[From readers] Ads can support 114 phone directory service

When in need of local business or store numbers in a hurry, many turn to phone books. However, it is difficult to find at the public phone booths any intact phone books. The pages have been torn or the book is filled with graffiti and the advertised businesses are difficult to read.

Many pages containing ads for mid-sized and small businesses as well as large conglomerates were torn out of books. Being torn out in such a way must be detrimental to their business.

Wouldn`t it be better to establish a free 114 information service rather than printing telephone books? Wouldn`t it be better to send out advertisements while the callers wait for the operators and use the income from the advertisements to run the service?

Rather than whining that the 114 information service has been running in the red, management ought to adopt a new business model and provide a better service to customers.