The 2017/18 Yellow Pages and White Pages Bathurst book is currently being delivered to homes and businesses across the city.

The directory is produced by Sensis, and chief executive officer John Allan said deliveries in Sydney are based on a “smart distribution system”.

Areas with a “high concentration of book users” and older residents receive books, while “dense apartment dwellings” with younger people receive less books.

Mr Allan said there was still a “high usage of the directory in regional areas” and it would continue to be delivered in Bathurst for “many years to come”.

Full response from Sensis

Q – How many phone directories are being delivered across the Bathurst local government area?

A – The Yellow and White Pages (co-bound directory) is delivered to over 80 per cent of the residential and business Bathurst region.

Q – How does this number compare to 10 years ago?

A – This number is similar to 10 years ago.

Q – Can you opt in or out of deliveries? How?

A – Yes, you can go to www.directoryselect.com.au and register to opt out.

Q – I have been told that parts of Sydney no longer have a telephone directory delivered, why is this? 

A – In Sydney we use a ‘smart distribution system’, meaning that more books are delivered to suburbs with a high concentration of book users versus some suburbs with low usage which receive less books.

For example, Waterloo in Sydney has very dense apartment dwellings with an above average number of younger, inner urban and high digital use consumers so receive less books, however Hunters Hill in Sydney has one of the highest concentration of people over 50 who use a print directory or have less access to the internet, so we focus on delivering these consumers a book.

Sydney consumers can also go to www.directoryselect.com.au and opt out of book delivery.

Conversely if a book user lives in a street where the book is not delivered they can go to www.directoryselect.com.au and register to receive a free local directory and we’ll ensure they receive one to their house or business.

Q – I have been told that internet coverage has led to the phase-out of directories being delivered, is this correct? Why?

A – No, we still publish the Yellow and White Pages for every region of Australia and have in place Smart Distribution in many capital cities and some larger regional centres.

We are continually measuring use of the print directories and will meet the changing demands of local consumers as they move from print to digital. 

Our research shows that the Yellow and White Pages is a highly valued community service and very important to a large number of mature Australian’s who prefer print to search for a local business or government department or where they may not have easy access to the internet.

Q – As the NBN roll out continues, and internet improves in regional areas, will the delivery of directories be phased out in places like Bathurst?

A – We still see high usage of the directory in regional areas served by the NBN.

For example, Tasmania was the first to receive the NBN in 2009/2010 and Roy Morgan research (Sept 2017) shows that around 40 per cent of people who live in Burnie and Launceston used the White Pages print directory in the past 12 months.

We see similar numbers of users in Bathurst so we’ll be publishing the Yellow and White Pages directory for the local community for many years to come.

Q – How long do you expect Bathurst residents to keep receiving deliveries of telephone directories?

A – See above.