Today, NY1's Pat Kiernan excitedly recalls the first time seeing his name printed in the phone book... but that was then. Now, he asks, "Why is the phone company still delivering so many phone books to my apartment building?" In the age of Google, it's unlikely anyone uses these anymore — in fact, only two were taken from the giant stack in his lobby.
So why so many phone books, phone companies? Kiernan notes that "Due to a pre-Internet law intended to reduce the number of 411 calls, some states require phone companies to get a copy of the white pages to every customer. Nowadays there’s a growing momentum against the phone book. Alaska and New York are among the states moving toward mandatory opt-in programs for phone book delivery."
On top of being a waste of money (allegedly taxpayers are spending $17 million each year to have them recycled), this group points out that "up to 5 million trees are cut down each year to create the white pages phone book." When's the last time you picked up a phone book?
