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Former mail carrier lodges phone-book complaint

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BY LISA MUNGER / Lincoln Journal Star

Saturday, Dec 29, 2007 - 11:57:43 pm CST

A former mail carrier from Eagle is fed up with digging her phone books out of roadside snowbanks.

Marjean McIntyre said phone books dropped along the roadside to rural residents create a mess after mail carriers drive over them to get to mailboxes. Her complaint could lead to fines for littering.

“For the third year in a row,” McIntyre said Saturday, “Windstream has dropped phone books by the road, littering.”

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McIntyre said she lodged a complaint last year with a local Windstream representative, who promised her the practice would stop. She called the Cass County Sheriff’s office Saturday when her phone book was again delivered roadside.

Windstream spokesman Chris Hunt said Windstream contracts with Denver-based Local Insight Media to deliver the books. 

Because of the holiday weekend, Hunt said, he was unable to find out the facts behind McIntyre’s complaint.

“It is our goal to make customers satisfied,” Hunt said. “We work very hard to provide the best service.”

When McIntyre retired from her mail route last year, Susan Rockenbach, also of Eagle, took over.

This year, Rockenbach said, she saw phone books sitting by the roadside over the past few days.

“There were quite a few in the ditch,” she said. “It looked like they threw them up in the snow and they slid down from there.”

Rockenbach said she had to drive over quite a few books to reach mailboxes.

Hunt said Windstream will provide new books to customers if phone books are damaged.

“It is our intent to make sure phone books are delivered in good shape,” he said. “We pay an extra expense to have them wrapped in high-quality plastic.”

Representatives from Local Insight Media were not available for comment.

Sgt. Larry Bonnema said an investigation is under way in Cass County regarding McIntyre’s complaint.  If it is determined the books were dumped along the roadway, a littering ticket would be issued. 

In this case, a fine of up to $500 per book could be levied.

McIntyre now owns her own business.

“If I wanted to promote my business, I couldn’t just throw things out the window to market myself,” she said.

Reach Lisa Munger at 473-2646 or lmunger@journalstar.com


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Mail box wrote on December 30, 2007 4:46 am:
" I'll help with their investigation. My elderly parents live just outside the SW City limits and yesterday, we discovered several bags of what turned out to be telephone books dumped by their mailbox in the plowed snow near the street. The delivery person would have had to walk about another 20 feet to reach the front door of their home. Expecting senior citizens to get through this ice and snow to drag heavy phone books back to their house leaves a lot to be desired in the customer service department! "

 way to go Marjean wrote on December 30, 2007 8:24 am:
" Stay on the cops to fine the Denver Based contractor.Just another example of a out of stste contractors doing work that people of Ne. could be doing.I own my own business and quit advertising in the yellow pages when Windstream took over and went to the local news papers and have more calls now then I did before. "

 Kyle Stoner wrote on December 30, 2007 8:28 am:
" They are on the road next to mailboxes in Waverly too. "

 Julie wrote on December 30, 2007 8:41 am:
" On our street, phone books were tossed in the snow at the end of driveways, some in the street itself. I ran ours over when I came home. We live in Lincoln, so it's not like the delivery people have that far to walk to toss them up on our porch. Mine's ruined so I guess I will use the other one delivered right by my front door. Are advertisers paying attention? you payed a lot for Windstream to throw them in the street. "

 dali_36 wrote on December 30, 2007 8:55 am:
" This is also happening in parts of south Lincoln. When going to my parents house a week ago I had to stop my car and get out to move the phone books out of the street where they were dropped. As I looked down the street every house on the block had theirs in the street at the bottom of the driveways. There should be tickets issued to the individuals that are responsible for putting the books where they are. This company hires these people to perform a job and I am sure that they are told the proper place to leave a book is not in the road. Start making people take responsibilty for their actions and quit looking to big business to blame for everything that happens. "

 Sick of it wrote on December 30, 2007 9:41 am:
" I also get tons of new phonebooks a couple times a year. I know the people that deliver to them make money, but it does get to be a nuisiance. Just deliver ONE phone book to each house every year. That's more than enough for me. "

 Not to be a green freak.... wrote on December 30, 2007 9:52 am:
" I also wish that they would offer some type of service so you could put your old phone books out to be picked up and recycled. In Lincoln, I get about 8 phone books a year---seems a little bit wasteful. "

 Craig wrote on December 30, 2007 10:01 am:
" A $500 per book fine for littering seems fair to me. Just do it, don't make idle threats. And fine Windstream don't let them pass the buck to Insight Media. Windstream had ample opportunity to correct this problem. Now let them suffer the consequences. "

