Bye bye phone books

Stuff reports:

The phone book’s days may be numbered, with deliveries set to plummet as Kiwis embrace the digital age.

A new extension to White Pages’ “opt-in” service would likely see hundreds of thousands fewer phone books delivered around New Zealand.

Communications Minister Amy Adams announced the Government had agreed to extend the trial parent company Yellow had been conducting in Auckland for the past two years.

The scheme’s third year would see an estimated 23,000 phone books delivered to Auckland households that wanted them – a fraction of the 478,853 delivered in 2012. 

The opt-in service had been approved on an ongoing basis with Yellow given the flexibility to apply it nationally as appropriate, Adams said. 

S only around 1 in 20 actually want a phone book. That sounds about right. Sensible to extend nationwide.

The reduction in phone books delivered in Auckland would save 281 million pieces of paper. 

Excellent.