Rather than sit here and continue to blog about questioning why people are still using the white pages phone book (aka ‘WPPB’), WhitePages has decided to get involved and take action! Today we launched BanThePhoneBook.org to help significantly reduce the unsolicited, and unnecessary, printing and delivery of the white pages phone book. The goals of BanThePhoneBook.org are simple:
- Educate others about the environmental impact of printing white pages phone books
- Encourage people to sign a petition showing their support for an ‘opt-in’ program
- Support phone companies, consumers and others in their efforts to curb the unnecessary printing and delivery of WPPB.
Ultimately though, our efforts with BanThePhoneBook.org are all about making a big environmental impact.
My interest in the topic began when I first joined WhitePages and noticed that both our website users and advertisers were continually confusing us with the printed phone books that are delivered every year. As AT&T started stepping up their efforts this year to implement ‘opt-in’ delivery programs within certain States earlier in the year this whole white pages phone book thing has been top-of-mind for all of us here at WhitePages.
With that interest in mind, we’ve been busy gathering as much information as possible over the past few months. We’ve had conversations with numerous folks who’ve shown interest in curbing the printing and delivery of the WPPB, scoured hundreds of websites, talked to environmental organizations and delved into some really thorough research papers. And just recently, the WhitePages team even surveyed our own user to get their take on the WPPB issue.
So exactly what did we find during our WPPB research efforts?
The environmental impact and economic costs are mind-boggling: WhitePages estimates that 5M trees need to be harvested each year to print ~147M white pages phone books. And the costs to recycle these books each year costs taxpayers an estimated $17M. (Are you kidding? Any way you look at it these estimates, the numbers are absolutely staggering.)
State laws exist that require telephone companies to print and distribute WPPB: It’s not that the phone companies want to print these wasteful books (it’s a pretty big cost for them). They’re required by law to deliver a phone book to every landline customer! Makes a ton of sense, right?
Consumers are unaware of the environmental waste of printing the WPPB: When asked if they knew that millions of trees are cut down each year to print the WPPB each year, 74% of survey respondents answered ‘No’. And Less than 16% recycle their old books (that’s nuts).
Consumers would overwhelmingly support an ‘Opt-in’ Program: When asked if they would support an “opt-in” program (only receive a white pages phone book if you request one) if they it would have a positive impact on the environment and save taxpayers millions of dollars each year, 81% of survey respondents responded ‘Yes’.
Many different free alternatives to the WPPB exist: Whether it’s an online directory like whitepages.com, social networks, search engines or killer mobile apps like this one, there are clearly alternatives to the printed white pages phone book. And the vast majority of these alternatives are much, much, much more environmentally friendly than the WPPB. (yeah, we have a couple of self-promotional plugs, afterall we do provide free contact information for over 90 percent of US adults!)
Ultimately though, our efforts with BanThePhoneBook.org are all about making a big environmental impact. If this initiative succeeds in making people aware of the issues and impacts real, measurable change, then we’ll be nothing but smiles here in Seattle.
There’s no reason for the white pages phone book spam to continue (think doorstops, booster seats, monitor stands, etc.) only to end up in landfills. If you agree, sign the petition. If not, at least recycle them!
I’m almost afraid to ask, but if you have any comments, questions, criticisms or concerns, just post below.
Tagged as: banthephonebook, environment, online directories, phone books, research
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
If you want to slam printed books to advance your own business, hey, all’s fair in love, war, and business. But at least get your facts correct before you launch into some PR campaign that illustrates your ignorance.
I’m not sure what voodoo math you are using to calculate the the number of trees needed to produce printed phone books, but the reality is the Yellow Pages industry doesn’t knock down any trees for its paper!!! Let me repeat that – THEY DON’T NEED TO CUT DOWN ANY TREES FOR THEIR PAPER SUPPLY. Hence, eliminating every printed book from the planet will not yield a single saved tree!!!!!!!!!!!
Currently, on average, most publishers are using about 40% recycled material (from the newspapers and magazines you are recycling curbside), and the other 60% comes from wood chips and waste products of the lumber industry. If you take a round tree and make square or rectangular lumber from it, you get plenty of chips and other waste. Those by-products make up the other 60% of the raw material needed. Note that these waste products created in lumber milling would normally end up in landfills.
