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So I opened up the door today and found a phone book sitting on the doorstep. Agggghhhhhhh!!!!!!! These things frustrate me and quite honestly, I hadn't thought about them until this monring. But now, here I am, a proud new owner and about to head it down to the basement.
If you're like me, you don't use telephone books anymore as you pretty much look everything up online. Now I'm not saying that there is no use for these things as some folks are bound to remain old school in this department, and some are not online, but it should be easy to opt out of these things. Well, as i found out, it is and it isn't.
I called the phone book company and told them my dilemma and while they were happy to take my info, they couldn't promise that the books would stop coming. Interesting side note here: Why is it my problem to stop them and not theirs?
Anyhoo, I found a great online resource at the Huffington Post on how to deal with phone books. Here's the abridged version.
- Call the number on the front of the phone book (each is different usually) and tell them you want out.
- Sign this petition to make it possible to opt out of phone books altogether (this is good for the US, UK, Australia and Canada).
- Write a letter to the Yellow Pages Association and tell them what you think.
- Make sure to either use the books you do get to insulate your house, or at least recycle them when you are through.
There ya go. Good luck and let me know if you have success!
9 comments:
Dave,
Great info! Thanks.
I have also done similarly with unwanted calls.
donotcall.gov
888.382.1222
On a funny side note...when solicitors call me, I make sure to get their name and the company that they work for and repeat the information back to them for accuracy. Once they have given the thumbs up that I got it right, I ask them for their home number telling them I want to talk to them at a later time and that I will call them at home. They usually balk, then freak out. I of course remind them not to hang up or I will call the company and talk to their supervisor. They are then caught in an awkward situation. Low and behold, they never call me again. And, I am thinking that they tell their friends because I just don't get the calls I used to get. :)
Keep up the god work. I enjoy checking on your progress.
garth
Hah, that's too funny Garth.
Back when DSL was being sold at every cold call around dinner time I used to have fun with them by trying to convince them that the info was coming in too fast and that since there was so much on the web I wanted to know if they could sell me something that was slower than dial up. The smart ones would hang up right away, but the others would try to convince me that DSL was faster, not understanding what I was saying.
Great minds huh.
dave
We get 2-3 different books, depending on the year. I remember back when I was teaching, every teacher would get one in their mailboxes! Honestly, couldn't we share one as a dept, if we needed one at all? Thanks for bringing this to people's attention. As soon as I posted about it on our blog, lots of people said they were annoyed but didn't know what to do. It's nice to know word is getting around the web!
Like alot of other people out there I just don't use the phone books anymore. I used my membership with MyJunkTree to stop the phone books. Just a click of the buton and it was done, I even recieved a confirmation email letting me know I was off of the list. I signed up to Stop Junk Mail and the phone books were an added bonus.
Very cool Garetjax and thanks for the links. I'm going to check them out and see how they do.
Consume Less, Conserve More!!!!
dave
I happen to be one of the owners of MyJunkTree and as a new company I search the web to see if we are getting any visibility out there and it seems the word is getting out. Thanks for the support.
We launched the company because we were tired of all the junk mail we were receiving and we personally did not want to bounce all over the web to contact all the different companies to stop it all. First and foremost we wanted to let people choose what they wanted to let come to their home knowing that some people really do like some of the coupons and catalogs. So our clients choose what they want stopped.
We also had to provide a service that is different than the other services out there, so here is what we offer:
1. We have a database of over 1300 catalogs that you can choose to stop.
2. We have over a 2000 charities/Non-Profits that you can stop solicitations from.
3. Stop the delivery of the national phone directories.
4. Stop the delivery of the weekly coupons.
5. Stop the general credit card offers as well as the ones from your own major bank.
6. Stop the miscellaneous junk mail from the data brokers.
7. You can register on the National Do Not Call Registry from the website.
8. You can order your no strings attached free annual credit report right from the website.
9. We plant trees with every new membership.
And, yes we are a paid service and yes you can do everything that we do for free, if you want to do all the research and spend the time contacting the companies yourself it can easily be done. We have just done all of the legwork for our clients and feel there is value in the service we provide.
Awesome and congrats on your success. Thanks for checking in. When you can, can you drop me a line at the link near the top of the web page, I ahve some ideas I'd like to discuss.
Consume Less, Conserve More!!!
Dave
I got Verizon phone books dumped outside my apt. door two weeks ago, and I didn't even have Verizon phone service - they just dump them at every door. I have left them out there and today I added a sign that says "These phone books have been left here in protest. How many trees are cut down to make these? How many end up in the landfill?" Not many will see it, but some people will, AND they won't dump anymore there!
If you want to do more than just Stop Junk Mail that comes to your home, this site might also be of interest to you. Stopping Free Papers. It is a free service and they help you stop the delivery of all the free papers that are thrown in your driveway. The site is sponsored by MyJunkTree and it is totally free!
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