The new Telus White Pages with residential listings for Metro Vancouver are out — and piling up in lobbies and recycling bins as people increasingly turn to online services.
Vancouver resident Tyee Cook, 24, said he’s never used the White Pages.
“I’ve got four copies but I’ve put them in the corner of my apartment,” he said. “I’ll give them to my building manager and they’ll be recycled.”
Richard Smith, a professor at Simon Fraser University’s School of Communication, said the heavy tomes are becoming outdated.
“Computerization is better and it’s not just online ... mobile phones allow people (to) keep their list (of numbers).”
Asami Fujii, 27, said he prefers online services.
“I use the Internet ... it’s easy ... I got the new one (White Pages) yesterday but I put it back in the lobby.”
Annie Marsolais, director of corporate communications at the Yellow Pages Group, Telus White Pages’ publisher, believes there’s still people using the books.
“There’s a dual usage, using both paper and online,” she said, adding there are no plans to discontinue the lists, even though Telus’ online directory is the seventh most popular site in Canada.
