me a buggy whip, have me get on my knees and under my desk in case of an a-bomb attack, and stop sending me a book of trash 4 times per year. How many people under 30 use the telephone book (other than frat guys ripping them up to fill a pledges room with paper)? I do not want a book, do need a book, and did not want to see on my front door.
on April 27, 2008 on 10:02 pm
Jerry :
Wow. Thank you for a post which demonstrates the true ignorance and out right arrogance of many people who pretend to be environmentally oriented. Let me try this at a first grade English level so maybe you will get it this time:
Not ALL telephone books are recycled. Neither are ALL newspapers, plastic bottles, glass, etc. Yet every paper maker out there will tell you they will gladly accept every Yellow Pages they can get. Except for the magnets some publisher use on the covers of the book, ALL components are recyclable. The issue has been that governments responsible for establishing these recycling programs haven’t done their homework to find out their true usefulness and encourage further recycling of the books.
Now follow this so you don’t confused again –> publisher use about 40% recycled paper material in their books. That material comes from –> your curbside recycling. China is competing for that curbside recycling material so they can send it to China, recycle it there, and use it for their paper since they do not have the native forest levels need to provide their own material. If we continue to lose that material, US publishers of any printed material will have trouble finding enough to maintain the levels of recycled content they would like in their products.
If you don’t want a printed book, then just contact the publishers in your area and request that you don’t get one. They will gladly skip your humble abode. I’m sorry that you life is so seriously impacted by the delivery of a Yellow Pages 4X a year. Sounds like a very rich life.
on May 8, 2008 on 6:23 pm
It seems to me that people who debate recycling should spend more time using the internet for research than watching YouTube videos and browsing Facebook profiles. I’m just sayin’.
Less than 10 minutes of research brought me to this PDF (http://www.epa.gov/garbage/pubs/mswchar05.pdf) which details solid waste statistics for the United States in 2005. On page 46 there is a chart breaking down the categories of waste paper and paperboard, which clearly shows that phone books are the *smallest* component of this category, with 660,000 tons of phone books being disposed in the US for 2005 - 1.5% of all Total Paper and Paperboard Non-durable goods, and .7% of all Paper and Paperboard products and, yes, as stated above, .3% of all landfill space.
Compare that to the 1.6 million tons of wine and liquor bottles that are disposed of every year, or, better, the 2 million tons of computers that are trashed every year (with a far more toxic environmental impact than mere phone directories with hard-plastic cases, silicon, iron, lead, chromium, zinc, and other like materials found in computers and monitors). (Cite: http://www.greenerchoices.org/electronicsrecycling/el_ewaste.cfm)
I’m amused by people using an extremely toxic and hazardous product to complain about the disposal of mere paper… amused and a bit saddened at their inability to look at the facts and how their choice of information-gathering is *far* more environmentally unfriendly than that of a person who lets their fingers do the walking.
At least my phone book doesn’t require electricity for me to gather information from it.
on May 8, 2008 on 7:56 pm
JohnT:
Right on!!! Good post, excellent points.
It is perplexing to me why print Yellow Pages brings such an over the top response from people who claim they are eco-oriented. I still think it’s because we haven’t done a very good job of explaining to people what publishers and suppliers are doing in these areas.
Thanks