If You Want the Printed Yellow Pages, You Have to Ask For It.

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According to this article in SFGate, the city of San Francisco is trying to pass a law that stops printed Yellow Page directories from being dropped at your door without your permission.  The reasoning is that printed Yellow Page directories are expensive for the city to haul away and unnecessary in the age of the Internet.

Seattle recently passed a law that allowed consumers to opt-out of receiving the book and the Yellow Page industry is fighting that in the courts.  This law, if passed, will mandate that you have to opt-in to receive the book.  That’s a lot tougher and more expensive for the publishers to accept.

One easy to see problem with this law is that direct mail pieces land in our mailboxes unsolicited routinely and there isn’t likely to be a law against that, so why be so tough on the Yellow Pages?

The real takeaway for local advertisers is that the Yellow Pages directories have reached the point where they are viewed by consumers and their elected officials as a nuisance.   That can’t be good for the business of printed Yellow Pages.  Google local search is so much better.

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