INC NEWS - Phone Books

[Ken Gasch]

The most effective way to stop these phone book companies from dumping phone
books on our lawns is through their customers.

Place one of the offending books in your glove box.  Each time you visit a
neighborhood merchant, look to see if that merchant advertises in the book.
If they do, tell them that they should ask the company to put an effective
"do not deliver" list in place.

You can speak volumes to a corporate entity when you threaten their income
stream.  I used to consult to Coors Brewing Company.  We had a heck of a
time convincing Coors how much a consumer complaint cost the company in the
long run.

An unhappy customer could rob Coors of thousands of dollars in sales in his
or her lifetime. Not only does the consumer stop buying for herself, she can
also have a devastating effect on the buying habits of her friends.  We
worked to convince Coors that if a customer called with a complaint, that
the company should bend over backwards to make sure that the customer was
happy at the end of the call.

The Shell gas station at the corner of Roxboro and Club has recently
remodeled its store and in doing so, adopted all the latest trends in crime
prevention through environmental design (CPTED).  They also put up a small
sign above the entrance that says "Colonial Village Family Fare".

I drive a full size domestic pick up truck for my business.  It uses a lot
of high grade gasoline.  When ever I need to purchase an $80 tank of gas,
this is where I go.  I do not care if the gas across the street is cheaper
on that particular day.  I always go to my Shell station.

Ken Gasch


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Schelp" <bwatu at yahoo.com>
To: "%INClistserv" <inc-list at DurhamINC.org>
Sent: Monday, November 28, 2005 10:06 AM
Subject: INC NEWS - Some residents get irate as phone books accumulate
(INCmentioned in today's N&O)


> Some residents get irate as phone books accumulate
> by Matt Dees, News & Observer, Nov 28, 2005
>
> Kelly Jarrett gets so frustrated with all those
> "honking huge phone books" tossed in her yard, she
> sometimes feels like letting just one of her fingers
> do the talking.
> "I call about them every year," the Durham resident
> said.
>
> "Of course, when you call you end up talking to
> someone in Bombay. They say, 'We'll put you on a
> list.' But then I get a new one every year."
>
> Jarrett said she has received four phone books this
> year but uses only the one from Verizon, which
> provides phone service for all of Durham.The rest, she
> chucks.
>
> She is at her wit's end about a problem most
> homeowners just bear. But Jarrett has struck up a
> conversation among members of a Durham neighborhood
> group about whether phone companies should be allowed
> to distribute the books without residents' consent.
>
> The listserv -- an Internet bulletin board and
> listening post of sorts -- for the Inter Neighborhood
> Council of Durham has been buzzing about this issue
> since last week, and the neighbors are exploring ways
> to get phone companies to change with the times.
>
> "How many trees have been cut down? How many paper
> processing chemicals have gone in the streams so we
> can all get three phone books that we don't use?"
> Jarrett said, her voice rising. "I don't know why I
> can't be allowed to opt in."
>
> Neither BellSouth nor Verizon allows customers to call
> and cancel phone book delivery, although
> representatives of both companies said they encourage
> recycling of unwanted books.
>
> BellSouth spokesman Ed Patterson said advertisers have
> to be assured that all 691,000 Triangle homes will get
> both the company's White and Yellow pages.
>
> "It's really important they get the book in the hands
> of consumers," he said, adding that a recent study
> found that 83 percent of Raleigh BellSouth customers
> kept their books.
>
> Verizon spokeswoman Lisa Partain said it's simply too
> unwieldy to let a handful of people opt out.
>
> A third company, The Talking Phone Book, does have a
> cancellation number -- (888) 605-9167 -- but it's not
> effective, Jarrett said. The Talking Phone book is the
> one she said continues to deliver despite her requests
> to cease.
>
> Developing a defense
>
> Bill Anderson, president of the Inter Neighborhood
> Council, said his group wants to keep the issue alive
> in hopes of prompting change.
>
> "This one's just beginning," he said. "Why ... can you
> throw stuff on my lawn indiscriminately?"
>
> Anderson said people should be allowed to be put on
> "Do not deliver" lists, similar to the "Do not call"
> lists.
>
> But not everyone in the neighborhood group is against
> the phone books.
>
> Ken Gasch wrote on the INC listserv that although he
> agrees the deliveries are wasteful, he thinks the
> companies should have the right to deliver.
>
> "I believe that this is 'free speech' and should be
> protected," he wrote.
>
> Kelley VanSlander, a marketing manager for The Talking
> Phone Book, said she didn't know how many people call
> to cancel.
>
> "Most people like the fact they can have a choice,"
> she said. "Each book is different. Ours offers ZIP
> codes and larger print."
>
> That's not good enough for people such as Jarrett.
>
> "It so annoys me," she said. "The reality is that
> folks use phone books less and less in the Internet
> age, and yet the number of phone books delivered to me
> is proliferating every year."
>
>
>
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