Plenty of places are not distributing "white pages" any more, including my location. The real gain will come when the foolish advertisers finally realize that nobody uses the "yellow pages" either, and stop paying to have ads inserted in there so we can stop getting that too.

AuntofDogface: I waste more time trying to find a number online that I would if I looked it up in the phonebook. I have to scroll through the entities that pay the website before I even begin to see the info I specifically looked for. It's a pain in the ass.

You can pry the phonebook out of my cold dead hands.

Really? I usually just pull up the place I'm trying to find on Google Maps for my phone and the click on the link to dial. The YellowPages app on my cell phone is also pretty handy for quickly finding phone numbers and calling them.

LiquidTester: KarmicDisaster: The real gain will come when the foolish advertisers finally realize that nobody uses the "yellow pages" either, and stop paying to have ads inserted in there so we can stop getting that too.

Will this stop people naming their business starting with 6 A's so they can be at the top of the list?

Maybe ;) All I know is that when I need, say... Escort services, and I need them now, I don't look in the Yellow pages, I look on line.

LeinadO: Worked for Yellow Pages in Toronto for 13 years 23 years ago so I'm getting a kick outa this thread.

Is there still a Yellow Pages??



Yes.

Kyosuke: They are going the way of the Sears catalog.

Pages glued together by the semen of young teenaged men?

There's only one good use for a paper phonebook - test cutting!

Cold Steel Grosse Messer (new window)

skip to 1:00, and ignore the fact that the guys doing the cutting seem to have mistaken slow-pitch softball batting for sword training.

(really - the swords are impressive, but the techniques are awful)

I found a "Yellow Pages to the Internet" in my office when I was cleaning it up. The book came from somewhere around 1994 and it attempted to catalog the entire internet. I guess things have changed a bit since then.

AuntofDogface: I waste more time trying to find a number online that I would if I looked it up in the phonebook. I

ambercricket: THIS. The reality is that using Google for local searches really sucks.

Am I the only person here who has heard of whitepages.com? It's really not that hard.

ambercricket: AuntofDogface: I waste more time trying to find a number online that I would if I looked it up in the phonebook. I have to scroll through the entities that pay the website before I even begin to see the info I specifically looked for. It's a pain in the ass.

You can pry the phonebook out of my cold dead hands.

THIS. The reality is that using Google for local searches really sucks. You still get nearly useless results that are polluted with unrelated links and sites far outside the geographic area you are searching within.

That's why I usually look for a local business phone number via Google Maps, especially if I'm trying to find the phone number of the nearest Papa John's when I'm traveling, or trying to find the nearest Starbucks's or Peet's phone number when I'm calling ahead to order a box of coffee for my business meetings. It's especially useful on the mobile version because it just gets your GPS info and gives you results based off of that. It's rare that it take me more than a few seconds to find exactly the business I'm looking for.

Fish in a Barrel: I'm really surprised so many people have trouble with Google and local searches. Every time I use it, the top of the results page is a mini-map of the store location with their contact info to the right. It's always worked for me with zero hassle. Much better than leafing through some giant farking tome trying to figure out exactly how they classified the store I'm looking for.

I hate trying to figure out the Yellow Pages classification system. Is the adult toy store located in the adult services section, or the toy stores section? Are the local strip clubs in the section with the dance studios? It's just so much work.

Litig8r: AuntofDogface: I waste more time trying to find a number online that I would if I looked it up in the phonebook. I have to scroll through the entities that pay the website before I even begin to see the info I specifically looked for. It's a pain in the ass.

You can pry the phonebook out of my cold dead hands.

Indeed.

It's a hell of a lot easier to just open the damned phonebook than it is to walk upstairs, boot the computer, and screw around going to yellowpages.com or just googling it and sorting through the output mess.

THIS. I always keep a couple of the phone books that show up. One in the office, one in the car. Much easier and faster than dealing with the internet.

mr_a: Litig8r: AuntofDogface: I waste more time trying to find a number online that I would if I looked it up in the phonebook. I have to scroll through the entities that pay the website before I even begin to see the info I specifically looked for. It's a pain in the ass.

You can pry the phonebook out of my cold dead hands.

Indeed.

It's a hell of a lot easier to just open the damned phonebook than it is to walk upstairs, boot the computer, and screw around going to yellowpages.com or just googling it and sorting through the output mess.

THIS. I always keep a couple of the phone books that show up. One in the office, one in the car. Much easier and faster than dealing with the internet.

This sounds like a reason for you guys to get smart phones, not a reason to keep printing and distributing an obsolete document.

BlorfMaster: I dont even own a phone, but every month it seems like i find a few more of these on my doorstep. And I feel bad about tossing them away, cuz, dead trees and stuff.

You don't own a phone? Are you a Shaker?