 Sick of them wrote on December 30, 2007 10:11 am:
" I just got my new Windstream book last week. Saw the truck going around and wanted to tell them to go away. I receive a new phone book every few months, do my best to get them into the trash so they don't accumulate. What a waste. I'd like to see all of these people fined for littering, trespassing, whatever. Why can't they just have some pick-up locations around town if people want them. "

 yoshiki wrote on December 30, 2007 10:53 am:
" High-quality plastic makes all the difference... "

 Cark wrote on December 30, 2007 10:53 am:
" Personally, I'm sick and tired of all of the phone books period. Why do we need three or four different ones a year, especially when half the people I know aren't in them because people are dropping their land lines in favor of cell phones. Until cell phone numbers are listed, we'd like to opt out of all of them. "

 me 2 wrote on December 30, 2007 12:17 pm:
" I live in a small town west of Lincoln and Windstream threw my book in the front yard. I guess as they drove by. This company is just getting out of hand again. They have the worst customer service in the state and I guess they feel they need to cause a few more problems. Thank God for Vonage!!! "

 good luck wrote on December 30, 2007 12:19 pm:
" Good luck changing this problem... I have the same problem with the berry (red) book each year. "

 Happy wrote on December 30, 2007 12:47 pm:
" This happened in Lincoln too. How lazy can they get. "

 b s wrote on December 30, 2007 12:52 pm:
" sounds like someone is lazy. They can't drive up to the door? "

 Bill wrote on December 30, 2007 1:15 pm:
" Better start fining!! When I shoveled my drive the last
snow, I dug out a phone book, half way on the drive and
half in the street. If the snow plow had come along that
among other would have gone flying. Then my neighbor also
found TWO on the edge of her drive buried in the snow.
You couldn't see them until you hit them with your
shovel. This was in the vicinity of 70th & Old Cheney!! "

 fromer wrote on December 30, 2007 4:20 pm:
" i used to deliver phone books when it was LTT we had to take them to the door and knock or ring the bell wait to see if someone answered then hand it to them if they did not we was to put it some place safe and out of the weather if possible like between screen door and interior door if no place was available then the book was to be wrapped in plastic and propped up against the door and if the book want handed over in person it had to be noted where the book was left in some cases they where left with neighbors that was rare i wish they still did it that way but then again that was LTT not alltel AKA; windstream "

 In the bushes wrote on December 30, 2007 5:04 pm:
" I found my phone book in the bushes under the snow. Whomever tried to deliver it just threw it in the direction of our house. I will keep the Windstream phone book however, even if the delivery was done by some very lazy and careless person. All the other phone books will be promptly thrown in the trash. This city only needs one phone book, but they need to deliver it properly. "

 whitepages.com wrote on December 30, 2007 5:15 pm:
" stop wasting paper. "

 Speaking of lazy... wrote on December 30, 2007 5:33 pm:
" ...why would anyone NOT recycle their old phone book(s)?? There are many locations throughout Lincoln for recycling MOST of your trash. Just do it, huh? "

 James wrote on December 30, 2007 6:57 pm:
" Just one more reason I'm glad I no longer have service with Alltel. Not that Time Warner is great with customer service, but their new digital phone service has been great. It is just the same old song and dance with these overzealous companies. "

 joe9wicket wrote on December 30, 2007 7:07 pm:
" The people that deliver these books are paid by the book, so they are maximizing their time by throwing them here and yonder. Kudos to you deliverers!

Lets see, we have Berry, the company formally employed by Alltel to make the book, Windstream with their own version, Yellowbook, and Quest. Businesses on a limited budget will use one book.... and I for one am getting sick of the solicitation calls I have to field for my boss from all these companies. Where is the Do not Deliver list?

As far as recycling, you can take any book to any Windstream location, or any City drop site... just look it up in the blue pages, if you can remember which phone book has the blue pages.... Remember when the City map used to make sense? "

 former contractor wrote on December 30, 2007 7:25 pm:
" I have delivered windstream phonebooks in the past and now I know why other contractors made 2-3 times as much as I did. While I was placing books by the door, others were merely chucking them at the house. BTW, we were told that since windstream had a charter with the city, they were obligated to provide a book to every person in the city. Many people would initially turn down the phone book, then realize it was the old Alltel/LTT and readily accept the book. The best way to counter this service is to let windstream know that your book was not received in satisfactory condition. It may not help this year, but may avert problems next year. "

 fine wrote on December 30, 2007 8:17 pm:
" Just stop delivering the phone books to them all together. Let them go and pick up their own phone books. "

 peb wrote on December 30, 2007 9:14 pm:
" Just realized I haven't gotten my new phone book--guess I should check in the bushes or snowbank. Until this year mine (2 for no reason) were set nicely by my front door. "

 litterbugs are advertisers wrote on December 30, 2007 9:15 pm:
" Windstream phone books are paid for by advertisers. So any big ads in windstream books are litterbugs... "

 al wrote on December 31, 2007 5:43 am:
" The root of the problem here...Windstream. Just another example of the lack of concern for the customer. And, lazy kids who are hired to get paid on a per book basis...of course they are going to dump every book that they can, no matter where. "

