No more yellow pages:

[overthewater]

Im surprised it took this long most people just look up google or bing/dogpile. Back in the day yes it was great but its 10 years out of date.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41125865

The local business directory that helped JR Hartley find his book on fly fishing is set to go out of print.
The Yellow Pages will no longer be published on paper from next year onwards, more than five decades after it launched in the UK.
Its owner, Yell, has announced that the first of its 104 final editions will be distributed in Kingston next January.
A year later, a final directory will be sent out in Brighton, where it was first published in 1966.
Yell, the UK operation owned by Hibu, is going fully digital and says that it hopes to "help a million businesses be found, chosen and trusted by more customers online by 2020".
A household staple - and handy doorstop - for years, Yellow Pages was known for its advertisements, among them the JR Hartley classic and the one featuring a hungover teenager in desperate need of a French polisher.
Richard Hanscott, chief executive of Yell, said: "After 51 years in production Yellow Pages is a household name and we're proud to say that we still have customers who've been with us from the very first Yellow Pages edition in 1966.
"How many brands can say they've had customers with them for over 50 years?"
Commenting on why the company is ending the print edition, Mr Hanscott said: "Like many businesses, Yell has found that succeeding in digital demands constant change and innovation. We're well placed to continue to help local businesses and consumers be successful online, both now and in the future.''

 

[Welly]

I remember a US police drama "NYPD Blue" where a particularly unpleasant detective would regularly "tune up the skels" with a telephone directory in the interview room! What will a bullying cop use after the Yellow Pages?

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Im surprised it took this long

Same here, it's really shrunk a lot on size since the early to mid 2000s

 

[Gemz91]

Shame, I must be one of the only people who find it easier to look up a plumber in the Yellow Pages then online. Just a shame that in the past few years there's been hardly anyone advertising in the Yellow Pages.

Lucky for me our village print a local directory which I'll still be able to use with out getting lost on Google.

 

[northwichcat]

Same here, it's really shrunk a lot on size since the early to mid 2000s

Last one we got through is smaller than a holiday brochure.

 

[thejuggler]

For those who remember the days when Yellow Pages used to pay for TV adverts I can confirm they were effective.

Two end lines I can remember years later:

"I was right about that saddle"

"My name? J R Hartley"

Look em up on youtube if you are too young!

 

[Busaholic]

For those who remember the days when Yellow Pages used to pay for TV adverts I can confirm they were effective.

Two end lines I can remember years later:

"I was right about that saddle"

"My name? J R Hartley"

Look em up on youtube if you are too young!

Us booksellers got pretty fed up with being asked if we had 'Fly Fishing' by J.R. Hartley, to the extent we persuaded a publisher (Hutchinson iirc) to bring out such a book, which we could then flourish: never actually sold one, though

 

[507021]

It's a shame, but I can't say I'm surprised.

 

[GusB]

A few years ago I was in need of some extra income, and noticed an advert in the local paper asking for people to deliver the Yellow Pages. Having previously been desk-bound, I wasn't exactly in peak fitness and it turned out to be one of the hottest weeks of the year. It wasn't a pleasant experience at the time and was even less so when the cheque arrived a couple of weeks later.

When they contacted me again the following year and I flatly turned them down. It was only when my own copy was delivered that I realised that they'd reduced the size significantly, so it would probably have been a bit more manageable. I do still harbour a grudge towards anyone who has their letterbox at the bottom of their door - you truly are evil people

In some ways I'll be sad to see an icon like the Yellow Pages disappear, but even back then I had customers refusing a copy because they did everything online. I can't see how they can be making money these days. I dare say it won't be too long before the Phone Book disappears too, if it hasn't already.

 

[Cowley]

A few years ago I was in need of some extra income, and noticed an advert in the local paper asking for people to deliver the Yellow Pages. Having previously been desk-bound, I wasn't exactly in peak fitness and it turned out to be one of the hottest weeks of the year. It wasn't a pleasant experience at the time and was even less so when the cheque arrived a couple of weeks later.

When they contacted me again the following year and I flatly turned them down. It was only when my own copy was delivered that I realised that they'd reduced the size significantly, so it would probably have been a bit more manageable. I do still harbour a grudge towards anyone who has their letterbox at the bottom of their door - you truly are evil people

In some ways I'll be sad to see an icon like the Yellow Pages disappear, but even back then I had customers refusing a copy because they did everything online. I can't see how they can be making money these days. I dare say it won't be too long before the Phone Book disappears too, if it hasn't already.

You'd have probably liked delivering to our house then Gus, we've got a shared (with our neighbours) American style mail box on the garden path.
Mrs Cowley did a bit of BT phonebook delivery a few years back. As you say though, not much pay for the amount of effort.

It's kind of an end of an era with the yellow pages ending, but I suppose it'll save some trees.

 

[GusB]

You'd have probably liked delivering to our house then Gus, we've got a shared (with our neighbours) American style mail box on the garden path.
Mrs Cowley did a bit of BT phonebook delivery a few years back. As you say though, not much pay for the amount of effort.

It's kind of an end of an era with the yellow pages ending, but I suppose it'll save some trees.

I always thought of US-style mailboxes as weird until that particular escapade, after which they suddenly made much more sense. With regard to the provision of low-level domestic delivery slots, I'm quite surprised that the then highly-unionised Royal Mail hadn't lobbied for legislation outlawing this barbaric practice.

 

[najaB]

I dare say it won't be too long before the Phone Book disappears too, if it hasn't already.

