[OSM-talk] Business listings

[Phil Endecott]

Lars Aronsson wrote:
> I doubt that any "yellow pages" catalog covers a critical mass of 
> all business any longer.  We're back to the 19th century, when, 
> before telephones, various private publishers printed "address 
> calendars".

Just jumping in with a random factoid here.  I read a piece in the 
finance section of a newspaper today about Yell.  It was saying that 
they are seen as somewhat "recession proof", i.e. they are affected 
less than average during a downturn, because, quote: "when things get 
bad, cancelling the advert in the Yellow Pages is almost the last thing 
that any business does".

I'm not sure how far you can extrapolate from that, but I think it's 
still fair to say that Yellow Pages covers most businesses.  Certainly 
the copies that arrive on my doorstep each year (and go straight into 
the recycling bin) are not getting any thinner.


Phil.