From: le@main.lekno.ws   
      
   Louis Epstein  wrote:   
   > Louis Epstein  wrote:   
   >> Adam H. Kerman  wrote:   
   >>> David Samuel Barr  wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>>>. . .   
   >>>   
   >>>>Unless the business model has changed in   
   >>>>recent years the Yellow Pages were always   
   >>>>an advertising medium, not a reference   
   >>>>directory; businesses had to pay to be   
   >>>>listed, with the majority also buying the   
   >>>>display ads which were the bulk of the   
   >>>>space of the book.   
   >>>   
   >>> Not correct. Every business subscriber of the incumbent phone company got   
   >>> a free listing per main telephone number at each location. He could request   
   >>> a classification or it would be assigned. The Yellow Pages were contracted   
   >>> to specific phone companies and telephone geography. If a business wanted   
   >>> to be listed not a subscriber to that telephone company and/or outside   
   >>> the geographical area, it had to be set up in the list provided to the   
   >>> Yellow Pages advertising bureau. Typically this required payment of   
   >>> foreign listing fee and the business would also appear in the white pages.   
   >>>   
   >>> The majority of business subscribers did not buy display ads as they   
   >>> were hideously expensive. In-column ads were cheaper, but even minimal   
   >>> advertising like use of bold print cost hundreds of dollars a year.   
   >>>   
   >>> There were of course business with nationwide advertising accounts that   
   >>> placed listings in telephone directories throughout the country.   
   >>>   
   >>>>It didn't matter which phone service the company used (and of course   
   >>>>for most of the past that wasn't even an issue).   
   >>>   
   >>> Yes, it did. If the directory publisher wasn't contracted to display   
   >>> listings of both white and yellow pages with a specific telephone   
   >>> company, the desired listing could be accomodated only as a foreign   
   >>> listing. In most states, there had been state laws imposed on incumbent   
   >>> telephone companies and sometimes cable telephony requiring distribution   
   >>> of phone directories. These laws did not apply to VoIP and these numbers   
   >>> are generally not included for free.   
   >>>   
   >>> When there were alternate directory publishers, the listings they   
   >>> included were under their own rules and not subject to state law.   
   >>>   
   >>   
   >> My new (2023 edition) Yellow Pages have a white-page section yet   
   >> existing businesses are not all in it.   
   >> I note that the yellow-page section has fewer display ads than in   
   >> days of yore...the white-page section continues to have some highlighted   
   >> entries (I used to pay for that for my ISP).   
   >   
   > My White Pages arrived today.   
   > The Westchester-Putnam + Greenwich book is TWO VOLUMES,with a   
   > business listing section (significantly longer than the one in   
   > the Yellow Pages but still not including Suburban Propane)   
   > taking up most of the first volume,which begins with the   
   > traditional phone-company-information section and ends with   
   > residential listings up to Marc Fried,and the second volume   
   > being residential listings from Marion Fried onwards.   
      
   Forgot to mention:   
   The third-generation phone number that has been billed to   
   me for years (and the book was mailed addressed to me) is   
   LISTED in the names of my late parents.   
      
   >> -=-=-   
   >> The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,   
   >> at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)