This morning, I found something that pissed me off. I found something that I noticed through out the last few weeks that has slowly littered the door steps of Businesses and people’s homes through out Toronto. It’s that yellow book from the Yellow Pages thats littering people’s door steps again. And again, I am asking why this company still does this!
I mean come on! If you want to find a business or service in the Yellow Pages, you actually have to open the big heavy book, find the category that your looking for in alphabetic order, flip back and forth of the pages tell you actually find the category, and then find the phone number or address of the business your trying to look for. Why do all that when we live in the year 2012 when we have things like the Internet and Google to find things much faster than any physical directory such as the Yellow Pages?
A simple Google search will get you information you need right? Anything you could possibly want to find is pretty much available on the internet! Searching for a local businesses around your area is even better if you use your smartphone. You can use something like a Google maps application with your GPS on. Search for something like pizza or banks and automatically, Google spits back results within your local area. The Yellow pages can’t do that. Pretty much makes it old, inefficient and obsolete. Yet here they are again dropping a book on my door step every year!
So what do I do with these books? Well I just throw them into the recycling bin. I Don’t have any use for these. Everyone I know feels the same way. I often see recycling bins filled with these books a few days after there delivered to the people. I expect to see this anytime now. The Yellow pages manages to deliver these books to 23 million Canadians each year. Thats a pretty good percentage of the Canadian population who gets these books. It is interesting to know how manny actually use them. But 23 million books, thats a lot of trees to kill!
I know that some people (mostly seniors) still use these books since they don’t know how, or want to know how to use the internet. If they feel the need to use them still, then sure I guess they can still get them. But if anything, the Yellow Pages should start a opt-in system where you actually have to call them if you want the books instead of opt-out.
But that brings up another thing about these guys. Last year I called them to request they stop sending me there stupid yellow books! Yet here I am this morning only to find my door step with the newest issue of the Yellow Pages.\Please Yellow Pages, stop sending me your stupid book! What will it take for you guys to stop sending me your stupid books?
The Yellow Pages is becoming an increasing irrelevant company. If all they focus on is selling ads on a directory book expecting people to use the yellow pages to find or discover new businesses within there local community, then it must be the executives of the Yellow Pages who must be old men in suits who never grew up with the internet nor understand what it is.
It seems local businesses are beginning to catch on. They see that posting an ad or listing on the yellow pages is becoming less, and less valuable. Why pay money for your add or listing to appear on the Yellow pages that fewer and fewer people are using? Businesses now feel it is more worth there time to focus on social media like Twitter, Foursquare, or Yelp to build and maintain a strong loyal customer base. I say this because I remember the Yellow Pages much thicker in previous years that the issue for this year. The city has only gotten bigger since then.
Instead of Yellow pages focusing on the distribution of directory books every year, they should instead focus on perhaps building a name for themselves on the internet. Build a search engine or some kind of directory online. Better yet, provide data for all the major mobile players like Apple, Google and Microsoft so they can integrate the data with there own location services.
If Yellow Pages goes on with what they are doing now, I would rather see the company die and it would be a company I would not miss.
I made this video last year. It seems All I said back then still applies to today… Sadly.
