![]() ![]() Although they list all businesses in a given area in small type, a subset of businesses pay for ads or for larger type.Īnd even though phonebook ad revenues are shrinking - and shifting to digital directories - a handful of companies (mainly Dex Media, AT&T, Hibu, and Verizon) still make a healthy profit off yellow pages distributed in the US. The yellow pages are an advertisement disguised as a directory. Stacks of unopened phonebooks sit outside. However, critics say that it's not reliable - and that if you opt out, there's a pretty good chance you'll get a phonebook anyway. Now, if you don't use the phonebook, manufacturers have created a system that lets you opt out online. Meanwhile, many states legally require phone companies to deliver the white pages as a public service, though these laws are gradually disappearing over time. So why are phonebooks still regularly delivered to most American households every year? Mainly because companies have fought regulations to phase out the yellow pages out of self-interest - they're packed full of ads, and make these companies money. But for most people, they've become useless - and simply recycling or throwing away the 650,000 tons of phonebooks distributed nationally each year costs municipalities somewhere between $45 and $62 million. Phonebooks were once extremely useful: before the internet, they were the main way we had of looking up phone numbers and addresses of local businesses or acquaintances. You might have also gotten the white pages (listing residential addresses), either as a separate volume or combined as one book.Īnd if you're like 70 percent of Americans, you probably won't even open the phonebook once before the next year's batch arrives.Īround 70 percent of americans don't use phonebooks These days you may find more people missing from these once-useful white pages because fewer people pay for landline service.Last month, you probably got a fat new yellow pages phonebook (listing all the businesses in your area) delivered to your doorstep. And the person must not have paid to be unlisted. Mobile services aren’t as willing to sell such customer data. The person must have landline telephone service with one of the major providers (CenturyLink or Verizon, for example). Read deeper into how your phone number gets into Dexpages from this earlier Tech+ Q&A: The most accurate way to find a person’s phone number and home address? The phone book.Īt Dexpages, you can search for people nationwide by ZIP code to pull up the actual printed white page. I wrote about Dexpages before because CenturyLink, Denver’s major telephone service, also provides its customer data to them. Verizon’s white pages - at /whitepages - take me to, a massive resource of phone numbers. And by searching for “Verizon 411 directory,” that brings us to information about Verizon’s white pages, which - to all the younger folks out there - was the best way to look up residential phone numbers last century. In Maryland’s Harford County, Verizon is the local telephone service provider, according to the county’s official page. If typing in that person’s name and city doesn’t pull up the person, there are more strategic ways to find a number. Of course, hunting for a person’s phone number is a bit challenging online with the wealth of information out there. While you could try dialing 411, which still provides directory assistance for a fee, the old way of life is not coming back. Force yourself to explore the internet, use Google or Bing to search and even consider voice-activated options like Amazon’s Alexa. ![]() Q: How do I get a telephone number for a family member? I live in another county that does not list Harford County, Md., telephone numbers and my address book was lost in the move, so I am having real problems since I cannot contact my sons and other family members and friends. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu ![]()
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