Directory | YPGG - Why Green?

Innovating ‘Green’ .ORG Site Yellow Pages Goes Green Announces Rebranding As YellowPagesDirectory.com

August 25, 2019 / Lee Ann Rush / 0 Comments

NEW YORK, NY - A New York based Yellow Pages company has announced it is re-branding itself as YellowPagesDirectory.com. An innovator in Yellow Pages listings, the website, which began as InteractiveCities.com in 2006, hosts over 27,000,000 business listings and over 280,000,000 residential White Pages listings in the United States.

The service originally re-branded itself YellowPagesGoesGreen.org in 2010 when the business took a significant turn towards an environmentally sound mission pushing hard for the total elimination of print phone books. Together with online petition site PaperlessPetition.org, the two urged for an environmentally sound solution for consumers to opt-out of print phone book delivery gathering thousands of signatures which were then forwarded on to phone book companies. The service was the only one of its kind and attracted tremendous response from consumers looking to opt-out creating an undeniable and needed response from phone companies.

For years, YellowPagesGoesGreen.org continued to work with municipalities and local governments around the country to establish ordinances to mandate Yellow Pages and White Pages only be delivered to home and offices that ask for them. As a result, in 2010, the city of Seattle passed the first ordinance requiring phone-book companies to let residents opt out of getting the yellow pages and assigned the companies penalties for each unwanted book delivered.

The law was the first of its kind and was fought by the Local Search Association, an organization representing Yellow Pages publishers with the organization winning the case and striking down the law, however, the growing awareness of the case and its purpose did ‘prompt’ or ‘persuade’ the Local Search Association to create the first opt-out mechanism now found online at www.yellowpagesoptout.com.

Today, with its mission firmly remaining in place, the business believes it is time to move forward with its new URL which has already been implemented and a new look and feel to be replaced in the coming weeks. After nine years of operations as the only true economically known ‘green’ Yellow Pages, the sites web address changed last month from yellowpagesgoesgreen.org to yellowpagesdirectory.com and its design was completely revamped.

"The key in an effective website service is online traffic and visibility. We hope these changes will make our site so much better and easier to navigate. We continue to be one of the lowest cost yellow pages solution in America and our goal to improve our client’s businesses and website visibility will remain a top priority,” said CEO Michael Keegan.

Yellow Pages Directory Inc., owner of both YellowPagesGoesGreen.org and PaperlessPetition.org, offers an environmentally friendly Web-based alternative to paper telephone directories. Both YellowPagesGoesGreen.org and PaperlessPetition.org were instrumental in promoting opt-out awareness across the United States.

Non-Profit Organization Using White Pages to Connect Homeless People with Their Families

June 7, 2019 / Chris Boyle / 0 Comments

NEW YORK - In life, there are few things more disconcerting and isolating than homelessness. Often, these people are the victims of a wide range of maladies – including job loss and mental illness – but whatever the cause for their situation, once they've embraced a life on the streets it can be quite difficult for the people who care most about them to track them down and offer a helping hand.

Reuniting a homeless person with their family can provide numerous benefits; aside from having a roof over their head, of course, it offers them a more positive outlook on life, as well as people who can advocate for them if they are experiencing any mental or physical health-related issues. File photo: Pixabay.

However, there is a new organization that is helping to track down the families of people residing at homeless shelters in an effort to help them get their lives back on track. Miracle Messages is a non-profit “reunion service” that helps people experiencing homelessness reunite with their loved ones in a positive and supportive way. Often, volunteers of this organization will visit homeless shelters and get to know some of the regular inhabitants. Sometimes these people can be difficult to communicate with, making it difficult to extrapolate any information from them that can be used to track down their families. But with proper training and a “can-do” attitude, the volunteer can take a few scraps of information – utilized in conjunction with an online White Pages directory – and cultivate very real connections to an individual's past.

Of course, a reunion may not be desired on one end or the other – or both, for that matter – but the goal of groups like Miracle Messages is to simply provide a way to open a channel of communication without mandating that a party on either end actually makes use of it.