 RE: Sick of them wrote on December 31, 2007 8:37 am:
" To "Sick of them"...you mentioned you threw your books in the trash. I really hope you meant you RECYCLE your phone books! It's so easy - I hope everybody does it. "

 Tara wrote on December 31, 2007 9:14 am:
" I live in an apartment and there are new phone books in the hallway outside my door every other month. I don't want them, and have quit taking them. I never want to see another phone book again in my life--there has to be a way to make them stop... "

 CC wrote on December 31, 2007 9:58 am:
" I know that phone books are paid for by advertising, and the promise that x number of recipients will see the wonderful print. However, it should be mandated into law that if the phone books are delivered, then a recycling service for older phone books must be provided as well. Just attach a piece of paper to the top of the phone book providing the pickup date/time, so that users can put their old phone books out, instead of trashing them. What a waste!!! (literally)

Or, provide an opt-out option to users. They then will have to opt back in to receive books. This allows them to receive phone books only when they feel the need for a new one. "

 Buddha wrote on December 31, 2007 10:51 am:
" I helped a friend deliver Qwest phone books this past summer in Omaha, and we worked a couple residential areas. We were told to put them up on the porches or between the doors, which meant actually running from house to house and putting them in proper places. We EARNED our pay! "

 Wasteful wrote on December 31, 2007 11:02 am:
" Phone books account for double digit percentange of waste at landfills. We don't need four phone books a year, but PLEASE RECYCLE THESE BOOKS INSTEAD OF THROWRING THEM AWAY. "

 Brian wrote on December 31, 2007 12:55 pm:
" How many phone books do people need? I keep the small red one and put the rest at the end of the driveway so whom ever dropped them off, ...can pick them up. I didn't ask for all these phone books, they pile up quick and are just waste. Provide phone books by request. How can I opt out of receiving phone books? There's 3 apartments where I live so I get 3 of every book thrown on my porch. How many trees died for advertising in those phone books? One thing that can turn CO2 back to Oxygen is trees, quit wasting them on redundant resources. Put the whole phone book on the web and call it good.
"

 They Forgot Me wrote on December 31, 2007 1:56 pm:
" I never received any phonebook this year...so am I lucky??? Neither did my neighbors on both sides of me. Usually I get two on my deck--zip, zero, nada, nothing. "

 Curious wrote on December 31, 2007 2:15 pm:
" Why haven't the telephone companies gone to listing residential numbers online, like an online white pages? Seems to me they could include them with their yellow pages website, and have them constantly updated. Might even be able to save a few trees. "

 Crappy Service 101 wrote on December 31, 2007 2:38 pm:
" Where I work, we are open 12-15 hours a day. Plenty of time for a phone book to be delivered. Our phone books were dumped in a pile of snow that would have been further away from the front door. My, how I don't miss All-Hell/Windstream. "

 HuntSaid wrote on December 31, 2007 4:55 pm:
" “It is our goal to make customers satisfied,” and “We work very hard to provide the best service.” Well, lets see, customer complained but we don't even know who we hired, what instructions were given nor did we follow them to watch. Yeah, that's how to achieve a goal and ensure best service - sit on your hands and do nothing and then make excuses. You were warned last year and that is your answer? Really? "

 robert wrote on December 31, 2007 5:01 pm:
" there just phone books "

 Angry Homeowner wrote on December 31, 2007 5:49 pm:
" I haven't used a phone book in 10 years, yet I receive what seems like one per month. I suggest everyone throw their phone books in front of the Windstream retail stores: 1440 M Street or 2901 Pine Lake Road Suite A. No phonebooks were needed to find these addresses. "

 Recyling Info wrote on January 2, 2008 2:49 pm:
" Windstream and the Lincoln Parks and Recs Department is sponsoring a recycling program-----bins are currently located at 7 community rec centers throughout Lincoln. Drop the books off there. There are also 18 recycling locations in town. "

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