Endangered Species: The AT&T Printed White Pages Directory

A plan approved this week by the Kentucky Public Service Commission will allow AT&T Kentucky to cease universal distribution of White Pages telephone directories in the Louisville area saving the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in printing and distribution costs it does not plan to pass along to customers.

Customers in Jefferson and Oldham counties will receive directories only if they request them from AT&T Kentucky. Customers in the other 75 counties served by AT&T Kentucky will, for now, continue to receive printed directories that combine White Pages with Yellow Pages.

“They will be publicizing that and how to do that to all the customers. It’s not just people who receive their phone service from AT&T Kentucky, but those who get it for example from the local cable company, because they’ve been getting the AT&T Kentucky White Pages as well,” PSC spokesperson Andrew Melnykovich told WFPL Public Radio in Louisville.

AT&T Kentucky will make the contents of the directory available on the Internet (at RealPagesLive), while existing and new customers who request a printed directory will receive one at no charge.  Yellow Pages, which contain business listings, will continue to be dropped on the doorstep of every Louisville customer.

AT&T Kentucky is the second phone company in Kentucky to move away from printed White Pages.  Last April, Cincinnati Bell, which serves northern Kentucky, dropped universal distribution of its White Pages.

AT&T says the printed directories are less valuable to customers who often turn to the web to look up telephone listings.  They also believe the move away from printed directories will protect the environment and provide significant savings to the company.  AT&T has been getting permission to stop printing White Pages in several states where it provides service.

Unfortunately for customers, none of that savings will appear on your AT&T bill.  The company does not plan any rate decrease to share the savings with ratepayers.

The PSC has told AT&T to collect and report customer complaints about the discontinued printed directories, as well as how many residents request them from AT&T,  and forward the details to the agency for review.