The Barstow Verizon Superpages

Verizon Communications today announced it was ending more than 100 years of residential telephone directory distribution, instead directing callers to online listings services or a CD-ROM, available free for California customers.  The White Pages will still be available upon request in print form, but the company expects many Californians will skip the request, keeping an estimated 1,900 tons of paper per year out of the California waste stream.

But if Verizon’s intent was to avoid excessive paper use, the effort comes up short.  The company will still automatically distribute the much larger, and much more lucrative Yellow Pages on every customer doorstep whether they ask for it or not.

Verizon asked the state Public Utility Commission to stop automatic distribution of the White Pages last October.  The PUC granted the request on June 9.  The last automatically delivered edition of residential listings will be the 2011-2012 Barstow Regional and High Desert Verizon Superpages in November.

Despite the discontinuation of the automatic delivery, customers will be able to order free residential print and CD-ROM versions of white pages directories by calling 1-800-888-8448 as each local yellow pages directory begins delivery.  In addition, all white pages listings are accessible at www.verizon.com/whitepages.

Telephone customers across the country, regardless of provider, can opt-out of all telephone directory delivery by visiting a website sponsored by the Association of Directory Publishers.

Residents of Danville, Va., may have a collector’s item dropped on their driveway later this month with Verizon’s final automatically-delivered edition of the White Pages telephone directory.

Starting in August, Verizon customers in the commonwealth will need to request a printed copy of the residential listings or else they will no longer receive a copy.

Verizon says the cessation of automatic delivery of the White Pages will save at least 1,640 tons of newsprint annually.

But before environmentalists celebrate the preservation of trees, Verizon will continue to print and drop the much-larger (and more profitable) Yellow Pages on driveways from Jonesville to Virginia Beach.

Customers will be able to order free residential print and CD-ROM versions of white pages directories by calling 1-800-888-8448 as each local yellow pages directory begins delivery.  In addition, all white pages listings are accessible at www.verizon.com/whitepages.

Despite reduced expenses for Verizon, no savings will be passed on to customers in the form of lower bills.

Verizon customers in Virginia are saying goodbye to automatic delivery of the printed edition of the White Pages after the State Corporation Commission gave the okay to end decades of directory deliveries on doorsteps across the state.

The gradual end of automatic telephone directory delivery has been ongoing throughout the United States as customers increasingly look online for telephone listings.  The directory also isn’t what it used to be as Americans increasingly turn off landlines and turn on cell phones, which go unlisted by default.

Verizon says the printed phone book wastes energy, trees, and money when customers immediately discard them in the nearest recycling bin.  But the company does plan to continue offering free printed copies on request.

While residential directories gradually disappear, the Yellow Pages, filled with business listings, will continue to grace doorsteps for years to come.  They represent an enormous moneymaker for phone companies and directory publishers, so opting out of the bulkier business pages is going to require more effort.

Unfortunately for consumers, while telephone companies realize significant savings not having to print and distribute the phone books, they have no plans to pass those savings on to you in the form of reduced rates.

[flv width=”480″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WTVR Richmond Goodbye White Pages 5-6-11.mp4[/flv]

WTVR-TV has some fun with the imminent demise of Verizon’s Richmond White Pages.  (2 minutes)