Canadian Tire Scraps its Print Catalog – A Foreshadowing of Yellow Pages Fate?

Canadian Tire announced yesterday that they will be phasing out the print edition of their catalogue and replacing it with an online edition.

“all of our research was indicating that readership levels were decreasing and more and more people are on line,” Canadian Tire spokeswoman Lisa Gibson said in a telephone interview Thursday. “So that's why we decided to let people know on line and not make a big production.”
-Quoted from an article by John Partridge of the Globe and Mail

In my mind the above quote could easily apply to the print edition of Yellow Pages. Shares of YLO.UN have slid 30% over the last 3 months and as the yield creeps higher I’m increasingly being asked if I think now is a good time to buy YLO.UN. My short answer is that if you’re a long term investor I don’t think there is a good time to buy. In my next post I’ll explain my rational behind my don’t buy recommendation.