Comments on: Hello! Yellow Pages Benefits Your Community

By: foregone

foregone — Mon, 21 Mar 2005 00:00:00 +0000

So if I don't want TV ads, I should call my town officials and tell them not to allow the cable company to force their ads on me? I don't think it is very practical, and I don't think advertisers who are subsidizing programming would be happy that only part of their audience is seeing their ads.

Yellow Pages is a profitable business, but someone has to pay to collect residential and business information. Again, YP ads are not like telemarketing or direct mail because they go to the local community only.

By: Dick Larkin

Dick Larkin — Mon, 21 Mar 2005 00:00:00 +0000

The core issue here is that Yellow Pages are lumped together with all unsolicited advertising. That's simply an unfair generalization.

However, I have no doubt that there are members of that community who would prefer not to receive the Yellow Pages because they use the internet exclusively. The township could simply make telephone directories an option that residents could "opt out".

It raises the central issue of allowing consumers the same protection against solicitation that is provided by the National Do Not Call list.

I believe that printed telephone directories provide a service that is unmatched online. However, that is simply my personal opinion and it needn't be forced upon the population as a whole. If they want out, let 'em opt out.

By: Robert K.

Robert K. — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 00:00:00 +0000

In situations like apartment buildings Yellow Pages are delivered and not picked up. Young people don't subscribe to newspapers because they don't want the papers sitting around. This kind of ordinance suggests the local govt doesn't see yellow pages as relevant or central to the life of the community as you say.