Hot Off The Press!

So skinny.  Just a shadow of its former self.  There is no question in my mind that it won’t be around much longer.  The telephone book, like all the other old-fashioned, out-dated communication accoutrements, is on its way out.

The latest edition of Century Link’s Pacific County telephone directory is not quite brochure-size… but close.  Like last year’s book, it includes both the 360 and 564 area codes but, even so… Actually, there are two more white pages.  It’s the yellow pages that have disappeared — from 78 last year to 62 this year.  Probably the fault of web pages and social media and internet advertising in general.  Gone are the days when our automatic go-to option was the yellow pages.

My first reaction to the wimpy book in my mailbox was, “Oh, of course.  Everyone is giving up their landlines. Cell phones are eliminating telephone directories!”  But… there are actually more white pages, so maybe landlines are holding their own.  For now.

Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo

I did notice that there is one additional listing for the Ocean Beach Hospital. Fifteen this year as opposed to fourteen last year.  All  identical  listings, each with a different number.  It seems obvious that each number is for a different hospital department but, unless you have them all sorted and memorized, how in the world does the directory help?  On the other hand… I remember a few years back when the hospital wasn’t listed in the white pages at all.  Nor in the yellow pages.  Nor in the first page listing of emergency numbers!  Go figure.

I went on a brief search for my stash of old phone books — the ones put out by Carlton Appelo and Wahkiakum West Telephone Company back in the day.  They always included a bit of history about the communities in the area — facts and lore you wouldn’t necessarily run across elsewhere.  Unfortunately, I came up empty-handed, but I know those books are tucked away somewhere.  Even when I find them, they won’t be of much use telephone-wise.  But neither is this wimpy current one.