Miracle Messages relays the story of a man named Timothy, who was living at one point recently at a homeless shelter in San Francisco known as Saint Anthony's. A volunteer took a family phone number that he had – a phone number that was actually incorrect – and used that along with whatever information Timothy could recall about his family and where he lived, and used that to discover a White Pages listing for the man's sister. The volunteer wrote a letter, and heard back from Timothy's family within a week. In less than a month, Timothy had boarded a bus set for his home back east and a reunion with his loved ones; it turns out that Timothy's family had been searching for him for quite some time, but due to whatever issues he was experiencing, they were unable to locate him. It's amazing what a little detective work – combined with a White Pages directory – can accomplish.

The United States currently has over 500,000 homeless people within its borders; all of those people have their own individual stories of how they came to their current state. But the one thing they almost all have in common is a deep sense of loneliness, which is a condition that is only exasperated by having to rely on the charity of others in order to eke out an existence on this planet. What many of these people need, more than anything else, is help getting in touch with the people that love and care for them, and thankfully there are now options out there for achieving that.

Reuniting a homeless person with their family can provide numerous benefits; aside from having a roof over their head, of course, it offers them a more positive outlook on life, as well as people who can advocate for them if they are experiencing any mental or physical health-related issues.

Miracle Messages and similar organizations are part of a growing movement to help do away with homelessness in our country, having reconnected hundreds of people with their families to date. In addition to helping individuals, this also serves practical purposes for society, as the average undomiciled person typically cost taxpayers, on average, over $35,000 a year in public assistance. In addition, most governmental aid systems place a priority on assisting families and women; someone like Timothy could have found himself lost in the system for years before getting the assistance he needed, if ever.

Of course, there are other digital avenues the volunteers can use to reunite people who have been separated from their families, aside from the White Pages; Facebook is an effective means of doing so, according to Miracle Messages. Another case in California involved a man named Jeffrey who hadn't seeing his family members in 22 years. A volunteer, after getting to know Jeffrey, recorded a video of him on their phone and posted it to Facebook; there it went viral, and within less than 30 minutes Jeffrey’s sister was tagged and soon afterwards, the family was reunited.
When it comes to helping out helping to wipe out the scourge of homelessness in our country once and for all, it doesn't take much; just a little compassion, detective work, and access to a digital phone directory or social media site. From there, it's just a matter of setting up an avenue of communication and waiting to see if the parties involved will take it.

Consumers Beware – Yellow Pages Goes Green® Warns of Ongoing Yellow Pages Invoice Scam

September 7, 2018 / Chris Boyle / 0 Comments

NEW YORK, NY - According to a nationwide coalition of State Attorney General's Offices, small businesses across the country are being targeted by a unique and dangerous scam; one designed specifically to separate them from their heard-earned money, and they’re using their local Yellow Pages to do it.

The scam comes in the form of solicitations sent out to the businesses in question that, at first glance, appear to be invoices from the local Yellow Page Directory. Typically, these invoices are mailed out by companies located outside of the state in which the victim is located, and while these companies at times actually do publish directories, they will usually only contain listings for a very limited number of businesses. However, sometimes these companies don’t even publish a directory at all.

These invoices can be very deceiving, as often they will be very official-looking, utilizing the well-known “walking fingers” logo and the term “Yellow Pages,” both of which are actually trademarks that exist in the public domain, according to court rulings. In addition, the invoice will include the phone number of the business, and other information, such as the name of an account representative and a request to update their listing if any aspect of it is outdated. These are all techniques to trick the victim into believing that an existing relationship exists; such professional-looking documents can certainly be confusing, and it’s that confusion that scammers rely on in order to rip off honest, hard-working businesses.

From there, it’s simply a matter of requesting payment from the victim for a directory listing that may or may not even exist. And if by some miracle the directory being offered by the scammer is actually published, it will be in such limited quantities and distribution that it will be all but useless…which the whole idea of the scam is.

