I happen to be one of the owners of MyJunkTree and as a new company I search the web to see if we are getting any visibility out there and I post on relevant blogs.
We launched the company because we were tired of all the junk mail we were receiving and we personally did not want to bounce all over the web to contact all the different companies to stop it all. First and foremost we wanted to let people choose what they wanted to let come to their home knowing that some people really do like some of the coupons and catalogs. So our clients choose what they want stopped.

We also had to provide a service that is different than the other services out there, so here is what we offer:

1. We have a database of over 1300 catalogs that you can choose to stop.
2. We have over a 2000 charities/Non-Profits that you can stop solicitations from.
3. Stop the delivery of the national phone directories.
4. Stop the delivery of the weekly coupons.
5. Stop the general credit card offers as well as the ones from your own major bank.
6. Stop the miscellaneous junk mail from the data brokers.
7. You can register on the National Do Not Call Registry from the website.
8. You can order your no strings attached free annual credit report right from the website.
9. We plant trees with every new membership.

And, yes we are a paid service and yes you can do everything that we do for free, if you want to do all the research and spend the time contacting the companies yourself it can easily be done. We have just done all of the legwork for our clients and feel there is value in the service we provide.

They finally delivered our phone books today, and I got two sets; one at my front door, one at my back door! Clearly I'm being punished for going against poular opinion :->

There is a phone number on the bag.

Call it.

800-dex-knows
(866? 877?)

They will remove you. Now tell all your friends.

Consumers can “opt out” of receiving telephone books at www.YellowPagesGoesGreen.org. We will contact the publishers and inform them to stop delivering books. This is a free service for consumers. www.YellowPagesGoesGreen.org is working with state and local governments on ordinances concerning the delivery of unsolicited telephone books. www.YellowPagesGoesGreen.org is not against the telephone books but against the delivery of 4 to 5 pounds of paper on people’s door step 5 to 6 times per year and being told it is our responsibility to recycle something we did not ask for. If we need a book we will call. Otherwise I “opt out” from receiving it.

Just this weekend I was driving the girls to something and as we pulled out of our driveway they were coming up to our door step. I said, “wait! No! we don’t want those!” but the delivery people didn’t speak English and kind of just ignored me.

My kids were really confused. “Mommy, why are you yelling at them? What are they giving us that we don’t like?”

I said “phone books honey”

My 5 year old said, “maybe we can use them for Jo to sit on when she is a little bigger.”

I guess there’s that.

It should be illegal.

It should.

Elttaes, great idea. Bring them right back so they can deal with them. I'm gonna do it.

Plus the people who delivered the phone books around 73rd stole all cherries off the neighbors trees. I saw them take bags full. losers

I know I'll be the lone voice in the wilderness here, and I certainly see that they are hugely wasteful if they're going to people who don't want them, but I actually still use my phone book. Dex's search tool is just unbeleivably useless, so when I'm trying to look at an array of businesses in a given field it's much much easier to find the info in the actual phone book than it is online. Also the "blue section" with the government listings is extremely useful. I'm all internet all the time about most things but I'm still a 20th century girl on this one.

I found this online:

http://www.paperlesspetition.org/

Who knows if it'll do any good...

I think The Stranger collected them last year and then dumped them in a heap in front of the Dex office. Hee hee.

Phone books are like FOX News. No one with common sense wants to look as its filled with useless incorrect crap.

@ Josh... we should build a giant bottle of water out of the phone books, the Mayor will be outraged. And don't the phone books come in plastic bags as well? Dex is so busted.

You guys aren't thinking about this the right way. It's all about PR. We need to all take our phone books down to some park and have someone build a structure out of them, then the photo goes on the cover of the PI and the THEN the mayor get on their case.

I agree that it seems archaic, but they aren't doing it to make you angry. The Dex website tells you where to recycle your phone book, and now the next step is making them aware that you don't want it. While I didn't find a way to "stop service" on the site (only did a quick look) I did email them the feedback. If we all do that they might get the picture. Let them know!!

We managed to stop them at work, but I woke up yesterday to fnd them on the doorstep here at home. Which is where they still are until one of us chucks them in the recycle bin.

The yellow page ad ppl are the worst. A woman came into our shop one day trying to sell us an ad, and argued with us for waaaaay too long. She was not convinced that we did not need an expensive yellow pages ad that no one will ever look at because everyone uses the internet.

They even list the URL to find all the same info via the web on the bag. DUMB.

You may want to note that one of thier distro centers is local in Ballard, I think in the neighborhood of Walts off 15th.

We plan on dumping thier garabge right back on thier doorstep.

Would you believe we do not get a phone book?! So my husband picks them up in the racks outside the markets such as Fred Meyer. I find them totally useless - all the listings are obsolete and for businesses that operate using ancient practices. Darn! There may be one good reason to live in a gated community.

So a solution might be to take the phone books and place them on the racks at Fred Meyer to be used by those who think they need them.

The "phone company" came late to the party and still hasn't joined us in the new millennium. I worked there when everyone had a landline and "mobile phones" were just becoming a rich man's toy. They didn't bother to think proactively, instead waiting to see if others made a profit and then reacting. Dex broke away as its own company but maintains the same mentality.

The money is in selling yellow page advertising - once sold, they don't care what happens after. They feel they can deflect any negatives - just recycle !

Wow! M, you & I are on the same wave length. Yesterday when I got home and saw the phone books my first reaction was to call Dex and tell them that they need to come pick up the trash they left in front of my house. It is so frustrating

Do people even use phone books anymore? (besides my parents)

it's interesting that the city is thinking about legislating grocery bags but the yellow pages companies can still dump 10 pounds of useless paper on your front porch. i say let's get the major on the case.