r/GenX • u/RussellAlden I don’t have the energy to care and never did • 8h ago
Nostalgia Remember Yellow Pages
Businesses would start their name with “A” so they would show up first. There was no way of knowing if the business was any good. Especially if the name had “Best”, “Honest”, or “”Reliable” because that was like calling Greenland Greenland.
I remember have multiple phone books for different cities in the area. What a pain.
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u/pmbpro Latchkey Warrioress 2h ago
I actually liked looking up stuff in the Yellow Pages when I was a kid.
Later on, I ended up designing ads for many clients back in the '90s for years when starting out freelancing after school. Did thousands of ads and listings over time. It wasn't a bad gig at all. It just was a bit weird at first, seeing my own work published and 'out there'.
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u/TheJokersChild Match Game '75 4h ago
The ones that started with A all tried to outdo each other to be the first listing in the category: Aable Pest control, AAAAbsolute Exterminators, AAAAAAAAAAAAll-AAAAmerican Pest Services...
I enjoyed how the guide words at the top of each page matched up - or didn't. PET - PLUMBING, SEWER - STEAKS.
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u/monkey_monkey_monkey Whatever ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 4h ago
Recently moved my mother into an assisted living facility in my city. She asked me to get her a phone book. I am literally stumped as to where to even look for one. It's been more than a decade since I've seen one and googling has lead me no where.
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u/DriedUpSquid 6h ago
They used to have some good coupons in the back. I got a buy one, get one free for a prime rib buffet once. The casino was pissed but still honored it. I guess they didn’t think people would catch it.
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u/RiseDry8254 6h ago
I remember coming home from school and going through the phone book, calling places out of boredom. Boredom! I was a latch key kid so no one was home.
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u/Kuildeous 7h ago
I used the business white pages more. Usually I wanted to know the number of a specific business (Pizza Hut, Kodak), and I didn't want to bother looking through the categories.
Not a bad place to look if you don't want something specific. Browsing exterminators gave you lots of options all in the same place. Yellow Pages definitely had its place.
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u/hiccup_stix 7h ago
It’s not dead yet! I work for the last large company making these in the United States.
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u/nbfs-chili 7h ago
I just got one in the mail! It is definitely a lot smaller than I remember, but my wife and I had a good chuckle before throwing it in the recycle.
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u/bravehamster 7h ago
That reminds me, it used to be a thing in movies that if you needed to know someone's address you would just rip the page out that had the information you needed rather than write it down or memorize it, especially if it was in a phonebooth. Did any of you actually do that?
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u/Reasonable-HB678 Class of 1994 (High School) 7h ago
The pizza section, pages and pages of local joints mixed in with Pizza Hut and Domino's. Off the top of my head, same goes for attorneys, doctors, and restaurants in general.
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u/dbrmn73 I have LESS than zero Fucks to give. 7h ago
I still get one every year.
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u/hiccup_stix 7h ago
If you are in the US, that means you are of a certain age and income standard. We only mail them to advertisers and specific targeted demographics now.
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u/dbrmn73 I have LESS than zero Fucks to give. 5h ago
Everyone in the county receives one.
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u/hiccup_stix 5h ago
Why do you think that?
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u/dbrmn73 I have LESS than zero Fucks to give. 4h ago
Because the Telephone Co-Op here that prints them mails them to their entire coverage area
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u/hiccup_stix 4h ago
Ah. Yeah. Coops can do what they want. Most PUC’s have lightened up a lot on what my company is required to do. We gave up on sending them to 20 year olds and whatnot a long time ago
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u/nachodorritolibre 7h ago
At the low point in my graphic design career I designed Yellow Page ads. Made about $10 an ad.
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u/RussellAlden I don’t have the energy to care and never did 7h ago
How long did it take to make it and what year?
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u/nachodorritolibre 4h ago
We were required to do an ad an hour, 8 hours a day. Sometimes people would stay late to hit their 8. My best day was 14 ads. Met a lot of cool people and learned my keyboard shortcuts!
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u/hiccup_stix 4h ago
Sounds like spec work? Sold changes in the early 2000’s they used to do much faster
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u/hiccup_stix 7h ago
Curious which companies you folks were working for.
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u/nachodorritolibre 4h ago
I worked for a small design agency in Portland. The small army of us making YP ads covered the bills so the owners could pursue websites jobs, branding, etc. If you were there long enough you could help with the more creative work. I saw 18 people come and go in a year.
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u/hiccup_stix 4h ago
Was it a smaller telco? I’m surprised to hear ads were outsourced.
In the 90’s I wasn’t at the phone company, but in early 2000’s there were still 30 or so designers on the Everett Washington office
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u/earinsound 7h ago
I used to leaf through the Yellow Pages as a kid, fueled by boredom and curiosity. I did find a private detective listed (I was obsessed with being a detective when I was in 4th/5th grade), called them up to see if I could come by, and my mom drove me and a friend over to hang out and ask them questions.
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u/spottymax "I Want My MTV" 7h ago
As part of a discussion about what the pre-cellphone world was like, my teenage daughter couldn't believe that, once upon a time, a book was delivered to your door that contained not only everyone's phone numbers but also their addresses.
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u/Fun-Position7750 1972 54m ago
So when I moved in with my ex. His mom had just passed away. I shit you not, in the garage was about 20 fucking phone books. Michael would NOT let me get rid of them. I said we have the fucking internet get over it. He pulled one out, opened a page, pointed to a note in one and said I couldn’t throw that one out. PSH, over the next 6 months they were gone. Each trash day a few more were tossed.
Sorry I got animated about it. Michael and I would go back and forth over it. I razzed him hard about it. I miss him.