Yellow Pages: Unwanted, unloved

Surely many know of the good ol' Yellow Pages (YP from here on in), and its many imitators. Easy access to the phone numbers and addresses of people and businesses everywhere. Sometimes they say you can find anything in the YP!

But as the Internet becomes more widespread, and connections faster, the Yellow Pages seem to be growing out of favor. Why look up an address in the YP, then try to plot it out on the map included, when you can look up the address on your favorite search engine, then have said search engine give you turn-by-turn instructions on how to get there?

Still, the YP arrive regularly in front of my apartment door - not only from AT&T, but from Verizon, and other major phone companies. What to do with all these phone books? The simplest answer would be just to go ahead and recycle them, which is what I do with most of the YP that show up. Sometimes I'll keep one to use as a "shelf" to raise Mocha's food and water up so she doesn't have to stoop. And of course, it doesn't hurt to have a YP lying around in case the Internet or power goes down.

So there's lots to do with all those generally unwanted YP - but why do people just basically try to ignore the fact that the YP got delivered? Again, my YP are usually left outside my apartment door, so I can just grab it on the way in/out. My neighbors seem to be completely oblivious to the fact that these YP have been sitting outside their door. The last set was delivered about a week ago. Most of my neighbors still have those YP sitting right outside. Do they think the YP will self-destruct? That maybe they'll get swept away by some rain and become fertilizer? It can't be that they don't see the YP there, their existence is fairly obvious. What gives?? Is the YP fairy going to come, take the YP back, and leave you a quarter or something?

It's just another one of the many things I just sit back and wonder about. Maybe I can find the answer in the YP.