How to stop delivery of telephone books

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Tim Marman — Wed, 31 Dec 2003 16:16:00 GMT

Or you can move to NYC and live in an apartment building.

They just put the phone books in the lobby and you can optionally pick it up :)

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

MilesArcher — Wed, 31 Dec 2003 18:41:00 GMT

There are more important things to do with ones time than this. Recycle the books and be done with it.

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

mike — Wed, 31 Dec 2003 19:31:00 GMT

> Why does Qwest want my telephone number to stop delivery of my telephone book?

That's your account number with them.

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Raymond Chen — Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:26:00 GMT

But I never opened an account with them. My local telephone company is Verizon.

If they promise not to deliver the phone books in a manner that says "Rob this house!" I wouldn't be quite so upset.

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Centaur — Thu, 01 Jan 2004 13:12:00 GMT

I live in an apartment building and am trying to get “them” to stop delivering all the free newspaper to my mail box. For now, I only tried posting onto it a paper which reads, in a big readable font, something to the effect: “Advertisement newspapers, election campaign leaflets, holy letters ARE NOT WELCOME”. Apparently, “they” cannot read.

And yes, a mailbox full of papers is interpreted as “Rob this apartment”.

Unsolicited snail mail

Roland Kaufmann — Thu, 01 Jan 2004 14:05:00 GMT

In Norway we have little green stickers that read "No advertising", which is put on the mail box and serves as a cue not to put any unaddressed, anonymous leaflets and stuff like that into it. Although no one is obliged by law to follow it, social conventions dictate that anything that violates the owner's desire will go straight into the fireplace, and is therefore mostly upheld.

However, the phone directory catalog still manages to escape this convention...

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Centaur — Thu, 01 Jan 2004 15:56:00 GMT

> anything that violates the owner's desire will go straight into the fireplace

That would be nice, a daemon sitting on my mailbox, which would activate every time something came, automagically and correctly guess if I actually want it, and if not, move it to the garbage bin (and scold the postman). Alas, this is not possible…

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Unplug — Thu, 01 Jan 2004 21:55:00 GMT

In Austria, everyone gets a little postcard which you just return without postage if you don't want a new phonebook...

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

McGroarty — Thu, 01 Jan 2004 22:13:00 GMT

If you get another, call the local TV and radio stations. They love these kinds of stories for slow news days. (Conspiratorially: They might like putting the screws to a rival advertising medium as well.)

As a bonus, by getting this into the media, chances are you can save a few trees (if you care to). Few have likely even considered the possibility of opting out of delivery, and you might wake them to this.

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Michael J. — Sat, 03 Jan 2004 17:43:00 GMT

I'm with you 100% on this one Ray.

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Markus K — Sun, 04 Jan 2004 09:42:00 GMT

IIRC in Germany they send you a postcard and you go with it to the nearest post office to pick up the book. So if you want one it is more inconvenient as you have to make the trip; if you don't, no harm done.

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

quanta — Mon, 05 Jan 2004 16:25:00 GMT

The telco competitive landscape is so different up here!

In Canada, we didn't get so many telephone carriers after deregulation. For example, in Ontario and Quebec, we still have only one major incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC): Bell Canada. Out in BC and Alberta, the ILEC is Telus. The phonebook only appears once a year.

Recently Telus sent out their own phonebook to Ontario/Quebec residents, and it caused a minor uproar here for the exact reasons Raymond pointed out above. Made it into the news. But it looks like we'll be seeing two phonebooks nowadays. But I guess it could be worse!

Centaur: Signs on mailboxes usually don't work. When I was a paperboy, we were paid per each flyer delivered, and instructed to ignore "No Junk Mail" signs.

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Centaur — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 18:47:00 GMT

I have been thinking, and came to an idea. Could one post on one’s box some kind of an agreement, the kind that we see when installing software? :) “By depositing unwanted mail in this box, you (the Sender) agree that…” and then sue every sender you don’t like. Would this work in your countries? (As I’m pretty sure in Russia it wouldn’t.)

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Steve — Thu, 22 Jan 2004 11:44:00 GMT

Who cares, just throw it away if you do not want it. It is just a phone book.

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Raymond Chen — Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:00:00 GMT

If they didn't leave it out in the open where everybody can see, then it wouldn't bother me as much.

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Kevin — Tue, 27 Jan 2004 15:13:00 GMT

I know how annoying this is. I called AOL 4 times to tell them to stop sending me their CDs, but they don't seem to get the point.

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Mr. Fuzzy Wuggums — Tue, 27 Jan 2004 20:54:00 GMT

Never tried stopping the phone books in Atlanta (I have a mother-in-law outside the city and she takes them).

The wierd thing with BS is with listings. We actually have to pay to be unlisted. I thought it would cost more in ink and paper to be listed. Guess not.