To add to the deception, the paperwork the victim receives may contain contradictory terminology; it may simply be a solicitation – which, but United States Postal Department guidelines, must contain the phrase “THIS IS NOT A BILL.” This that is the case, you are under no obligation to pay or respond. However, if you do choose to respond to the inquiries contained in the document you receive, you may suddenly find yourself unknowingly agreeing to some relationship defined in fine print and entered into an obligation to the scammer, which can end up costing you money. It’s always best to shred and simply throw any such paperwork immediately.

However, the scammers could be especially brazen and pass the scam off as a legitimate invoice; either way, contacting the authorities and reporting such activity is a good idea, not only to protect yourself, but to also help others from falling prey to the scam in the future.

Of course, there’s always the chance that you could receive a real request from your legitimate local Yellow Pages, but since it always pays to be cautious, be sure to do your homework first. Go online and conduct research on the company, and if they have a contact phone number – many scammers won’t – call them and ask questions about distribution, number of directories in circulation, and so on. Also visit them at the Better Business Bureau website and see if they have any complaints lodged against them. You can also call the Attorney General’s Office of your state and do the same.

If you do your research and discover something is indeed amiss, don’t hesitate to report the scammer to the authorities, either through the Attorney General’s Office or the Better Business Bureau.

Being a small business owner in this day and age can be difficult enough, but when you add fraudulent scammers desperate to raid your wallet for your hard-earned cash into the mix, it can be downright maddening. But always remember to regard any suspicious piece of mail or email with a healthy degree of skepticism and, if you feel anything is at all amiss, do your due diligence in order to protect yourself. And if there’s any question that an unsolicited offer might be a scam in disguise, make sure you don’t fall for it, and then report it to the authorities to deal with. That way, you’ll not only keep yourself safe, but you’ll prevent the next business from falling for these unscrupulous individuals as well.

Yellow Pages Print Publisher Inadvertently Omits Entire Counties of Cumberland and Perry Pennsylvania

August 25, 2018 / Lee Ann Rush / 0 Comments

DALLAS, TEXAS - DexYP™, official print directory publisher for CenturyLink, recognized an error in its Cumberland and Perry directory when it discovered the Perry listings were inadvertently omitted from the publication. After evaluating the error, DexYP will produce a supplemental directory for the Cumberland/Perry (Pennsylvania) directory to include the Perry listings that were omitted.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180816005444/en/

The Cumberland/Perry directory is still in distribution, and the supplemental directory is expected to be delivered in the coming weeks. Please keep this supplement with your directory for future reference.

At DexYP, we strive to provide the most complete and accurate information available for all directories. We apologize for the error and have corrected the issues associated with these omissions.

If you would like additional copies of this Supplement, please call 877-243-8339.

About DexYP
DexYP ™ provides all-in-one management software and marketing services to more than 500,000 small businesses across America that enable them to compete and win in today’s on-demand economy. It provides the digital tools and management sophistication that big businesses utilize, arming local businesses with the deep resources they need to survive and thrive. Its flagship product— Thryv ℠—provides small business owners with an all-in-one software that allows them to modernize essential business functions performed manually in the past, or never performed. These include building a digital customer list, communicating with customers via email and text, updating business listings across the internet, accepting appointments, sending notifications and reminders, managing ratings and reviews, generating estimates and invoices, processing payments, and issuing invoices and coupons.

DexYP also provides consumer services through our market-leading search, display and social products—and connects local businesses to the over 50 million monthly visitors of DexKnows.com®, Superpages.com® and yellowpages.com search portals; and local print directories The Real Yellow Pages®. For more information about the company, visit dexyp.com.

View source version on businesswire.com:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180816005444/en/

Yellow Pages Goes Green Survey Results Cement Fact; Consumers Prefer Digital Over Print

August 24, 2018 / Administrator / 0 Comments

Latest results of survey asking consumers if they prefer using print or online Yellow Page directories shows definite – and permanent – shift in public opinion.

