How To Stop Receiving The Yellow Pages

If unwanted telephone directories go straight to your recycling bag, here’s how to opt out of receiving them.

WASTE NOT | According to a 2010 Globe and Mail article, plenty of people still let their fingers do the walking through the physical pages of a hard copy version of the Yellow Pages. Funny, I don’t know even one of them. Everyone I know from 8 to 80 has switched to the computer to find the telephone numbers of their favourite businesses. For me, the Yellow Pages has become a shelf-grabbing dinosaur, and I cannot remember the last time I leafed through my copy—oh wait, yes I can. It was last week after two copies of the latest tome arrived on my doorstep and I picked up one them to look for a way to opt out.

Just Do It—But Now!

No one receives a residential directory (a.k.a. White Pages) anymore unless they request a free copy by going online to ypg.com/delivery. Yellow Pages are automatically delivered to your residence unless you opt out, which is dead easy to do via the Internet or telephone (this information is printed right on the front of the telephone book: ypg.com/delivery or 1-800-268-5637). A Yellow Pages residential opt out is good for five years only. A Yellow Pages business opt out is permanent (you need to fax through a request to 905-709-5254), though you can have delivery reinstated at any time.

Every household and business is entitled to receive a free copy of the Yellow Pages; if you want an additional copy it will cost between $35 and $60 depending on where you live. If you live on your smartphone or iPad and feel lost without the Yellow Pages you can download a free app at yellowpages.ca/mobile.

The important thing about opting out is that you need to do it right now before you put your Yellow Pages on a shelf to gather dust. If you don’t, it will be déjà vu all over again next February.—Ruth Rainey

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