Is it now time to knell the death of the yellow pages?

I like the books very much, it's simple to find what I need. The online directories are no where near as helpful. They often list national chains first, even though the chain isn't anywhere near the city I'm looking in. The chain listings can go on for a few pages. There are many more errors in the online listings. They don't include the details on the services provided that I see in the yellow pages, they don't refer me to other categories, and I frequently find they don't update. The paper directory checks every year to make sure the client is still in business with the same number and location. Flat out, the paper directory is better.

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I have been bemoaning the existence of that door stop for years, and not only for the waste of paper, but for thier annoying business promotions in the mail.The ones that arrive as a bill, as if you ordered the service, the annoying phone calls to business owners that interupt an otherwise wonderfull day. Some future diggers will find these dinosaur bones and marvel at the yellow tint and flattened anatomy, and wonder how it ever survived in the first place.

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Ashley/Jenny> you wouldn't, by chance, happen to work for yellowbook? Those are some pretty familiar talking points.

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Michael,
Why would you ask if Jenny works at yellow pages and not have us presume that you and Patch work for yelp or yellowpages.com or one of the myriad other online directories which don't have a print directory to publish? Even the supercilious tone of the the author belies a subtle animosity toward the yellow page directories. We had high winds and severe power outages late last summer. How do you think people contacted the businesses they needed at that time?
Someday we'll all be wearing some kind of directory on a watch fob, but today, with only 50% of the nation's homes having a computer, and an even smaller fraction of those with reliable, high speed internet connections, the yellowpages isn't going away for quite some time. I wouldn't recommend that anyone rely on it as their only source of promotion, but the advertisers who maintain a presence there will capture more business than those who do not, much more cheaply, too I might add.

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A long, long time ago...
I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they�d be happy for a while.

But february made me shiver
With every paper I�d deliver.
Bad news on the doorstep;
I couldn�t take one more step.

I can�t remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride,
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music died.

So bye-bye, miss american pie.
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
And them good old boys were drinkin� whiskey and rye
Singin�, "this�ll be the day that I die.
"this�ll be the day that I die."

Did you write the book of love,
And do you have faith in God above,
If the Bible tells you so?
Do you believe in rock �n roll,
Can music save your mortal soul,
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?

Well, I know that you�re in love with him
`cause I saw you dancin� in the gym.
You both kicked off your shoes.
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues.

I was a lonely teenage broncin� buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck,
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the music died.

I started singin�,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin� whiskey and rye
And singin�, "this�ll be the day that I die.
"this�ll be the day that I die."

Now for ten years we�ve been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rollin� stone,
But that�s not how it used to be.
When the jester sang for the king and queen,
In a coat he borrowed from james dean
And a voice that came from you and me,

Oh, and while the king was looking down,
The jester stole his thorny crown.
The courtroom was adjourned;
No verdict was returned.
And while lennon read a book of marx,
The quartet practiced in the park,
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died.

We were singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin� whiskey and rye
And singin�, "this�ll be the day that I die.
"this�ll be the day that I die."

Helter skelter in a summer swelter.
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter,
Eight miles high and falling fast.
It landed foul on the grass.
The players tried for a forward pass,
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast.

Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
While the sergeants played a marching tune.
We all got up to dance,
Oh, but we never got the chance!
`cause the players tried to take the field;
The marching band refused to yield.
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?

We started singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin� whiskey and rye
And singin�, "this�ll be the day that I die.
"this�ll be the day that I die."

Oh, and there we were all in one place,
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again.
So come on: jack be nimble, jack be quick!
Jack flash sat on a candlestick
Cause fire is the devil�s only friend.

Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage.
No angel born in hell
Could break that satan�s spell.
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite,
I saw satan laughing with delight
The day the music died

He was singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin� whiskey and rye
And singin�, "this�ll be the day that I die.
"this�ll be the day that I die."

I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news,
But she just smiled and turned away.
I went down to the sacred store
Where I�d heard the music years before,
But the man there said the music wouldn�t play.

And in the streets: the children screamed,
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed.
But not a word was spoken;
The church bells all were broken.
And the three men I admire most:
The father, son, and the holy ghost,
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died.

And they were singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
And them good old boys were drinkin� whiskey and rye
Singin�, "this�ll be the day that I die.
"this�ll be the day that I die."

They were singing,
"bye-bye, miss american pie."
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
Them good old boys were drinkin� whiskey and rye
Singin�, "this�ll be the day that I die."

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I think Tracy's overall articles are a fairly accurate assessment of the trend: usage of print yellow pages is declining. As for online yellow pages, a number of those have been seeing growth or continued significant usage.

Tracy does state one inaccuracy when saying, "When it became clear that the Internet was capturing some of thei former users, the publishers of the directories started creating online yellow pages."

No, no! I worked for one of the top major online yellow pages, Superpages.com, beginning in about 1997, and I can say with certainty that a number of these sites were founded well before anyone in the YP industry considered the Internet to be a competitive threat. They started online efforts up speculatively as a new and potentially valuable distribution option that later became increasingly a necessity for continued competitiveness and growth. You don't have to believe me -- just go to the Wayback Machine which archives much of the past internet and you can see that these online yellow pages were doing business well before the print yellow pages industry had any sorts of decline in usage or profits.

While I like my old yellow pages company, I'm also a member of the user demographic that no longer uses print YP directories. But, back when we started up doing business directories on the internet, I don't think any of us ever thought that it would eventually eclipse the offline print directories. Back then, I couldn't imagine throwing away my yellow pages books. These days, I never open them in a year.

Of course, back at the beginning most of us were on dial-up, and thumbing through a printed book was faster than trying to search for info on the Internet. These days, the opposite is really true.

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Here, here Tracey. Wasnt it Darwin that said it is not just the strongest and fittest that survive, but those able to adapt. Did anyone get the blanket letter from the YPA that was attempting to rally support for YP against the WSJ article???

Its SO ridiculous that I could almost not believe that they wrote it AND sent it out.

Here's one actual quote from the YPA letter:

"Key Take-Aways: We must never lose sight of the fact that most reporters in this space are young, fresh grads from Gen Y or the Millennial generation. In order to resonate, we must speak their language and challenge their assumptions."

Wow, is that an admission that the traditional industry execs are out of touch!!!

Definately the reaction of an industry on the ropes.

Dave[at]brownbook.net

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I worked for the L.A. premise divison (PBD / SBC / AT&T) for 12 years.

Not having read the WSJ article, I'm in agreement with them.

If you can read a quarterly earnings statement for AT&T, RHD, IAR, et al, you don't need to listen to employees, YP advertisers, or YPPA.

A 6% decline is a VERY conservative & kind. I personally know the advertising losses that sales reps are taking when trying to renew their accounts.

In fact, some of the current yellow page "book objectives" are negative!!!

I would bet "the farm" the YP print & electronic industry will be closer to double-digit losses.

But for the grace of God (err, Ed Whitacre / Randall Stephenson) AT&T Advertising & Publishing employees ought to be counting their blessings that they were never spun off like Idearc. They would have suffered the same fate as Idearc.

However, let's not end on a bummer note...

The future is Permission Based Marketing (in my humble opinion - thanks Seth Godin).

Stay alert & be strong!

Jack Bauer
CTU-Los Angeles

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