is there a way that we could all get together, store up several thousand of these and then leave them in the lobby at verizon or somewhere?

We need a complete cultural shift from push to pull. If I want something, I'll ask. Otherwise, bugger off!

Hey! Thats right next to my house! And right next to where they filmed part of 'Without a Paddle 2'. Don't know why that place is fenced off. It looks like a perfectly fine house to me. Just needs a little love.

Excellent question, Sarah. I think we need to ask the same question about the Boregonian's unsolicited delivery of their advertising section (or whatever it is -- I never read it).

How to stop phone books:
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/…
A boring video of what I did with the verizon phone books last year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aILOOuG3-Vw
Then candidate Amanda Fritz on phone books:
http://www.amandafritz.com/node/1145

I understand that many, many people don't use phone books anymore (including myself).

However, you should also understand that there are many, many people who do not have 24 hour access to the internet or cell phones. For them, phone books are still invaluable.

The best solution (until we are at a point where everyone really does have easy access to the internet) is to only distribute them to the people that request them.

Martin, thank you for that link to Amanda's position on the phone book issue. I found myself agreeing with most of what she said.

The most important part of the phone book are the Blue Pages. I do not think it would be in the public's best interest to cease distribution of that part of the phone book.

Could we at least just limit distributing them to people who actually are phone company customers? I haven't had a land line in years (because I spent most of the time using it waiting on hold with Qwest for one reason or another) but I still have more phone books than one person can reasonably use.

Thanks for the Fritz link, Martin. I like the idea of just distributing the 27 page blue book and only sending out the yellow pages tome on demand. I wonder if that means the city would have to pick up the tab for distribution, though.

I figure phone books will die out as people eventually stop paying to advertise in them. I feel like accident lawyers must fund 90% of the YellowPages printing costs.

Phonebooks will stop around the same time that the record companies give up suing people and the car companies start making bikes.

Here's what I did to end the phone book madness:

1) Adopt a ready-to-please pit mix puppy from the County Animal Shelter.

2) Feed and water him for a couple years until he/she's 50-80 lbs.

3) They will alert you to anything bigger than a pack of cigarettes being placed on your porch. When this happens, look onto the porch to see if the item is desired or not. If not, then proceed to step 4.

4) Toss object back towards delivery person with a friendly request to "please take this back". If they don't respond in an equally friendly measure, introduce them to your puppy from step 1.

Sarah, I think the blue pages could probably be easily distributed by the Post Office. In the same way that they shove a Voter's Pamphlet in every box, shove the Blue Pages in.

i live near that house and wonder who lives there, i never see anyone... ever.

For the Dex brand phone books, call the distributor, Idearc Media, and ask them to kindly remove the detritus they left on your porch. I make my call annually, and it disappears within a day or two. Call 503.643.8000

There are several options for opting out of phone book delivery. Granted, opt-in would be better, but at least it's a step in the right direction.

Dex and YellowBook both offer an online form where you can signup to be removed from their delivery list.
* Dex: http://selectyourdex.dexknows.com/SelectYo…
* Yellowbook http://corporate.yellowbook.com/contact-us…

You can also call the major yellow pages companies to request that you be removed from their delivery list:
* AT&T / YellowPages.com: 1-800-792-2665
* Dex / R.H. Donnelley: 1-877-243-8339
* Yellow Book: 1-800-373-3280

You might also try contacting the publishers in your area -- you can look them up at the following link:
href="http://www.ypassociation.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Environmental1&/AM/TEMPLATE.CFM?SECTION=Environmental1&TEMPLATE=/CustomSource/ZipSearch.cfm

You can find additional info at Eco Yellow Pages -- http://www.ecoyp.com/stop-delivery-of-phon…