How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money? • Hacker News Board

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#51

Post by dogma1138 » Thu, Oct 08, 2015, 8:04 PM UTC

cc438 wrote: post #47

jellicle wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google also does a horrible job in urban areas, giving businesses a dozen miles away (~ 1 hour travel time) over businesses within a five minute walk.

Some of that is Google's fault but I place most of the blame on the businesses themselves. I'd understand it if most of the local businesses that forgo an online presence were all 1-4 person, family operations where they're all too old to have a "Google it first" mindset. However the majority of businesses that refuse to register themselves with Google have no excuse. I can search for the closest laundromat, tire sho…

Didn't google use street view data to register allot of businesses?

On the anecdotal evidence side there are 3 laundromats within about 2 min walk from my house, 2 are on a high street and can be found in Google, one is a part of a chain but the other is owned by a Persian guy who's way into his 60's (which still owns a flip phone, and i don't think he knows how to register with Google), 1 is in a mews (like an alley for you yanks) and it's not listed, the coffee shop in the same mews isn't listed either even tho every coffee shop on the high street is. If you open streetview you can walk through the high street but you can't get into the mews.

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#52

Post by itsybitsycoder » Thu, Oct 08, 2015, 11:20 PM UTC

cc438 wrote: post #47

jellicle wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google also does a horrible job in urban areas, giving businesses a dozen miles away (~ 1 hour travel time) over businesses within a five minute walk.

Some of that is Google's fault but I place most of the blame on the businesses themselves. I'd understand it if most of the local businesses that forgo an online presence were all 1-4 person, family operations where they're all too old to have a "Google it first" mindset. However the majority of businesses that refuse to register themselves with Google have no excuse. I can search for the closest laundromat, tire sho…

Why is this the business's responsibility? Like, I understand why they might want to do this, because it will increase traffic, but we're talking about its usefulness as a service to potential customers. If I started a service like this and the data sucked, wouldn't that be my fault even if I had an easy registration process for businesses?

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#53

Post by ddingus » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 5:28 PM UTC

JoshTriplett wrote: post #48

ddingus wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Me too. For a while, I lived in a largish place with two nice fireplaces. Every catalog, junk mail, etc... went right in. There was some door to door guy who would come by asking about my interest in various things and offering catalogs. Question: "Sir, how do you use catalogs and the yellow pages?" Answer: "Home heating, please sign me up for more." He laughed his ass off, "Seriously?" To which I replied, "No Joke,…

> For a while, I lived in a largish place with two nice fireplaces. Every catalog, junk mail, etc... went right in. Phonebooks don't seem to burn very well in a fireplace without careful tending; oxygen doesn't get between the pages well enough.

Yes.

What I would often do is over extend the binding and tear the book. If you take a minute or two and over flex the binding, you can get it to stand up with the pages spread out. Put other bits around the book, and the whole thing burns fairly well. Sure, some poking about might be needed well into the burn, but it's not all that much.

It's true, just full on burning the book never works. But sections of it work just fine. Burn a few calories prepping the thing, and it's possible to get a reasonable burn.

Frankly, I wasn't too worried about it being 100 percent complete. A few unburnt bits were no big deal. And it was nice ambiance.

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#54

Post by eddyg » Sat, Oct 10, 2015, 11:39 AM UTC

If you want to stop phone books from being delivered (and you're in the U.S.) start with https://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/

Re: How Do the Yellow Pages Still Make Money?

#55

Post by protomyth » Sat, Oct 10, 2015, 4:36 PM UTC

protomyth wrote: post #41

protomyth wrote: post #27

Because Google does a horrible job when you need a business in a rural area. It gives businesses hundreds of miles away first. The yellow pages still have its uses. Heck, Apple and Siri are worse. Whoever did the location part of maps missed a lot.

To give a simple example: "nearest gas station" - Google gives 3 in the next town over, but skips the tribally owned one (which is $.05 cheaper) that you pass on the way to the ones listed. Siri gives one station 10 miles away that you pass 4 stations to get to. "nearest grocery store" - Google gets this one correct listing the two on the reservation and the closest one in the next town. Siri skips both on the reserv…

I have one more to add. I had to drive from New Rockford ND to 4 Bears Casino in New Town ND on Friday. I know how to get to New Town[1], but have never gone to the casino[2]. I search Siri for "4 Bears Casino New Town North Dakota" and get nothing. I then type its address (which I am confirming as I post) "202 Frontage Rd, New Town, ND 58763" into Maps.app. It then shows a place in Connecticut (different state and different zip code).

1) do not go through Minot no matter what the GPS says

2) a lot of meetings are held at various tribal casinos since they all have a lot of conference rooms and are convenient to the hotel that is almost always built next to the casino.