Who still uses phone books?

[NOW tense]

Poll question: Who still uses phone books?

I just got one and I don't see the point anymore.

[Left Is Write]

1. As long as I can look up numbers online, I see no reason to waste space with a phone book.

[LeftyMom]

2. Sometimes there are good coupons in there.

I check for those before I recycle the thing.

[Shell Beau]

3. Every once in a blue moon I will still use one.

[Sanity Claws]

4. For what?

I see them regularly used as door stops. What would my apartment building do without them?

[reyd reid reed]

5. Okay...I guess I'm an old-fashioned frump

I still use mine. Regularly. To the point where, when we get a new one, the old one is dog-eared and generally halfway falling apart.

I can't write notes in the margins if I look up a number online and I'm a big margin note writer.

[Rhythm]

6. That's what teh Googles iz for...

[Broken_Hero]

7. I still use them,

I only use yellowpages.com when I can't recall a number from back home...its nice having a reference for numbers all in a nice book....

:D

[Kali]

8. I use my small local one - rural county

has all the numbers for the whole county and it is still pretty small. Faster than my damn dial-up so...

[NOW tense]

9. That makes sense.

I can see how that is an easier thing.

[kentauros]

10. No, and for years I've thought they should be produced on CD

if at all. Or better, put them on CD-RW so I can at least re-use the disk or pass it on to someone that would.

However, I would ask the phone companies to produce an online service that is more like a phone book. Too often a search does not reveal what I am looking for and I have to actually use the phone books (that I have left out in the rain and weather before bothering to bring inside and toss directly into the recycling bin.)

I would also suggest them making use of online coupons instead of the paper kind. Then you just print out the ones you like :)

[Gidney N Cloyd]

11. Yes, sometimes, and I wish I could go totally online instead. But >>>

>>> But I continue to try a number of online "yellow page" services and they're just not delivering the data the way I'd like. Hardcopy versions let you visually skim the entries a lot faster and with more info. Online versions seem to focus on forcing you toward certain entries.

[FloridaJudy]

13. I agree

Sometimes I want to scream "Do not give me listing for emergency veterinary clinics in Orlando! I have no intention of driving 120 miles with a sick cat!" Actually, the emergency vet clinic is right across the street from me - I could probably get my answer by sticking my head out and yelling, were I not considerate of the neighbors. "Are you guys open? She's been puking ever since six o'clock: should I bring her in now, or can it wait til morning?"

I just don't happen to have their phone number memorized.

[Lionel Mandrake]

12. Phone books ain't what they used to be.

In the good old days, there was ONE phone book for a particular neighborhood. It was distributed by the phone company. It had useful stuff, like a map on the back showing the areas covered for the white and yellow pages.

Now there are competing phone books, with most of the useful stuff gone or hidden. The back page might be an add for bail bonds, or something else most people will never use. There will be huge adds for tiny little stores, and no listings for some other stores. These crappy phone books may meet the needs of some merchants, but they do not meet the needs of customers.

[DebJ]

14. At 1.25 (or is it more now?) for directory assistance, I look it up.

[NMDemDist2]

15. bingo! n/t