State Corporation Commission Approves Verizon's Request to Stop Automatic Delivery of Printed Residential White Pages in Virginia

The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) on Thursday (May 5) granted Verizon's request to end the automatic delivery of printed Verizon residential white pages listings to customers in the state.  The company intends to provide customers with an online, electronic version of white pages residential listings as the primary means to access such directory information. Customers also will be able to request a free printed or CD-ROM directory of residential listings.  In addition, print directories - containing business and government white pages, customer information pages and the yellow pages - will continue to be delivered.

Verizon in August 2010 asked the SCC to waive the existing requirement to deliver residential white pages in print format.  The company noted that significant human and natural resources are expended annually to print and automatically distribute directories to customers who may not want or use them. 

The following statement should be attributed to Robert Woltz Jr., president of Verizon Virginia:

"While we will review the details of the commission's order thoroughly, the decision to allow Verizon to end the automatic delivery of residential white pages listings is good news for consumers and the environment.  People who don't use the residential white pages listings will not get a Verizon SuperPages directory they don't necessarily want, and those who do use the listings will be able to get them easily online or by asking for a print or CD-ROM version.

"In addition, moving from automatic to on-request delivery of white pages listings will save an estimated 1,640 tons of paper from Virginia's waste stream.  Reducing the use of paper is a significant part of Verizon's comprehensive sustainability efforts."

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