Doorstep Spam
Another set of phone books was dropped on my doorstep this Saturday. There were two sets (large and travel-sized) of yellow pages and a set of white pages. I added them to the stack of phone books that I've received this year. It got me thinking. I haven't actually used a phone book in years--the internet has made them completely unnecessary. How are they any different than spam, junk mail, or fliers that are left on car windshields? They are just another form of irritating advertising that I didn't ask for and don't want.
I did some searching online and came across the Paperless Petition website. They claim that 540 million directories were printed this year. I just checked the population of the United States and it's (roughly) 302,962,103 people. That's about 1.78 books per person! I can see some use for phone books, but that ridiculous!