Advertisement

White Pages delivery dropped

Winnipeg residential phone directories, entirely devoted to personal phone number lookups, are now available only upon request.

If Winnipeggers want the latest White Pages phonebook, they'll have to make a call and order it.

The book is available only upon request as of this year. However, the Yellow Pages business directory will continue to be delivered to households.

The Yellow Pages Group (YPG), the publisher of both directories, said the decision was made because people are changing their habits and it has fallen out of use.

Most people now look up phone numbers online.

"An increasing number of Canadians, particularly in urban areas, use our online and mobile resources such as Canada411.ca to find residential phone numbers," YPG spokeswoman Annie Marsolais stated in a news release.

"Our priority is to continue to make listings available to users in the format of their choice. All who wish to receive a printed directory can request one while those who prefer to use our online or mobile resources are encouraged to do so."

In 2010, YPG introduced the same initiative in the cities of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, the Ottawa-Gatineau area and Quebec City.

"Given the results of the same initiative in other urban areas, we're confident that Winnipeg is also ready for a residential directory by request only program," Marsolais said.

The distribution by request of the residential directory in Winnipeg will decrease directory distribution in the city by approximately 500,000 copies.