Ire raised over the new phone books

News

Posted By HEATHER IBBOTSON

Updated 1 month ago

Don't turn to your new phone book if you want to look up a cousin in Cayuga, a pal in Port Dover or a former neighbour in Norwich.

Those communities and 27 others in Norfolk, Haldimand and Oxford counties are no longer included in the new Brantford and Brant County phone books currently being delivered to area residents.

"I've had my dander up about it. It's most annoying," said Brantford resident Joan Johnson. "I've rescued my old one from the blue box."

Perry Schwartz, senior manager of communication with the Yellow Pages Group in Toronto said on Friday that "there can be confusion" with the new format.

"We're looking at improving for the future," he said.

Overall, the changes to this year's phone book are intended to bring the local book's white pages content in line with the local Yellow Pages content, and reflect what is being done with directories in other markets across Ontario and Quebec, Schwartz said.

The phone book is produced by the Yellow Pages Group, which is a separate entity from Bell Canada.

The Yellow Pages Group is in the business of selling advertising and printing and publishing the phone book, Perry said.

Bell Canada's only involvement in the publication is providing the white page listings, which the Yellow Pages Group prints as it sees fit.

In previous years, the geographic boundaries of content in the Yellow Pages were not consistent with the white pages content, and now they are, Schwartz said.

"It comes down to the way boundaries are considered from a Yellow Pages perspective," he said.

Schwartz said that Yellow Pages Group research indicates that one in two Canadians consult the printed Yellow Pages for business information but that less than one-third of people turn to a printed directory when seeking a residential listing.

"People are using the internet more and more people have mobile phones and smart phone devices to do lookups," he said.

In some large markets, such as Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver, the phone book is delivered only to residences that request it, Schwartz said.

While the residential listings for 30 communities formerly listed in the Brantford and area phone book are no longer included, an alphabetical white pages business section behind the residential listings still includes these towns and villages, arranged by location.

As a result of limiting the scope of white pages listings to conform with local Yellow Pages, the company this year is producing six different editions for local areas previously covered by one.

The six editions are Brantford, Hagersville, Simcoe, Ingersoll, Woodstock and Tillsonburg. The white pages content in each of these areas is now limited to conform to the Yellow Pages relevant to that immediate area.

This cutback on content also means using less paper, Schwartz said.

White pages listings in last year's phone book, from Beachville to Woodstock, ran for 410 pages.

This year's local listings, purely alphabetical Brantford and Brant Countyonly residential listings along with the wider area's business listings, total 212 pages.

However, the use of plastic i n c reased, at least in one small sample. Phone books delivered to The Expositor in past years came in large bundles but, in this year's delivery of about 50 phone books each one was wrapped individually in a plastic wrapper.

And, despite all the content exclusions in the new phone book, it retains the old cover title of "Brant, Oxford, Haldimand, Norfolk, including Brantford, Caledonia, Dunnville, Ingersoll, Paris, Simcoe, Tillsonburg, Woodstock and area."

hibbotson@theexpositor.com

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