If you are like me, every day you walk into your apartment building and see a stack of unused phone books piled up on the lobby floor. Eventually, some of these books will be picked up and used by residents of my building, but there are also a handful of books that will remain in their packaging, ultimately getting thrown out or recycled. While studies show print Yellow Pages usage is continuing to decline and Internet Yellow Pages usage continues to rise, it is not a surprise that some publishers in the industry have created plans that now leave the choice up to the consumer as to whether or not they would like to receive a Yellow Pages directory.

Not only is this option environment friendly, but also a cost-saving tool for economically conscious companies like Idearc and R.H. Donnelley, who have established these opt-out options. “Providing a product or service (in any industry) to someone who does not want it or is not going to use it does not make good business sense,” said Scott Klein, chief executive officer of Idearc, according to Yahoo! Finance. In this struggling economy, companies simply cannot afford to waste money providing products to their consumers when they know that buyers are not going to somehow benefit.

Idearc, R.H. Donnelley and the Yellow Pages Association have made it pretty simple for the consumer to make that choice. Idearc includes an 800 number on the front cover of its directories, while Idearc, R.H. Donnelley and the Yellow Pages Association offer opt-out options via their websites. Opt-out features ensure directories are being distributed only to households and businesses that are going to use them, making it easier to determine exactly what demographics are using the Yellow Pages and for what they’re using these directories (specifically in terms of heading usage).

According to our local search usage study, 28 percent of consumers reference print Yellow Pages first when searching for local business information, proving that the Yellow Pages are still valuable and reliable resources for the consumers who use the products. Dick Larkin’s comment in today’s edition of The Small Business Commando E-Newsletter sums up this point, “Yellow Pages ads have one major difference compared to billboards, radio, television, direct mail, spam, magazine and newspaper ads. That is that people only see Yellow Pages ads when they’re looking to solve a problem with a local company. If there is a need, the ads remain unused, not bothering anyone. But when there is a need, the ad is invaluable.”