No More Junk Mail? (and when's the last time YOU used a phonebook?)

I had never heard of the Red Dot Campaign until just recently, and we've decided to try it. Apparently only two percent of Canadians take advantage of a little-known Canada Post policy that allows people to stop unaddressed junk mail arriving in their mailbox or dropping through their mail slot.

I am highly skeptical about how much this will help our (currently ridiculously huge) volume of print junk mail. What about all those not associated with Canada Post, paid to stuff advertisements in people's mailboxes?



Anyway, today's our first day trying this...I'll report back to let you know if the Red Dot sign makes any difference in our print junk mail volume.

I've already registered our home number and my cell phone on Canada's Do Not Call Registry and added my info to IOptOut.ca (the latter's website looked when I checked it just now; hopefully the problems are temporary).

I was also intrigued by all the info on the Red Dot Campaign site about related services. It never crossed my mind that you could opt out of getting paper phone books delivered, for example. So then I got thinking...do we really NEED a paper phone book? I always use the Internet to look up info.

So here's a survey question:

When's the last time YOU used a print phonebook?

Comments

[Technoshaman]

I find that paper phone books are good for two things:

1) Finding the number of the power company when the power goes out (often leaving one phone service or the other available)...

2) "Fuzzy" browsing, where you don't know exactly what it is you want or where you might want it.

These days they also include more than just numbers; they've often got maps, seating charts for local venues, general information on both government and entertainment, etc. etc.

Can't honestly remember last I used one to actually find something, but I do like to have'm around.

[Lissa]

Phil used a print phonebook last week to look up other dentists in our area who take NHS patients, and I have used it in the last few years to look things up though I can't currently recall what. Things where I want someone local to do something for me, mainly - it can be hard to make the online resources actually turn back only contacts in Gravesend, and not decide that ones on the far side of London would be equally convenient for us (or more often ones on the other side of the Thames, because they are only a coule of miles from us geographically, even if much further by road give then shortage of bridges).

I'd happily do without ones with domestic phone numbers in however, since those I do look up online on the rare occasion I need one I don't already know.

[Rebecca]

I used the paper phone book a couple of weeks ago, because I was downstairs and it was closer than my computer. I also have a small specifically designed for going in cars yellow pages in my car. It doesn't come up that often, but when it does, it's really useful.

[Laura]

I used a phone book just in the last month or so - to hold a food bowl up for our then-ailing, now-passed-away cat, w ho was blind and who had problems eating with her head down.

To look up a number? It's been forever. The last time I used it was to look up the power and phone companies' numbers...so I could store them in my cell in case service went out. Because when the power's out after dark, flashlighting your way downstairs to the paper book to look it up is not convenient.

I do tend to keep the book around "just in case" but I don't use it much. It would probably be just as easy to keep a sheet with critical numbers on it and update it every six months, and a lot less paper.

[Allison]

About the only time I use a paper phone book these days is when we're ordering take-out food and I've lost their flyer :). I don't mind having a paper phonebook around in case I need it, though.

[Marion]

Last time I used a print phonebook? About three hours ago, actually! I was trying to see if there were any large pet superstores anywhere nearby (answer: probably not). I either have to boot up the desktop PC, or hope that I can get the pirate wifi to co-operate on the laptop to look things up electronically, so I do use the various print phone books fairly frequently.

I've registered with the Telephone Preference Service here in the UK to cut down on the number of junk phone calls, and it's worked fairly well. I still get the occasional one, but as soon as they say "I'm calling from XYZ Double Glazing/Kitchens/Insurance..." I simply say "Telephone Preference Service!" and put the phone down. I don't get a lot of junk paper mail - a lot of it is leaflets from pizza places and so on, and they just go into the recycling!

[Peter]

I know I looked up either my dentist or my doctor's office a few of weeks ago call them about something when I couldn't find any paper with their number.

I use it a few times a year to look up a business--either a specific one or a class of business.

I find coverage of local businesses on the web to be spotty enough that it might take a few hits to sites that are painfully slow on dialup to find their contact information. The phone book is faster.

[Bill Roper]

I'd have to turn the computer on to look up a phone number. If I'm pretty sure the number's in our local book, I'll pick that up instead. And did within the last couple of weeks.

[Cat Faber]

I use the paper phone book pretty much every time I look up a local phone number. I live in rural Tennessee; if there's a web-database for phone numbers out here, I sure don't know it.

I last used it Friday, to look up local places to replace a tire.

[Erica]

When moving to a new town, phone books are fantastic resources. After that...maybe not so much.

[Nicole]

I don't use them at school (we have an online phonebook thing) but at home I use them frequently...calling people about babysitting, calling stores about positions, etc. Probably the last time I used one was this summer.

[Pseudo seed cards and painting]

[...] maybe it was a fluke. We’ll see what happens today. Also, thanks to everyone who answered my phone book survey! I’ll wait another day or two and then post a [...]

[Chris C]

I don't remember the last time I used a paper phone book to look up a number. Years, certainly. For businesses I use http://yell.com extensively, for people I occasionally use the online directory (but more often call directory enquiries if I don't already have the number, because I'm nowhere near either a phone book or a computer).

I'm on the UK's TPS, but it seems to be getting less useful, in the last few months I've had several calls per week from people trying to sell something or offering a 'free' holiday or whatever, mostly from automated diallers (I hit '0' or '1' repeatedly until I get an operator, and then either tell them to connect me to as manager so that I can complain or occasionally just to F*** OFF and get off the line, depending how annoyed I am and whether I'm waiting for an incoming call -- in the UK the recipient hanging up generally does not terminaste a call on landlines).

[Anthony James Barnett - author]

You want to try using phone books in Spain. They're the most illogical creatures on earth.

You have to know where a person lives before you can look up their number. If you're a village wrong, you won't find them.