For more information go here: http://www.yptalk.com/archive.cfm?ID=390&CatID=3
While my lifestyle (tech adopter) supports elimination of paper white pages I know there are other people out there who’s lifestyles do not (seniors over 65, non-tech adopters). I’m very much for reducing waste in my own life as much as possible. However, if you were to make all forms of the “white pages” only available online you will cut off non-tech adopters from a resource they have long known & use. I realize that we must make changes in our lives and move forward with technology. I use all interactions I have to teach people of the value of technology and why it will bring value to their own lives. But, there are and will continue to be those who will refuse to adopt. Or, they cannot adopt due to their life situation. Maybe, they have no money to afford even a personal handset. Maybe they don’t have enough “time” as they say to adopt. Mostly, they are afraid.
Who am I talking about? Mostly, the baby boomer generation and their aging parents. But, there’s even a small group of Gen X & Gen Y folks who refuse to adopt. Why does this matter to you, whitepages.com? Because, they are users of the physical white pages. They grew up using & knowing to go to the white pages to find someone and reach out to them for help, service, friendship, etc. And now, if you take that away without giving them a reasonable alternative and education on why they should adopt this new alternative, you will leave them out in the cold. This will have impact many aspects of their lives. They will no longer know where to go to find the phone number to Joe Schmo who was their plumber. They won’t know how to find Anne Somebody from church who they know makes the best jam that they want to give their family as gifts. They won’t know where to reach cousin Earl in south Centralia, who they recall meeting as a child.
What can you do to fill this gap? Educate the aging population, through media forms they use (TV, Radio, printed newspaper) on changes to the white pages. Find ways you can offer them a terminal where they can “look up” who they need to call. What if you hosted campaigns at local libraries around the country where you could show this target market how they can use whitepages online to search for information. Maybe you could have contests where you offer a computer free? Say, a netbook? But, that still doesn’t fully address the issue of these people are AFRAID to use technology because they don’t understand it. You may be thinking, “This isn’t my problem.” But, actually it is. You have to deal with this in some way BEFORE you eliminate the physical printed form of the whitepages. You have to help your users adopt technology as much as you have to work to eliminate and reduce waste/excess causes.
Maybe you could partner with Dell or HP or Apple and work to educate this aging population and non-tech community on how technology can and will work to improve their lives.
Maybe, a softer start would be an opt-in/out. Allow those non-tech adopters to keep the form they use while you find a way to get them to adopt technology.
As you can tell, I’m quite passionate about this gap. If I can help be part of the solution, please contact me on twitter: http://twitter.com/gyldenege
John – let me first declare an interest here – I earn my living arranging the delivery of directories (among other things) in the UK. I can also see that if you conduct your own survey, that the results would be likely to support your own business model vs another (a similar exercise was tried in the UK by 192.com recently re: Phone Books).
With regard to the jobs issue, there are definite losses if delivery of any printed advertising goes “opt-in”. Our own company delivers items for advertisers, publishers, and local and central government in the UK – if (say) delivery of phone books or unaddressed mail over here was made “opt-in” any time soon then ourselves, our competitors, printers, and (probably more importantly) the individuals who earn money delivering these items would lose out significantly.
There are already “opt-out” systems in place over here which are so far working reasonably well – people who don’t want a copy of given items have simply to register with relevant bodies to stop delivery.
This is the model that works here, and one that strikes a balance between the two ends of the spectrum of opt-in vs blanket dropping of items. I would suggest that may be a better way of proceeding.
Cheers
Peter
i’m glad to hear good news from your website !!! , finally someone is hands on the phone book enviromental problem.
Consumers deserve choice. If I don’t want a phone book, it should be easy to opt-out. Moving to a full opt-in model for white pages would be even better. It is the convenient truth.
Chuck
Catalog Choice
An idea whose time has definetely come. I use the web exclusively. It’s faster, more convenient, and gets the info I need a lot faster!
