The Real Yellow Pages have arrived

Reader reports are coming in from all over the neighborhood with news that the Yellow Pages have arrived. Or are arriving.

This year's cover features a shot of the Empire State Building under attack by a spacecraft a la "Independence Day" as well as an ad for Epic Security Corp. "Fully insured. Armed and unarmed guards." The security guard pictured does have both arms.

While the directories are tightly wrapped in plastic, you may still want to bring them indoors before it really starts to rain...

1 more year for the phone book, apparently

I recalled reading last summer that Verizon was ending the print distribution of its business directory (aka telephone books) in New York.

According to published reports, "the company delivered 6.3 million business directories [in 2015]. Verizon estimates that by eliminating the printing of massive phone books it will save 13,600 tons of paper per year from entering the waste system."

In any event, as you may have noticed in recent days, Verizon has dropped a few tons of phone books off around the neighborhood...


[3rd Street between C and D]


[7th Street between A and 1st]


[6th Street between A and B]

In one case, I noticed that someone actually took one of the books...


[3rd Street between A and 1st]

I took one too — just to see if they listed EVG correctly... oh well — maybe next year...

Oh, thank God — the new phone books have finally arrived

Actually they arrived maybe a week ago on my block. (Shocker: They are still sitting in front of my building, unopened.) But I noticed a few hundred thousand of them were waiting on stoops this morning along East Seventh Street...



Seriously — will anyone actually use one? (And not to, say, prop up a table, build a bookshelf or burn.)

It's OK if you do use one — just curious.

Early reaction...

@evgrieve Wasteful! When I need a phone number I just log on to AOL with my 2400 baud modem.

— Pinhead (@EVPinhead) December 11, 2013