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(19 posts)

Yellow page story in the PI

Started 1 year ago by Ken
Latest reply from Kevin

Ken
Member Profile

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Seattle-s-yellow-pages-opt-out-program-begins-1365448.php

I want more info. I would also like to know who the spokescritter is for the "Local Search Association" mentioned in the article. I would like to drop all the yellowpages I have that have been dropped off even though I told the hispanic guys in the church logo trucks not to. I have 4 yellow pages books that have been dropped in the last 6 months even though I was home and told them not to. Each of the delivery teams I talked to did not even have a list. They simply dropped a bag full over the fence unless I stayed outside and watched until they left the block. So they came back about half an hour later and threw it over my fence. I now have a baseball bat behind the door.

I would like to drop each of the yellow page volumes repeatedly on his or her face... or deliver them to their office, soaking wet and in the dead of night.

The YP/LS association spokesman is lying and he knows it. The only way they can still extort businesses for expensive ads is with their false usage stats.

Posted 1 year ago #
DP
Member Profile

Ya gotta give this thing a chance, Ken. It's just getting started. They'll get the kinks worked out.

FWIW, I share your frustration over the issue in general. Meanwhile, I hope someone will introduce another bag-tax bill.

Posted 1 year ago #
Julie
Member Profile

The hopeful thing about this (City of Seattle) opt-out registry is that the companies that fail to honor opt-out requests will have to pay fines--so maybe it will actually work, unlike the industry-sponsored registry, which I won't touch with a ten-foot pole.

But it should really be an opt-in.

Posted 1 year ago #
redblack
Member Profile

speaking of the PI and marketing, they decided to just go ahead and opt me in to some spam after i took a survey and made some comments on their web site. and after i checked all of their opt out boxes. nonetheless, now i'm getting some groupon-type spam.

i'm leery about opting out after the fact, because i know that marketers will just go ahead and sell your name to their "affiliates" when you opt out. next thing you know, you're someone's targeted sales lead.

Posted 1 year ago #
anonyme
Member Profile

Ken, I've always wondered why the phone book companies are so adamant about delivering this crap by hook or by crook. Increasing usage stats in order to sell advertising makes perfect sense. Thanks for solving that mystery for me.

Posted 1 year ago #
JoB
Member Profile

i followed the links and opted out on the yellow pages...
but i think i will wait to see if it works before using the site for other opt outs..

i am cautiously optimistic.

Posted 1 year ago #
Ken
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http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Phone-book-co-seeks-injunction-against-Seattle-1367291.php

Corporations are intent on destroying the first amendment by trivializing it by claiming it's protections for their marketing activities.

If this succeeds, I will start spray painting the delivery vehicles with my message and use the same strident BS defense when I get to court.

Posted 1 year ago #
JoB
Member Profile

thanks ken..
i knew it was too good to be true..

i think i have still opted out
with or without the force of law

Posted 1 year ago #
Ken
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http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/85-000-yellow-pages-books-canceled-in-Seattle-1372084.php

Posted 1 year ago #
JoB
Member Profile

some days the judicial system gets it right..

let's just hope they don't challenge this one all the way to our new singing supremes.

Posted 1 year ago #
lostcoyote
Member Profile

It goes straight from my front door to the recycle bin.

Posted 1 year ago #
Ken
Member Profile

If it goes into the recycle bin, it cost us all as SPU customers. Make the yellow pages publishers pay AND let the customers pay a reasonable rate based on realistic ad penetration figures instead of the current rates based on delivered books.

Posted 1 year ago #
redblack
Member Profile

thanks for the PI link, ken. that took me to the SPU site, where i opened an account to set up a "do not bomb me with phone books" list.

i hadn't realized that i'm subject to 6 different brands of phone books.

the opt-out site is a great idea, but it looks like it was coded by someone's 15-year-old nephew, and it's kind of awkward to work with. for example, when you make changes to your preferences, it reloads the entire page. i'm no programmer, but the whole experience was a bit redundant and left me wondering if i did it right.

note that in order to stop the yellow book brand delivery in june, you have to opt out by may 15th, which is monday.

and i give you a +1 on post 12. well-said.

on a side note, i have long wondered if there's an eco-friendly way to wrap old phone books in something waterproof, then use them as insulation for concrete walls or something. maybe lay them in a running bond, like bricks.

Posted 1 year ago #
DP
Member Profile

Just a reminder: If you want to use the opt-out site to prevent this year's DEX yellow pages book from materializing on your doorstep, you've got to do it by Monday, May 16th.

DEX says it needs 30 days lead time to process your request, and the books are apparently going out in mid-June.

Thank you. That is all.

–David

Posted 1 year ago #
kootchman
Member Profile

Yellow Pages are tidbits compared to the Postal System third class junk mail. 900,000 workers, second only to Wal Mart..millions of gallons of fuel for tractor trailer rigs, airplanes, ... Save all your junk mail for a month and see what that costs the city to dispose of. At least the Yellow Pages are easier to recycle. Add the billions of needed cash to keep this bloated, out of date system alive, and the extravagant pension benefits.. oh yea, I forgot,,,unionized, that means taxpayer subsidized and Democratic Party darlings.

Posted 1 year ago #
Genesee Hill
Member Profile

kootchman:

Simply remove your mailbox. No more junk mail.

No solution for your anti-union rants, though...

Posted 1 year ago #
Ken
Member Profile

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Phone-book-company-loses-court-fight-against-1444734.php

A federal judge has dismissed a phone book company's lawsuit against Seattle, ruling that the city's opt-out program, one of the country's toughest campaigns against yellow pages, does not violate the Constitution.

Dex One sued Seattle in May, after the city rolled out a registry that lets residents cancel phone-book deliveries. The company, along with SuperMedia and a phone-book trade group, had argued that yellow pages are protected speech under the First Amendment.

Their reasoning: The hefty paper directories provide not just ads and commercial information, but act as guides for community, public safety and political information.

But U.S. District Court Judge James Robart rejected the arguments Tuesday. In his ruling, Robart noted that Dex and SuperMedia run ads in their directories, which he said reference "specific products," such as a front-cover ad for Geico Auto Insurance last year.

Posted 11 months ago #
JoB
Member Profile

Kootch...
unlike the yellow page companies
the Postal Office actually provides me a service i can use...
the junk mailers.. not so much..
trashed before i open them.

Posted 11 months ago #
Kevin
Member Profile

If everyone would just drop off their "junk" mail back into USPS collection boxes, our mail system would likely come to a standstill - but government would probably get the point and DEAL with the problem!

Posted 11 months ago #