How many still use Yellow Pages?

I actually used my yellow pages book for the first time in the almost 3 years I’ve been in my apartment last Friday. There was a power outage (I’m in Buffalo, you might have heard about our little snowstorm) and I needed to look up the number for the NYS thruway so I could find out when they reopened the roads. I’m sure glad that phone book was still sitting there…

Yeah, I still use them. I used them a month or so ago when I was shopping for a bed. Just was easier for me.

As foreshadowing of Yellow Pages fate…TV Guide’s Canadaian operations announced:

“…the November 25, 2006 issue will be the last issue of TV Guide as a print publication. Instead, TV Guide will be produced as a Web magazine starting November 28th.”

I think it will be a very sad day when the printed word becomes obsolete

Dave: why? What is so good about killing trees and using up physical resources just to pass information around? That seems to me to be a pretty inefficient method of sharing information.

We had a new one show up at our door the other day. nearly 4 inches thick (Manhattan..) I promptly put it right into the recycle bin.

Nothing is good about killing trees etc. and I accept that it isn’t the most efficient way of sharing information, but I think there is much to be said for providing future generations with physical records – just think about how much wastage of information there will be from our generation. Sites like your own provide a wealth of views and ideas which will never be read by anyone after a couple of years. I think it’s also a bit of a shame to kill off an art that has been in development since mankind first started drawing on cave walls!

Another myopic viewpoint from a sheltered SV community. You would have a point of the books were getting smaller every year. That doesn’t seem to be the case, though.

Small businesses still do get a pretty good return by advertising in the yellow pages. That’s not going to change anytime soon.

I tossed them all a year ago (and the new ones went straight to the trash bin.) I’m still waiting for my boyfriend to notice … he didn’t want me to toss them when I brought it up.

It’s a big city bias. Move to a small town (50,000 or below), and the amount of info available on the web drops off sharply. You still need yellow pages, white pages, and the local newspaper in places like that.

What is this “Yellow Pages” you speak of?

Seriously…i am surprised no one has mentioned it yet, but i find texting googl(46645) a great way to find places while on the road.

‘Yellow Pages’ huh?
Just forgot it. Search engines + Directorie, enough for you.

I would be willing to bet that most of the comments on this page come from a younger demographic. Babyboomers still do the most spending and still use the yellow page books. The most cost effective medium of advertising for small businesses is still undisputably YP’s and will remain so for a long time to come!

I use it almost every day at least once a day.
Best local way to shop of compare stores in the area!

If by Yellow Pages you are referring to the once-a-year printing, binding and delivery of a 3-pound paper package of information. No, I have not used that in over 4 years, but I am in technology, so I have other sources of information readily available.

Show me a printed Yellow Pages that has a map of the stores I am looking for in any category. Which has user reviews and ratings. Which has that cool restaurant that just opened 2 months ago. That has menus of the restaurants. That allows me to place an order and look thru the establishment’s inventory.

Nope, printed Yellow Pages will not survive when electronic information is ubiquitous. 20 years, MAX.

When there is a free online alternative like http://TrackAny.Biz/ which shows you the map, and helps you find similar business easily, why should any one need to carry around a book?

Yellow Pages is a $15 billion industry, 95% of which comes from the print directories, This “Information Super Highway” has taken nearly 20 years to make even a small dent in revenues for these companies. Radio didn’t replace newspapers, TV didn’t replace radio, and the internet won’t replace the yellow pages. We’ll continue to grow through print & online directories and search engine marketing. Trust me, my pay check proves it.

As Jon noted back in October the search engines rely on content “powered” by the existing offline directories. Has anyone observed where strong regional players such as YellowBook stands in the online space? If Google and Yahoo and MSN command 80+% search share combined how would YellowBook or others get a foothold?

We are constantly recommending online advertising as a supplement form of advertising to our already entrenched Yellow Page advertising clients. Yellow Page advertising should be embraced as long as it works, but never as an “always and as much as you can” form of advertising. Hopefully online advertising will give some leverage to business owners forced to advertise in the often overpriced Yellow Pages medium. I must admit, we have countless clients eagerly waiting for the complete and permanent transition from Yellow Pages to some form of online advertising. I’m skeptical to say the least. Like one of the previous posters pointed out, “radio didn’t kill newspapers, TV didn’t kill radio…” and so on. But there is always the remote chance that Yellow Pages could go the way of the 8-track. time will tell. maybe even a very short time.

just been quoted £ 851-88 to put my company to a yell.com link, what a tolal rip off. this company should be investigated by the office of fair trading.
it will only exsit if people keep on feeding its profits.

I started advertising in the yellow pages 20 years ago. In the end I was in 2 books in my area, spending 15,000 per month. Now that around 30 to 50 percent of local searches are done online; you would think the advertisers would lower their prices, to reflect usage, not distribution. I wish people could opt out of receiving Yellow Pages. Then maybe they would have to change their business model. Why fill landfills and kill trees to line the pockets of these greedy litter bugs?

I FIND THIS INTERESTING AND AGREE WITH ALMOST ALL THE COMMENTS ON HERE. I AM A BUSINESS OWNER AND DO NOT APPRECIATE THE “THIS IS WHAT YOU WILL PAY” ATTITUDE THE YELLOW PAGES HAS WITH ME. I BELIEVE WE ARE GETTING OUT. HOWEVER, I BELIEVE THE PEOPLE THAT ACTUALLY READ AND COMMENT ON HERE ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE THE ONES THAT USE THE INTERENET INSTEAD OF THE PHONE BOOK. THE PEOPLE WHO STILL USE THE PHONE BOOK PROBABLY NEVER MAKE IT HERE……JUST A THOUGHT. MAYBE THATS WHY THERE IS A NEGATIVE TREND TOWARDS THE PHONE BOOK HERE…..WERE ALL INTERNET USERS.

Bob, the trend is moving towards online phone books and local search and away from print phone books. There are still people using print phone books and people paying to advertise in them but the shift is happening.

Kelsey Group analysts have predicted that the growth in print phone book advertising will only grow by 0.9 percent over the next 5 years whist online phone book and local search advertising is expected to grow by 4.9 percent annually. Have a look at their press release here http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-07-2007/0004541380&EDATE

One correction to all of your commentary: the YP print industry DOES NOT knock down any trees for their paper. When you take a round tree to mill it for lumber you get more than enough by-products which when combined with 40%+ recycled content gives them all the paper they need….