The Yellow Pages will stop printing paper copies of its directory in the U.K. in January 2019, with Hibu-owned subsidiary Yell going fully digital in future years.
Final editions of the paper directory will be distributed in January 2018, and one last edition will be sent out to Brighton addresses in 2019 as a special, final tribute to the publication, which was first published there in 1966, the BBC reported.
Yell hopes the final editions will become souvenirs, The Guardian reported. Twenty-three million copies will be printed.
“Like many businesses, Yell has found that succeeding in digital demands constant change and innovation. We’re well placed to continue to help local businesses and consumers be successful online, both now and in the future,” Yell Chief Executive Richard Hanscott said, the BBC reported.
Social media and Google have made printed directories much less vital, and Yell.com hopes to attract businesses to its free listings on the website once the print directories are no longer distributed, The Guardian reported.
In recent years, environmentally conscious citizens have pushed for the end of paper directories, launching the Say No to Phonebooks campaign in 2009 to try to make the paper phone books an opt-in only situation.
The Yell group, which made the Yellow Pages at the time, said it was “among the most sustainable companies in the world,” and that its directories were completely recyclable, The Guardian reported. Consumers could opt out of receiving paper books, as well.
It has not been reported that paper phone books will stop distribution in the U.S.
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