The Yellow Pages has been a ubiquitous institution for well over a century, and for most of that time, was a leader in the market for finding solutions to household problems -- categorically indexed by such needs. Whether a person needed a tree trimmer who works on Sundays, a print shop to quickly turn around a thousand business cards or a used book shop specializing in romance novels, they knew where to turn. For the majority of that time, the "Yellow Book" was also a wonderful and effective advertising channel. So the John Q's Tree Trimming Service could get more business from having a full-page, full-color ad in the appropriate category. In the last two decades or so, (likely a side effect of the break up of "Ma Bell") the Yellow Page model has been so successful that they have found competitors in the market they once owned. Yes, YP has had a good run.
That is, until the internet showed up.
Now, information gathering has become effortless, and there are now literally hundreds of options for finding information on products and services. Google searches, local Yahoo listings, Facebook business pages (and their connected advertisements), Yelp (having recently moved to Austin, this service has become a lifesaver on numerous occasions), and the list goes on and on...
So what did the Yellow Pages and their competitors do to compete with this new challenge? Why, they added a second book of course! A smaller book. (I suppose the idea being that a smaller, more portable version somehow adds value?) Even more recently, YP has added a CD Rom to the mix, so now one finds TWO dead trees and a beer coaster in a nice screen-printed plastic bag on their front porch... And the homeowner will most likely throw the two books in the recycle bin, the disc in a drawer somewhere, then get on the internet to find their local services.
However, it would seem that the Yellow Pages have finally taken the hint. They recently rolled out a new website at http://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/ where one can finally opt out of receiving the aforementioned package of two books and CD. On the site, there is also information on recycling and environmental impact. Wherever you stand on the political issue of sustainability, I think we can all agree that this organization has shown a great deal of wastefulness in its delivery system of late.
In this time of new media and focus on environmental stewardship, this is a responsible step in the right direction for an aging product. There is also a lesson to be learned in that we all must recognize the changes in the market place and adapt,or quickly become irrelevant. What do you think? Will you be opting out?
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