Do you want the phone books that are delivered on your doorstep?

Very few folks know that you can take a simple, easy and immediate step to manage your preferences around yellow pages, white pages and other phone books.

For Qwest, you can can opt out of receiving a phone book by visiting this site.

For the yellow pages, visit this site.

A number of bills are being introduced across the country that make phone book delivery an ‘opt in’ model versus an ‘opt out’ model. This is one of those situations where people should have a right to make decisions for themselves about whether they want or need a phone book. But if the marketplace doesn’t work, we should consider acting.

Everyday we look for opportunities to make our environment better and to improve our quality of life. Sometimes legislation is necessary and sometimes it’s not.

Before we regulate this issue, the industry should take the bull by the horns and get serious about self regulating. I think these two websites show that the folks in the phone book business are doing just that. It will be interesting to watch how it works. The impact of phone books on landfills is enormous. I’m sure the companies only want their product in homes where consumers appreciate their offering, which is why they are making it easy for folks to opt out from receiving them.

Your partner in service,

Reuven.