The Seattle City Council’s Public Utilities and Neighborhoods Committee unanimously approved a bill (.pdf) yesterday afternoon to mandate an opt-out program for yellow page phone books. If approved by the full council, as looks likely, the legislation would prohibit yellow pages publishers from distributing books to people who don’t want them and charge them a fee for recovering the recycling cost.
But the bill still faces opposition from yellow-page companies. If passed, it will be the first of its kind in the country, and phone book publishers are scared of other cities adopting similar bills. A couple of weeks ago, phone book flacks stormed City Hall to oppose the opt-out registry and 40 cent recovery fee for yellow pages. They even threatened legal action if the legislation passed, citing a free speech violation if they weren’t allowed to litter doorsteps with their gigantic ad books.
But Council Member Mike O’Brien, the bill’s sponsor, refused to make any major compromises to the opt-out nature of the program. The only change: Instead of the 40 cent fee, it was broken down into 14 cents for every phone book delivered to the city and $148 for every ton of yellow pages distributed in the city to cover the cost of running the opt-out system and recycling. (It costs the city $148 to recycle a ton of mixed paper, and O’Brien thought it only fair that the phone companies pay for it.) He said that the city is confident that the fee structure would not be challenged in court.
The ordinance does not say anything about publishers having to recover phone books from people who didn’t want them. In the past, Dex has picked up unwanted phone books after receiving complaints, but that hasn’t always worked. If a publisher delivers a phone book to people who have opted out, he will be investigated and charged a penalty established by Seattle Public Utilities.
The opt-out system will take effect by April 2011, if it’s passed. Once an address is filed in the opt-out registry, phone-book companies cannot deliver to the address until the business or resident moves or they ask to be taken off the list.
Needless to say, yellow pages companies are sulking. “We are disappointed the current proposal does not take our” proposal into consideration, said YPA director of public policy Amy Healy. But environmental advocates are ecstatic. “I think it will be hugely popular with citizens of Seattle,” said Jeanette Henderson of Zero Waste Seattle.
What about the huge number of Seattlites that live in multi-unit housing? How do you prove they delivered a book to those who opted out when they just dump 50 books in the lobby or outside the front door?
If you say, “Hey opted out!” they could say, “Well, uh… count the books, I don’t think we delivered one for your unit.”
This will be the sort of thing that will have national free speech implications. Mark my words, if they appeal, it will reach at least the 9th circuit.
Let them appeal away – I honestly don’t see how the unwanted delivery of what is essentially a giant slab of advertising constitutes “free speech”, unless they want to argue that advertising itself has some sort of political component – does it?
“Narrator: A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don’t do one.”
They’ll appeal until there is no more viable financial reason to not appeal.
Want to know what to do with your old phone books?
Just do what I do and toss them in the Billionaires Tunnel, or give them to the Tiger Breeding Labs at Seattle Center.
What if I want the Dex book but not the others, the ones with fewer and mostly worthless ads?
Can I opt out of some phonebooks, but keep getting the Dex?
CM O’Brien, please advise.
Hi, @6, the ordinance says you can opt out of some or all yellow pages books.
Sweet. Good to know, Riya.
They can probably easily make an argument that they be allowed to print the phone books based on free speech rights. But that doesn’t give them the right to dump their garbage on my private property. No way that argument has traction.
Yeah… Isn’t there a lawyer who wants to take on a class action lawsuit for the hell of it? I don’t own a landline, and I have never requested a phone book.
What gives a private company the right to drop off unwanted items on a stranger’s private property? And, if that’s okay, then is there any reason why I cannot start a company who picks up unwanted phone books and drops them off on the lawns/front porches of telephone company lobbyists?
Hi, @ Will, No probs!
Riya, better watch out. I bet free alternative weekly newspaper are next!
So, can someone just write a script that enters every address into the database, one by one? Perhaps distribute the work to IP addresses around the city (via volunteers downloading an app), so it doesn’t look like it all came from one script?
The Yellow Pages publishers have become a trash-for-profit industry now that most people get their information online. They resist accountability so that they can over sell their relevance to advertisers. Distribution of books doesn’t equal usage, and that’s what they’re fighting so hard to protect. Were the number of books delivered only the ones that were actually used, their profits would drop. Big thanks to Mike O’Brien for standing up to this corporate bullshit.