Telstra-owned Sensis has confirmed its decision to cut 90% of the 2011/12 residential White Pages directories to the cities, a fall of around 1.35m books.

Richard Allely, chief executive of PMP, whose exclusive Sensis print contract has another five years to run, said the reduction in volume did not come as a surprise, adding that the print group had a close working relationship with Sensis.

He told ProPrint that some downsizing at the Sydney plant was due to natural attrition, but admitted that some job losses were the direct result of cuts to order volumes.

“Printed directories are not the future; they are part of the past,” he said.

“We know we are going to have lower volumes and natural attrition won’t get us there. We do need to adjust accordingly and through proper means.”

He added that although he expected further reductions to the White Pages, the Yellow Pages continued to show strength and run numbers could increase.

Sensis said the White Pages will still be on offer to everyone in the affected regions. Books can ordered online, by telephone and through Australia Post.

“We will continue to fulfill our obligations to make copies of the residential directories available to these consumers. However, instead of it being automatically delivered to their homes all they need to do is order a copy,” said White Pages group manager Peter Barclay.

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