Due to the rising costs of production and numerous electronic options, Alaska Power & Telephone will stop printing phone books after the 2020 edition that is coming out in March.
According to Mary Jo Quandt, vice president of customer operations with AP&T, state legislation in 2015 removed the requirement for telecom companies to produce physical phonebooks. AP&T has still been printing phone books over the past five years but now production costs are just getting too steep.
"Many telecom companies, which now includes AP&T, have opted out of producing phonebooks," wrote Quandt in an email.
She said there are some independent companies that still produce phone books, and AP&T would be supportive if one of those companies began producing a physical phone book in one of its areas.
Over the next couple of years, Quandt said AP&T will continue to research options to help its customers adjust to the change. The company will be printing a hefty reserve of the 2020 phonebook that will be distributed to local offices throughout the state to allow customers to pick one up in the years to come.
All AP&T customers will also receive a copy of the 2020 phone book in the mail in March. The company suggests customers use an old phone book, search the internet or dial 411 when looking up phone numbers in the future.
"Hopefully, everyone will read the information in the book regarding this change and hold on to their 2020 book," said Quant.
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