Archive for the ‘Phone Books’ Category

Phone book debate

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Should the delivery of phone books to your home or business be managed through an opt-in or opt-out process?  That is the core of the debate that is brewing across the country right now. The opt-in program means that you have to ask for the phone book – that is the basis of the Colorado bill that was introduced last week.  The Denver Daily reports on the issue.

Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, introduced a bill last week that would prohibit a basic telephone service provider from delivering a white page directory or other paper document in excess of one pound unless the customer requests the delivery. A telephone service provider in violation of the proposed law would have to pay a $50 fine per delivery for the first 100 recipients and $1,000 per recipient for subsequent deliveries. Fines would be capped at $100,000 per year.  Read the whole article here.

The Industry trade association, Yellow Pages Association and phone book publishers like Dex, Super Media and Yellow Book want the process to be opt-out.  That is, you are going to get the phone book unless you opt-out.  Quest Communications points to the Dex Select program that let’s you choose how many of the various Dex phone books they will deliver to your home as an example of self regulation.

For their part, Peter Larmey of Dex, the publishing company for Qwest Communications, said he thinks that most customers and lawmakers will not think a bill like Ferrandino’s is necessary because of the phone company’s new Select Your Dex program that was recently unveiled in Colorado. The program was one of the first by phone book providers to allow people to choose how many and what kind of phone book they want.

I decided to take a look at what it takes to stop the phone books to my test address in Boulder, Co.

Here are the results.  First I had to figure out that Dexknows.com is the publisher for my local phone book.  Once I found their site, I had to find the opt-out form. At first glance, I could not find it.  To find the form, you have to know that you should click Select Your Dex from the footer on the dexknows.com website.

Local Business Listings, Maps, Directions, Phone Numbers | DexKnows.com
From the footer link, I get a page that describes the Dex phone books then I click again to a page where I need to enter my zip code and then I get the following form to set my phone book order. That is four clicks to get me to the form.
Dex - Select Your Dex - Order Form
Now I get to fill out the order form.  Don’t forget to change the quantity to 0 if you want to opt-out.   I filled out the form and gave them my email address since it is a required field.  I was not sure why I was giving them my email address, so I created a special one for Dex using the handy Gmail suffix technique.  A couple minutes later, you get a confirmation email with your order.  You will need to keep the confirmation email just in case the phone books show up.  That is one publisher down.
There is also a note that tells me that I need to go to another opt-out site if I want to stop all the phone books.  That site is Yellowpagesoptout.org, which is run by the Yellow Pages Association.  At the Association’s site, I entered my zip code and learned that there are two more publishers that I need to contact.
Yellow Pages Association | Environmental
The first one on the list, Idearc, which recently changed their name to Super Media, has a convenient opt-out form.  The other, Yellowpages, has an opt-out form, but they decided to not list the website in the Association’s directory.  They would prefer to have you call.
So, there you have it.  Opt-in to the phone book or follow the opt-out path above.   As usual, Catalog Choice will not wait for legislation.  We will provide a way for you to easily navigate the opt-out maze and stop a phone book if you want.  If opt-in laws materialize, then we’ll let you make that choice easily too.
What do you think?  Which way should it be – opt-in or opt-out?

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