AT&T wants to stop residential white page delivery in Missouri

AT&T through its Southwestern Bell Telephone Company (company name it still operates under in the state of Missouri) has filed for permission with Missouri regulators to stop delivering the residential white pages book to homes in the Kansas City and St. Louis areas…

AT&T noted as it has in other markets where they and other publishers have filed similar requests (here and here) customers are not using the printed white pages as much to find telephone numbers. Instead, other methods including using the Internet are preferred. If approved, the phone company will mail a copy to customers that request one. The Yellow Pages will continue to be published and will include business white pages as of now.

The changes are not final yet — the Missouri Public Service Commission still has to approve the request.

Kudo’s to Wake County for more recycling efforts

Kudo’s to Wake County (local county where Raleigh is based) for expanding the opportunity for residents to recycle more.  Specific to phone books, this just announced:

In the past, Wake County offered drop off sites during a three-month period when telephone books were delivered. Over the last several years, directory distribution has increased and become a year-round process. The County has decided to expand the program at existing facilities, to keep pace with the market, giving residents and businesses the opportunity to recycle telephone books at anytime.

This effort is beng sponsored by AT&T Yellow Pages and R.H. Donnelley (publisher of Embarq Yellow Pages).  And yes, both companies are promoting the recycling sites in their respective directories.

Cincinnati Bell Seeks Regulatory Permission to Stop White Pages

Channel 5 – WLWT in Cincinnati reports that Cincinnati Bell has asked the Public Utilities Commission in Ohio for a waiver to cease the required annual devliver of  the printed White Pages to each residential customer.

This 1950’s era regulatory requirement made sense in the pre-Internet days when the Telco was the only source for numbers in the local area.  But attempts by publishers in several areas to discontinue this archaic practice have been met with resistance from local regulatory groups.  Most recently AT&T attempt to make this change in North Carolina and met significant resistance (source).  Most commissions view it as some kind of back door opportunity for the Telco to raise 411 – directory assistance rates, even though the changes have been supported by government recycling authorities.  In most markets in Canada, Yellow Pages Group is on a biennial distribution schedule for its residential white pages.

The value of commerce generate by the printed Yellow Pages is not the question here.  It is the value of printed residential white pages which do largely go unused.   I think the industry and consumers can gladly come together to support these type changes in every jurisdiction which still requires it.

18th Annual Phone Book Recycle Program Underway

From Reno, NV:

The 18th annual Phone Book Recycling program runs through December 31. Phone books can be recycled at local Scolari’s, Sak ‘N Save and AT&T offices.

For more, go here:  http://www.ktvn.com/Global/story.asp?S=9408269

Green Pages In the Print Yellow Pages

Kudo’s to AT&T for a new partnership with Hutchinson, KS’s “Green Team” (link to full story). A proposal will go before the Hutchinson City Council for final approval next week for a four-page insert listing area recyclers, educational information about recycling, Web links and more in the upcoming December edition of the Reno County (KS) area directory .

The Green Team is a group of city staff and citizens who are working on recycling issues in the town, and the Green Pages project was born out of the Team’s desire to update a Reno County recycling brochure that was distributed by the health department nearly a decade ago.

Because they “didn’t want to print a bunch of material that would end up in trashcans” (Meryl Dye, Green Team member) the group approached the AT&T yellow pages about having green pages. In exchange for the green pages inclusion on the AT&T phone book, the Green Team will promote the AT&T’s sponsorship of the project.

Because the book is provided to every house hold in the area, the local government can be assured that residents have ready access to the recycling information they need.

And all this in a printed Yellow Pages.

Recycling Information At Your Finger Tips – In the PRINTED Yellow Pages

It seems like the Napa Valley area in California has some issues lately with recycling. Local officials are noting that whether it’s the soft economy or maybe even the rise in home foreclosures, but the number of illegal garbage dumps is growing. People seem to think nothing of pushing that old worn out sofa or dead car battery to the curb, or even worse, to the backend of a dark, dead-end street. “The word is out. If you put something on the street, the city will pick up,” said Steve Barragan, a public works worker quoted in a recent Napa Valley Register article.

The local paper did its part in providing online readers a list of how to properly get rid of their junk the correct way. By one comment that caught my eye was this one:

“…For more information, check out the recycling guide in the Yellow Pages of the AT&T phone book or call 257-9292…”.

Yes, those supposedly tree killing, non-eco-friendly AT&T print Yellow Pages that many online bloggers have voiced their objection to actually have a garbage and recycling insert. This little example points to an important trend that print publishers can follow in the growing green/environmental war – the print Yellow Pages being a reference source that doesn’t require a broadband connection, or a pc to access for important, relevant information on how to be more eco-freidnly in detail.

More and more I am seeing websites that provide environmental tips including comments like this one:

Recycling Fact Sheet: Create a local recycling fact sheet for yourself and interested neighbors. The local Yellow Pages, Internet Consumer Recycling Guide and Recycling Resources are great resources.

(Source: http://www.globalstewards.org/ecotips.htm)

The easiest predication you can make for 2008 for Yellow Page print publishers is that every directory will have green/eco-tips in them. And what a great branding, marketing, and public relations opportunity!!! What other source will be readily available in over 90+% of all homes year round?? The print Yellow Pages, of course.