I am way behind on the times. I do not have a working computer and do not have quick access to a computer with the internet. We do not have internet at work (only intra net and I am shocked I was able to get to this blog!!). I check my e-mail about once a month at my mother’s house. I work when the pulic library is open and owe a fine because THEY lost a book I refuse to pay for and therefore cannot use the computers there. Society today always ASSUMES that everyone has a computer and the internet. Even the school system and their homework assignments assume this!! Sooooo, anyway. I NEED the actual WPPB. If I need to look up a number for the local pizza joint or great aunt Sally who’s number I can never remember, then I will be out of luck if they totally ban (such and ugly word!!) the WPPB. Opting out sounds like and excellent alternative and I am all for it!! And by the way, a WPPB is never wasted in my house. Any old books are used for craft projects, reptile cages, etc. I don’t think Ihave EVER thrown an old one in the trash. there’s never one left over!
So much waste
Ken,
Thanks for your feedback. To be clear, we’re not advocating for the reduction in printing and distribution of all phone books, just the white pages phone book.
Our phone book estimates are just that; estimates. We spoke to numerous individuals and organizations and used much of what’s already been put together to come up with an estimate. I’m surprised to hear that absolutely no trees are used in the manufacturing and printing of all phone books, even if you take recycling into consideration. But I’m certainly open to any specific information or research that you might have and will check out the link above. Our next step in this campaign is to partner with other organizations and universities to get an even better understanding of the environmental impact and costs of printing the white pages phone book. At that point, we should have pretty accurate information…although my guess is that it’s tough to get ‘perfect’ info info given all of the varying factors.
Depending on what numbers you use (and there are lots of different numbers), anywhere from 10-20% of all printed phone books are white pages phone books. Since other alternatives exist for finding residential contact info (online directories, social networks, mobile phone apps, search engines) and given that the phone companies aren’t making $$ of the printing and distribution of the white pages phone books specifically (it’s all overhead cost according to AT&T), it just seems like common sense to figure out a way to reduce the need for printing these books.
Again, thanks for your comments. Happy to have a further discussion. You can find me on twitter. http://www.twitter.com/johnlusk
John
It sounds like you are dancing around the issue by saying you’re only targeting white pages. It’s like saying you want to stop grocery stores from sending their adverts in the mail, well, only Safeway, QFC is okay. You need to be in or out. My YP book ends up in the exact same bin as my WP. I’d prefer it if I didn’t get either of them.
Also, for what it’s worth, I think a less “ban”ish name would have played better.
Mark,
Thanks for your comment. We did a ton of research on both the white pages and yellow pages leading up to this campaign. At this point in time, ridding ourselves of the Yellow Pages would be an economic disaster. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry that’s very profitable for the telephone companies (and thus helps to employee tons of people) and small business all over America rely on the Yellow Pages as their best source for driving business. If the yellow pages were to suddenly disappear, small business across the country (which have always been the driving force/lifeblood of the American economy) would lose a huge revenue generator. And a loss in revenue for a small business typically equates in lost jobs as well.
Now, the white pages really don’t make much sense at all. There is no economic benefit…only costs. And in most cases, the telephone companies are forced to incur this cost because of antiquated laws that are centuries old.
At any rate, love that you’re recycling your unused white pages and yellow pages. You’d be surprised at how many people still aren’t recycling!
Thanks again for the comment.
John
Peter,
Thanks for your comments thanks for surfacing new ways of approaching the issue. When we were conducting our research, we certainly looked at the ‘opt-out’ option as well, as it seems that the YPA and other organizations on top of this issue are certainly supportive of such a system. I haven’t gone deep into the economics of all the different issues, but do know that the required printing (by law) of the white pages phone book is a cost that the telco’s bear. I also know that based on our research, most folks would prefer to not receive the white pages phone books. I don’t know if the cost-savings offset the potential lost jobs of printers, delivery folks, etc, but can’t imagine much would be lost as white pages only make up about 10-15% of total phone books.
The continued printing and distribution of Yellow Pages phone books (I’m estimating around 400M in the US) should continue to keep those jobs intact. That being said, the concern is certainly reasonable and one that will continue to be debated as the different issues are surfaced and discussed.
Thanks again for the thoughtful post.
John
Glad to see the excitement Yadi. Let’s hope we can influence real change!
Thanks for the comments Shannon! Sounds like we’re all in agreement! The reason for having an opt-in program is so that folks like yourself are still able to recetive the WPPB. We know that there are individuals out there who don’t have access to computers, mobile phones, etc and who still need access to the WWPB. That’s why we’re promoting an opt-in program.
Glad you found the blog!
John