It’s the holiday season. But alert — and peeved — “06880” Gil Ghitelman just found an unwelcome “gift” underneath his mailbox.
One shot from Imperial Avenue …
The Yellow Pages — or, in this case, Blue Pages — are baaaaaack.
“Any business that wastes its money foolishly advertising in this, whose time has long passed, doesn’t deserve my business,” Gil writes.
“And the town ought to fine the distributors.”
In fact, the town already addressed this issue. Two years ago — thanks to excellent work by resident Morgan Mermagen, RTM representatives Liz Milwe, Jeff Wieser and Matthew Mandell, and assistant town attorney Gail Kelly, all phone book distributors in Westport agreed to these conditions:
- All plastic bags used during delivery will be made with 20% post-consumer recycled content. This will be noted on the bag.
- A new opt-out notice — showing the website www.YellowPagesOptOut.com — will cover 30% of one side of the bag.
- A letter to the town, announcing a pending distribution by any company, will be done 90 days prior to any event, and 30 days prior to a cut-off for being able to opt out of that (and future) distributions.
- All books will continue to have a notice on the front cover about the opt-out, with the same URL.
- Within 14 days after delivery, the distribution company will return through the route, picking up any unclaimed bags within view.
- A report will be sent to the town each year, noting how many people have opted out.
I’m not sure whether the distributor of the current Yellow Blue Pages adhered to these regulations. Gil had already tossed the “gift” by the time I emailed them back to him.
(Click here for the full 2017 “06880” story on phone book distribution.)
… and the house next door. (Photos/Gil Ghitelman)