Why Are We Still Getting Phone Books?

When I walk out my front door and look down at my porch, there is one thing that annoys me more than anything I can think of:




When I worked in an office, someone would bring stacks of them. They suffered a fate similar to these phone books.




You see, it's 2014. Even searching for a phone number on our computers seems like an outdated concept. I don't know anyone who goes to the phone book when they need information.



So why are we still receiving these outdated paper-based books? And why won't the phone company let us opt out?



I looked into it a while ago and learned we're getting phone books because, simply put, we're part of a demographic. If the phone company can promise it's delivering 600,000 phone books to the residents and businesses in a city, for instance, that phone company can sell ads like these...



Apparently nobody told the goldfish people that 600,000 people will never see that ad because, guess what?



Yep. Nobody's reading the thing anymore. It all seems such an environmental waste, right? You'd think the businesses would get wise to it, but I guess phone book salesmen are super convincing.



What do you do with your phone books?