For Lee K. of Greenwich Village, tear-off flyers offer more than information. They provide a connection to local services and the people in his community who offer them. According to Lee, these flyers are best for finding a reliable handyman or painter.

But in a city that is becoming more digitized and efficient, will Lee’s go-to signpost for local flyers soon disappear?

Every New Yorker knows that a walk down the street is a sensory overload. The pavements are cemented with old gum, and dog pee seems forever dripping down the wall. And on every blank space—whether it be a signpost, pole, ATM, old scaffolding— is a chaotic mix of stickers, posters, and those iconic tear-off flyers. These flyers advertise everything from gallery openings to the services of babysitters and handymen, their little slips waiting to be torn away and called by those walking by. To imagine New York without these flyers is to imagine a city stripped of its beautiful and authentic charm, a city turned into something akin to Chicago. 

But, in an age where we can use the most powerful search engines to find “coffee shops near me”, one has to wonder: who is still putting up these flyers? And more curiously, who is still using them? To answer these questions, I walked from Battery Park to Harlem, seeing what kinds of tear-off flyers were still being taped up asking New Yorkers if they had ever actually called the number on the slip for help.

Perhaps to no one’s surprise, out of the 200 people surveyed, only one answered “yes” when asked  if they had ever called a number from a tear-off flyer. The results from this informal poll confirmed what many already suspected: the tear off flyer is a relic of a past era. While the majority of people answered with a simple “no”, some younger New Yorkers from Washington Square Park were unfamiliar with the concept altogether. “A what?” one young man replied, genuinely confused. 

The increased use of smartphones, big data, and AI in daily life has fundamentally changed the way New Yorkers interact with their city. The convenience and efficiency of digital services has rendered physical flyers almost obsolete. Today, the go-to service provider is less likely to be someone whose information you found on a corner post and more likely a person, company, or brand that operates on the opposite side of the city… or even the county. 

This shift has only been accelerated in the wake of COVID-19. With individuals increasingly concerned about personal health, tearing off a number from a flyer that has been handled by countless others and hanging for who knows how long seems irresponsible. 

The decline of the tear off flyer is a part of a broader trend in New York. It parallels the retirement of many of the city’s iconic and beloved staples, including the payphone booth, wire newspaper racks, and, more recently, news radio— with the WCBS news radio ending its coverage and turning over to ESPN. It is an inevitable trend as our reliance on these staples decline and more efficient, digitized alternatives are introduced in their place. 

So tear-off flyers become a rarer find, one can’t help but wonder: what will take their place? What will fill the empty spaces on signposts and old scaffolding? As New York and its residents continue to evolve, the streets will undoubtedly change. The days of tearing off a phone number from a flyer may be over, but the spirit of communication and connection that defines New York goes on.