EAST NORTHPORT, NY- YellowPagesGoesGreen.org (“YPGG”), a telephone directory at the forefront of the environmentally-conscious “Green” movement, has revealed the latest results of their ongoing homepage survey that asks just one very simple question-do consumers prefer using print or online Yellow Page directories in order to find the purveyors of the goods and services that they want and need? And yet again, by an overwhelming margin, the online option won out, showing a very definite – and permanent – shift in the public’s opinion on their Yellow Page use, and it’s the convenient and high-tech option that safeguards the Earth’s environment at the same time.

An innovator in digital business and telephone directory listings and an advocate for staunch environmentalism, YellowPagesGoesGreen.org is a cutting-edge website that delivers over 28.5 million up-to-the-minute Yellow Page listings and over 200 million White page listings throughout the United States. In addition, YPGG is a pioneer in the national phone book “opt-out” movement that seeks to abolish obsolete print telephone directories that are not only out-of-date by the time they land on doorsteps, but find themselves clogging landfills by the millions shortly thereafter.

YPGG conducts a regular survey on their homepage that asks site users to a question that on the surface may be very simple, yet one that also carries with it serious consequences for the planet’s future- which version of Yellow Pages do you use most? Online or print? The survey is strictly moderated via each user’s unique IP address to ensure that participants are only allowed to vote once, ensuring results that are both fair and completely objective. And those results speak volumes about what the modern consumer looks for when it comes to how they obtain information in this day and age.

The results of YPGG’s online vs. print survey speak for themselves- 65 percent of people indicated a strong preference for online Yellow Pages, representing 2036 individual votes. Meanwhile, the print option managed to only capture a mere 35 percent, with 1118 votes. This not only signifies a staggering win for digitally-delivered business directory options in this particular survey, but also an increase in preference for online Yellow Pages over YPGG’s previous survey. In fact, since the inception of the site’s homepage online vs. print survey, online has won out each and every time, and by an ever-widening margin. Clearly, consumers are turning more and more to easy, reliable, and technologically-savvy solutions to satisfy their informational needs, forsaking print to a greater degree than ever before.

The main reasons people appear to be flocking to digital Yellow Page options are rooted in convenience, comprehensiveness, and staunch environmentalism. YPGG’s listings are also cutting-edge accurate and up-to-date by the second, whereas a print directory is often out-of-date the second it plunks down on your doorstep. In addition, online directories are easily-accessible in an instant by any commonly-available digital device, be it a smartphone, tablet, or laptop computer; in contrast, who is going to lug around a big, heavy phone book? And finally – and most importantly – are the environmental considerations to using online Yellow Page options over print.

Print yellow page directories eat up valuable natural resources by their creation, and damage the environment when their useful lifespan – which is growing shorter and shorter by the day – comes to an abrupt end. WebPT reports that paper accounts for 25% of landfill waste, and one third of municipal landfill waste; Statspotting adds that paper waste accounts for up to 40% of total waste produced in the United States each year, which adds up to 71.6 million tons of paper waste per year in the United States alone. That’s paper that typically ends up rotting in landfills and poisoning the delicate balance of nature for years and decades to come. Compare that to using a smartphone to look up a business listing…a device that fits in your palm or your pocket, whose tech remains relevant for years, and whose use generates ZERO negative environmental impact.

Once again, the YPGG online vs. print survey illustrates the undeniable fact that print Yellow Page directories are indeed on their last legs; with such a wide margin in the results – a margin that is ever-widening each and every year – the YPGG survey uncovers more and more of the truth each and every time it runs; that online Yellow Pages are not only the future, but they are the here-and-now as well, relegating print directors to the past- where they belong.

Yellow Pages Directory Inc., owner of both YellowPagesGoesGreen.org and PaperlessPetition.org, offers an environmentally-friendly Web-based alternative to paper telephone directories while providing a simple and convenient mechanism for customers to opt out from the receipt of printed yellow books. Both web sites have been instrumental in promoting opt-out awareness across the United States over the past several years, and allowing users to reduce their own environmental footprints in the process. Yellow Pages Directory Inc. has also taken steps to reduce its own impact on the environment through the use of the most up-to-date and energy-efficient web-hosting services available.

For more information please visit http://www.YellowPagesGoesGreen.org.

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