Should White And Yellow Pages Be Banned?
By George Osaghae
San Francisco is joining Seattle and other cities intent on reducing unwanted Yellow Pages by taking the bold step of banning their delivery unless requested by consumers. In October, Seattle passed an ordinance allowing people to place themselves on an opt-out list for receiving the Yellow Pages, similar to the “no call” lists telemarketers must respect. City Councilman Mike O’Brien, who proposed the measure, said it cost the city about $350,000 a year to dispose of unwanted books. But this move has been opposed by small business owners, labour union, and industry and consumer groups. Now how will this affect Yellow Pages worldwide in particular and Australia in general?
In Australia, Sensis distributes millions of printed Yellow Pages directories to homes and businesses each year. Telstra-owned Yellow Pages and Sensis will cut 120 employees over the next three months, as it refocuses on digital growth. And this will affect staff from Melbourne and Sydney. It has to be emphasised that over a million people in Australia without internet access uses Yellow Pages print directories to look for local businesses will be disadvantaged if there is a ban, and that will amount to fundamental human right of choice and welfare. “Sensis’ long-term growth strategy is evolving to align with the way Australian businesses are now promoting their products and services, and the way consumers are searching for local business information,” said General Manager Corporate Affairs manager Prue Deniz.
“As Sensis continues to evolve our strategic direction to meet these changing dynamics, fuelled by the explosion in digital marketing channels and devices, unfortunately there will be certain roles across the organisation that will no longer be required,” she said. And it is worth noting that Sensis are taking the lead when it comes to national recycling scheme and the Australian Government’s Carbon Neutral Program and also the opt-out. But unfortunately, more than 80% of their Yellow pages print directories goes back into the recycle bin within 90days of delivery. This is simply because a lot of businesses today have embraced the digital age and Sensis have moved with the time having an Online Directory. Personally, I think the days of yellow pages print directories in this country are numbered simply because most business today are moving towards affordable Local Business Directory which are robust for medium and large scale business because they provide a mini websites for business to write information about their businesses, contact details email and web addresses and a geo-locator of their businesses. Do you think the days of Yellow Pages print directories are over?
Sources:
Theage.com.au – Sensis to cut 120 staff.
Usatoday.com – San Francisco lead the ban on yellow pages.
Sensis Data
Yeah you right George, i think they are already addressing the print problem. This is becoming more of a nuisance and littering and thereby defeating the purpose it is meant to serve. I am an office cleaner and i know what you are talking about.
Yes i agree 90% of my business leads are found online yellow pages is a waste of money, most of my customers haven’t even taken the yellow pages out of the packaging when its been left on their doorstep, and they are very expensive , i wont be re advertising with yellow pages Google is the way ahead.