Long Telephone Company Tradition Comes to an End

When's the last time you used a telephone book? If you're like most people it's probably been quite a while.  That's why Verizon has applied for and received permission to end publication and delivery of its business telephone book. People who still want to receive it can by request.

Verizon says use of the internet to look up phone numbers has made phone directories obsolete. Additionally, so many people have opted to go exclusively with cell phones and those numbers aren't even included in phone directories.

A 2014 survey showed that only 6 percent of people used phone directories. Verizon discontinued publication of residential listings in 2010 and since then they say only about 1 percent of their customers have requested a printed phone book.

Verizon also says it's also a environmentally-friendly decision. A bonus of discontinuing to print phone directories is that it will prevent the unnecessary use of paper for printing.