A 4-1 vote by the Public Service Commission will allow phone companies to stop delivering phone books - but only if they ask customers first whether they want to see the bulky book at their doorstep. A 4-1 vote by the Public Service Commission will allow phone companies to stop delivering phone books on a market-by-market basis - but only if they ask customers first whether they want to see the bulky book at their doorstep.
According to The Advocate, phone companies like AT&T, for example, have stopped delivering phone books in numerous markets across the nation. AT&T says 97 percent of their customers in those markets did not specify that they need a phone book delivered to their home:
The 4-1 decision will allow phone companies, market by market, to stop delivering phone books door-to-door provided they ask customers if they want to continue to receive the book.
Customers who say "yes" would continue to receive the directory for three more years, according to the PSC decision.
Additionally, the phone companies would have to opt not to deliver market by market, rather than statewide.
PSC Chairman Foster Campbell, of Bossier Parish, said Louisiana has a high percentage of low-income people who cannot afford to look up phone numbers on the Internet and rely on the paper directory.
He said most homes in Louisiana have two books: a Bible and a phone book.
Read the full story here.