December 18, 2007
New Phonebook's Here! The New Phonebook's Here!
How high is the pile of unwanted 2008 telephone books in front of your building? This high?
When was the last time you used a phone book? Well hold onto your hats, because the new telephone books are here. Now maybe these collections of non-copyrightable information had their use at some time, but what about these days?
Printed phone directories had their place alongside computers back when Sting would show off his dot matrix printer and the Apple Lisa (or whatever) that he used to make music. But now, computers and cell phones have supplanted the good old phone book. Ergo, Do Not Want! Also, the automated phone call that "confirms our receipt" of the "real" phone book? Can you guess? Also, Do Not Want! Sorry.
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Actually phone books still have some use. Especially the larger ads have a considerable amount of information that is a heck of a lot more readable than a search engine listing.
Example #1: Locksmith. Need someone open 24 hours a day? Many ads prominently mention this fact.
Example #2: Map to B&M store. Basically, you can figure out the general location and distance within seconds, without using some mapping service.
Example #3: Store hours. Yeah, you can probably find this on the store's website somewhere, perhaps after a couple of clicks, but in a larger phone book ad, the hours of operation are usually prominently listed.
Other misc examples: brands (GE!, Whirlpool!), payment forms (Visa, MC, Amex), "Family Owned Since 1952"!
By flipping through two or three pages of phonebook ads, you can quickly get a sense of nearby vendors, who's open, who's conveniently placed, their offerings, how long they've been in business, etc. far easier than an online search.
Online resources are often better suited for in-depth/additional research. Many phonebook ads have URLs for folks who want additional info.
Some days I actually leave my computer off. Can you imagine?
Often the ads for escort services feature pictures that look like people I work with. Which is funny.
Example # 1
http://www.google.com/search?q=san+francisco+locksmith+24+hours
Example # 2
See example # 1 with map inset
Example # 3
See example # 1 with links
How do I know if they are actually a reputable company that does good work or are a bunch of hacks with a budget for a bigger placement ad?
which would you choose?
http://www.yelp.com/biz/usa-locksmith-san-francisco
-or-
http://www.yelp.com/biz/kamand-locksmith-san-francisco
(I am not affiliated with either business - just going with the original poster's example)
These books are intrusive and a massive waste of time, resources, effort and energy. They should be sent out by request only, not littered throughout the entire city.
My experience: I arrive home and there are 6 big blue bags of books that I didn't order outside my building. I pass them by. My landlord dutifully places one of these blue bags at my door. I take it inside to see what is inside. Yellow Pages? I haven't used that since 1998 or so. So now I have these massive books piled up in my living room which I now have to re-bag and bring downstairs to the recycling bin to get rid of them.
But wait! I get a phone call last night around 8pm asking me if I received the blue bag with the phone books in them. I told the nice lady that I had in fact received them and was waiting until the recycling bins were empty so I could get rid of them.
Talk about a complete waste of everyone's time.
oy!
I like it because you have to know the naming [listing] convention they use in order to find something.
There are very specific rules they use.
For instance:
Seven-Eleven is listed before 711 but 7-11 comes after.
Sevententh comes before seventh.
Then there of course the typos or weird like in dec 06 page 197 for "o&O&O&o&o&o&o&o&o&o" locksmith.
The last listing every year seem to be zyzzyva
Then of course there is the battle for first listing. Does AAA come before A&A or A-24 or A-A-A, or is the real winner "_____"
Yes, I know I have too much time on my hands.
I'm just glad I wasn't out of town when the books were left in front of my door -- I know which of my neighbors aren't around by seeing which doors still have phonebooks propped against them. Luckily no thieves know this trick.
The only good thing in the phone book: Rainbow Grocery coupons. Of course, that doesn't mean you have to take the book inside your house, just that you have to tear out page 29 in the green pages.
I don't know that phone books outside an apartment indicate that people aren't home. There are stacks of them outside my apartment, and throughout my street. A lot of people don't want them (save for Rainbow Grocery coupons on page 29)
There has got to be someway to opt out of getting the stupid phone book, no?
The reason they still print and deliver them:
There are still many people who don't want to use computers like the elderly, or people who look at the yellow page pictures because they can't read english well.
Or people who prefer paper so they can make make notes etc
AT&T makes huge profits selling advertising space in the yellow pages but that requires telling the buyers that there is a certain circulation number they guarantee.
Remember to recycle when you pitch...
shhhh. don't tell people about the rainbow coupons! i want them all for myself!
Maybe phonebooks are coming back into style as a hipster thing?
Robin, I guess I still prefer looking at all the Adds in the Yellow Pages than looking at Yelp listings with only one comment each.
Well, if you happen to live a few doors to either side of my apartment building, you may find your phone book out front no longer HAS a Rainbow coupon. :-)
So does the stack of free phonebooks outside of Safeway mean that they're on vacation too?
Oh the pile in front of my door was oh-so-much higher until a crackhead used them as a 'bed' and then proceeded to pee on them. Although I have to admit... had said crackhead not used them as a bed/toilet they would still be piling up in front of our building turning into a rainsoaked pile of pulp. Plastic bag be damned.
Which one is the real phone book now? It seems like a different company dumps a set on our doorstep every four months or so.
omg you quoted from "The Jerk". LOVE
omg you quoted from "The Jerk". LOVE
there are Rainbow coupons?? Awesome, now I have a small reward from the ten phonebooks I have to routinely take down to the recycling bin because my neighbors are too lazy/don't mind stepping over them every day.
Sorry guys but who the F goes to Rainbow? I went there once and it stunk like a mix of musty, day old Camembert and unwashed stank arm pits. Nothing sends me running for the exit like stank when I'm shopping for FOOD. To EAT.
And the worst part is that it wasn't the guys who stunk but the gals. Talk about role reversals!
You non deodorizing gals (wanna be hippie chicks with those roll on "stones") are really kidding yourselves into thinking that you do not smell bad.
You do.
(I don't care what your gay friend Tad tells you - no really. You do reek.)
Please stop.
If you cannot, please take more kittens home who do not care how you smell, just as long as you feed them. In the meantime, please stop riding MUNI and throwing those hairy, gnat infested pits into the air as a show of defiance. It's so done.
Thank you,
My Nose