The new phone books from AT&T landed on my doorstep a few days ago, looking suspiciously slimmer than last year’s models. I checked a few numbers, and sure enough, this year’s yellow pages and white pages were both short a few pages.
The main countywide yellow pages tumbled from 1,015 pages in 2007 to 751 in 2009, a decrease of 26%. (For some reason, I didn’t keep the 2008 book.)
The yellow pages companion volume, the smaller and more portable version of the big book, shrank in thickness as well — from 636 pages in 2008 to 551 in 2009, a drop of 13%.
White pages were trimmer by a few ounces too. My city had 6% fewer listings than it did a year ago. The largest city in the county, Bridgeport, lost 5% of its listings.
Do I use the yellow pages? Yes, I do. Though not a whole lot, but that may be because after living here all these years, I mostly know where to go for pizza, eating out, and shopping, and whom to ask for referrals to electricians, dentists, or lawyers.
