Goodbye Phone Books!: Legislative Delivery Ordinance Passed in Albany, NY
Last week the Albany, NY, Common Council passed a law that restricts the delivery of telephone directories to homes and businesses.
Among the provisions of the ordinance is a requirement that any phone book delivered to a home must land within 10 feet of the front door and requires publishers to include an opt-out phone number on the cover or table of contents of the next edition of the directory. Once a consumer opts out, publishers cannot deliver to that address for five years.
The legislation passed unanimously.
This is a setback for the Yellow Pages industry, which had urged defeat of this ordinance and has fought successfully to defeat similar measured around the country. In fact, the YPA had persuaded the Albany council to hold off on an almost identical measure last year. A recent phone book delivery in Albany didn’t go well, with books apparently scattered on snow banks and left at abandoned buildings, which prompted Common Council members to dust off the old ordinance and try again. The Albany measure will take effect in February.
Legislative efforts aimed at imposing limits on directory distribution don’t seem to be going away, and if anything they are gaining momentum.
Albany NY is the first of many to come!
This could take the form of a single online clearninghouse that all Yellow page publishers participate in where consumers can go and chose which directories they wish to receive and which they do not. The YPA already has a web page where phone book directory delivery opt-out options are compiled, and it’s worth noting that most publishers will honor opt out
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Great, so they'll throw it at your front door just like the paperboy. Remember how the paper sounds hitting the front door? Now think of a phonebook. How about when it hits a window? Who pays for the damages, just look someone up in the yellow pages for window repair?
How many phone books do we need? Yesterday I stopped at my mailbox at the end of the driveway and it was stuffed with an enormous Yellow Book directory. As I pulled it out, all the rest of my mail fell into the snow bank. Fumbling in the dark, with cars passing closer than I would like, I retrieved the snow-covered mail. Since I already have more phone books than I can use, this one went directly, unopened, into the recycle bin. With some apologies to all of the advertisers that were spending their hard-earned money to invite me to your business, enough is enough! Why can’t consumers have a say in how many or which directory we receive? I have also found these books thrown at the end of the driveway that get rain-soaked or are uncovered in the spring after the plowed piles of snow melt. I suggest taking a different approach. Accompanying this behemoth of a yellow directory was a small postal permit post card. The phone book companies could send out a card to the public in advance that would offer the option to request or refuse delivery of a directory. It would cut their costs for printing and delivery and certainly be a much greener approach. Or perhaps use this same postal permit card, but make it a two-part card that is delivered in advance. If the owner of the mailbox wants to receive the phone book, mark the second part of the card with “yes” or “no thanks” and place it back in the mailbox. If the consumer does not return the card, assume he or she wants the directory and the postal service can deliver it. The phone book company would then assume the responsibility of collecting any rejected books at the end of an agreed-upon time period and properly recycle them.
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