Anyway, they do allow you to change your name. So, instead of paying to unlist myself, say hello to Mr. Fuzzy Wuggums! (I guess Mr. Fuzzy Wuggums will need to register on the Do Not Call List)

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

swampfox — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 18:25:00 GMT

If I don't want it, I mark it "Return to Sender"...this costs the company return postage; the mail can also pile up in their bin, or they can send an employee to the post office to pick it up.

I am not sure how effective this is for stopping mail, but it made me feel better!

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Raymond Chen — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 19:20:00 GMT

That doesn't work because the phone books are not mailed; they are dropped on my doorstep by a delivery truck. The Post Office won't "return to sender" something they never delivered in the first place.

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

The book person — Fri, 06 Feb 2004 02:13:00 GMT

This one is from one of those phone book delivery people you must remember that your phone book is gonna get delivered no matter what you ask for its like that with any book i deliver these things in the state of Ohio at 10 below for 15 cts per book this is how people maka a living its a job it may suck but better than nothing if you dont want the book throw it in your trash or recycle bin

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Aaron — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 20:31:00 GMT

I managed to get the local paper to stop putting their promotional free papers on my front lawn (after literally yelling and screaming at a customer service agent), but I have been unsuccessful at having them stop delivering the advertising-only pamphlets in my mail box and those incredibly environmentally-unfriendly phone books. There has got to be a way. I just chased down the Verizon people, because I just happened to be home while they were delivering the phone books. I made them take it back. They weren't happy. The environment was though. Screw Verizon.

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Another book delivery person — Mon, 05 Apr 2004 17:18:00 GMT

I too have delivered the telephone books on occasion. So everyone knows, there is absolutely NO incentive for the phone companies to stop delivering the phone books. The delivery contract is typically sold to a distribution company, and it is this company who hires individuals to deliver the phone books. These individuals are paid for each book they deliver (as someone else said, usually about .15 a book), and so it is in their best interest to deliver as many books as possible. The delivery company supplies the delivery people with a range of addresses for a particular street (and telephone numbers associated with known addresses). The delivery people are to deliver books to EVERY address in the range, not just the addresses on the list. It may very well be the case that the addresses NOT on the list are the ones who have opted to be removed from the list. But given that the delivery person makes more money the more books are delivered, you're going to get a book!

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Jesso — Fri, 23 Apr 2004 18:41:00 GMT

I too once delivered phone books and made good money doing it. As previous posters have said, I got paid by the book, but I only delivered to businesses. I think if someone doesn't want the blasted book there should be a way for them to not get the book, but it looks like there's NOT a way. So, I guess... just recycle it. Get home early during Phonebook Delivery Season to make sure it sits on your stoop saying "rob me" for as short a time as possible.

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

yet another phone book delivery person — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 04:40:00 GMT

I've also worked for a phone book delivery company. You can request to be put on a phone book refusal list and you will likely be placed on it. The problem is that on occasion the independant contractor delivery person still might deliver it. On our routing we will highlight specific residents that don't desire a book and put in bold letters next to it " do not deliver". But they will still get dropped off a book on occasion. So Ray if you keep calling in and saying you don't want the book it should help a little but not completly. Also in regards to placing the book in a conspicuous location.. Would you rather have a delivery person sneaking around to the back of your house to drop off a book?

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Dan Ross — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 02:56:00 GMT

I don't really have anything educational to add, just that I find this topic very amuzing and interesting to read. It is a waste of paper, just never really thought about NOT having it delivered. Good luck with your quest!

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Circulation manager — Fri, 04 Jun 2004 19:18:00 GMT

Is this guys life really this pathetic, that he has nothing else to do but bitch aobut phone books. I think you really need to get out of the house more. Its a phone book, its free, why not just appreciate it and quit bitching. If you dont want it throw it away. Oh im sorry, thats right, it could destroy the enviroment. Do us all a favor and take the next book you receive and bash out your brains so we dont have to read these idiotic comments!!!

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Dee — Sun, 27 Jun 2004 16:13:00 GMT

Just the other day I had a conversation with the telephone book rep about not wanting their book delivered. She didn't offer any excuses, just a flat refusal to take me off their list (you should know that I get 3 different phone books from 3 different carriers because I live on a "border"). While I don't have objections to having 1 book delivered, I DONT NEED 3! The rep actually told me that their advertisers pay to have the book delivered to my home, so I didn't have any choice! When I said I was willing to pay to have it not delivered to my home she was stunned speechless. Unfortunately, I did not get the end result I desired - she wouldn't give a quote on what the rate was to stop unwanted deliveries!

re: How to stop delivery of telephone books

Raymond Chen — Sat, 03 Jul 2004 22:43:00 GMT

Commenting on this entry has been closed.

A New Investment Idea - Pay Someone To Pick Up The Phonebook That Gets Dropped On My Door Every 3 Months That I (And Millions Of Others) Never Use! | My Investing Blog

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:03:27 GMT

PingBack from http://myinvestingblog.com/2008/04/28/a-new-investment-idea-pay-someone-to-pick-up-the-phonebook-that-gets-dropped-on-my-door-every-3-months-that-i-and-millions-of-others-never-use/