I believe it is still a requirement of their licence that BT provides directory service. As such they'll still publish it in some form.

 

[RichmondCommu]

In our household its been a waste of paper and someones time and effort for a long time.

 

[EM2]

I worked for YP in the early 90s, when the London Central directory was still about four inches thick!
Slightly sad to see another strand of my employment history disappear.

 

[GusB]

I believe it is still a requirement of their licence that BT provides directory service. As such they'll still publish it in some form.

I worked for YP in the early 90s, when the London Central directory was still about four inches thick!
Slightly sad to see another strand of my employment history disappear.

I was working at BT's directory enquiry centre (DQ) in Aberdeen at the beginning of the 2000s. They were very strict about "regulatory compliance" and adhering to the licence conditions. In those days someone looking for "a taxi company in Anytown" had to be referred to one of the classified services such as Talking Pages or Scoot? (I think), and we had to offer both numbers to ensure compliance.

The writing was on the wall back then. 192 was still the number that was dialled, but 118 was on the horizon, and our centre was one of the ones that was shut down. It was a genuinely sad event because some of the staff had been in the job for 30+ years. They'd gone from having to physically handle a paper directory, via microfilm to computer-based systems.

I would imagine that BT will be obliged to provide a voice-based system for elderly and disabled customers, but I can see most voice DQ services going the same way in the very near future. It doesn't help their case that they're now so much more expensive to use than they used to be!

 

[SS4]

It's had its day. I just tossed the last few straight into the recycling bin. It's helpful for when the internet just won't work or is intolerably slow but that's rare.

 

[underbank]

I'm sure a lot of their loss of trade advertisers was the crooked salespeople they used. They tried to con me and I swore I'd never advertise with them again, and didn't. In my case, I was persuaded to agree to a "free" online entry if I bought a quarter page advert. A few months later, I noticed my direct debit had quadrupled and rang to complain, only to be told the extra was for the online entries. I disputed it and they sent me a copy of the order showing I'd agreed to pay £x extra for the online entries. Luckily, I'm a bit anal about keeping paperwork and had kept my carbonated copy of the order and comparing the two it was clear that the conman had left gaps/spaces to write in the extra and amounts on his copy. I sent my copy of the paperwork and never heard from them again - not even an apology for them employing crooks!

I've heard lots of similar tales of over-charging etc., so I don't think it was a one off.

 

[overthewater]

That must have been after the online side started to explode, and people started moving away from paper base searches

Back in the good old days you got £1 for each book your delivery, and many areas were divided into very small block of 300 homes. If you could get a block of flats etc you were laughing.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

It's not just the yellow pages that has shrunk, our local advertising newspaper has shrunk a lot over the last few years to the point where I think why do they even bother printing it

 

[gazthomas]

For the last 10 years mine have gone straight into the bin or recycling. Likewise with Thomsons and for that matter most over flyers and free newspapers. Technology has made these obsolete, in the same way that the printed press replaced story tellers.

 

[Mag_seven]

What are we going to use to stop our doors now?

 

[overthewater]

Does the Yellow and blue trade paper still get printed on Wednesday and Saturdays?

 

[GusB]

For the last 10 years mine have gone straight into the bin or recycling. Likewise with Thomsons and for that matter most over flyers and free newspapers.

I'd forgotten about Thomson. Wasn't that mainly distributed in larger centres of population? I don't ever remember seeing it it in these rural parts.

Technology has made these obsolete, in the same way that the printed press replaced story tellers.

Not quite. The Mail and Express still exist

 

[northwichcat]

I'd forgotten about Thomson. Wasn't that mainly distributed in larger centres of population? I don't ever remember seeing it it in these rural parts.

Thomson directories covered a smaller area. In my area there was a Thomson directory covering an area similar in size to the former Macclesfield borough (not necessarily following the exact boundary), whereas Yellow Pages covers an area equivalent in size to something like 3/4s of Cheshire.

The Mail and Express still exist

Unfortunately.

 

[northwichcat]

What are we going to use to stop our doors now?

With the thickness of the latest editions they wouldn't make very good door stops!

I wonder if Guinness World Records will allow someone to use the latest editions to try for the record of most yellow pages directory torn in a minute.

 

[Busaholic]

I'd forgotten about Thomson. Wasn't that mainly distributed in larger centres of population? I don't ever remember seeing it it in these rural parts.

I've still got a Thomson directory for Cornwall published about ten years ago! I think on the very few occasions I tried to use it it proved to be absolutely useless.

 

[gazthomas]

I'd forgotten about Thomson. Wasn't that mainly distributed in larger centres of population? I don't ever remember seeing it it in these rural parts.



Not quite. The Mail and Express still exist

Thankfully technology will destroy them in the end. I hear that The Mail's online and print divisions are somewhat at war with each other. The online edition seems to be more like a trash-mag than anything else!

 

[cjp]

I kept one of mine on the basis if a tradesman is still is still in business after all this time they can't be too bad.
Nothing much can be gleaned from internet sites with the ability of companies to buy a local telephone number and to tuck away their real address in some obscure part of their web site.

 

[northwichcat]

I kept one of mine on the basis if a tradesman is still is still in business after all this time they can't be too bad.
Nothing much can be gleaned from internet sites with the ability of companies to buy a local telephone number and to tuck away their real address in some obscure part of their web site.

Any website belonging to a UK based limited company must include a company registration name and their registered address somewhere on the site by law. If you can't find these somewhere on the site then the company should be avoided.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Here we are .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2TilNclT8k

Classic!