According to a report in SFappeal.com a Yellow Pages trade group is filing suit to stop the San Francisco law that requires Yellow Page directories to get consumers to opt-in before delivering the printed version of the Yellow Pages to their doorstep.
The city passed the law, which goes into effect in nine months, because they felt most of the directories ended up in landfills and that’s bad for the environment.
The industry says this is a matter of free speech, why is the city picking on the Yellow Pages, what about direct mail pieces and door hangers? Both sides say they will win the legal battle and only time will tell how this will turn out.
What is clear is that printed Yellow Pages are having trouble proving their relevance. It’s not often a city passes a law saying that your business model is a nuisance.
While many retailers still believe in the printed Yellow Pages they just don’t believe in it as much as they used to because now they have so many better ways to spend their marketing dollars locally. The printed Yellow Pages will never be the same.