You can always tell your real customers about it, but why waste money on the general public?. One should aim their business toward people that buy, not to tire-kickers. This article is my opinion on why toll-free numbers are far less valuable than they used to be, and why a business might consider changing to a regular number to save time and money." You can teach your workers to quickly bring wayward telephone callers back on track, however, as long as you have a phone, some people will waste your time. Getting the name and address of callers that don't buy your product is of questionable value. The obvious reason for having a toll-free phone number is to save callers money.? I am a Judgment Broker who writes a lot. One case of a telephone leech problem, would be if one has a business selling a video tape-to-DVD transfer service. A telephone leech often goes off on long tangents that have nothing to do with your product. Toll free phone numbers permit an entity to capture names and addresses from calls. I am going to my sister Kate's party the week after that, and I will bring them, and I am going to bring my video camera and three extra batteries so I won't run out, and will bring some orange juice too, and. Switching to a regular number will not stop wasteful and silly calls, however it will save you time and cut your costs. When people pay nothing, they can be somewhat more likely to not respect things as much. Asking for your number, the same number they just called you on, is very silly; however, that does not take up too much time. When you switch from a toll-free to a regular number, you do not need to give up your toll free number, you just stop advertising it to the public. In my business, I tested a move from a toll free phone number, to a regular number. The move did not slow down our business in any way, and we saved money, and get fewer telephone leech callers now. Now, long distance telephone calls are either cheap or free, especially if bundled into the price of phone service plans or products. An advertised advantage is the (alleged) "enhanced integrity" that a toll-free phone number provides. Even if your web site has a great FAQ, and has simple instructions, some will call, and ask for your number, what's your web site name, how long will it take to ship?, etc. It seems that if people have to think about the number they are dialing, it attracts more serious telephone callers. On their web sites, some entities hide their number, partially because of phone leeches. I think this is not true anymore, because almost everyone knows that it's currently cheap and easy to get a toll-free number. Having a toll-free number may attract telephone leeches. Toll-free numbers also stop most attempts to conceal phone numbers, so masked numbers usually show up on toll-free phone lines. The web site distinctly explains the simple business: Send in a tape and $25, and you will mail the customer a DVD of what was on the tape.. In addition to additional costs, there is another disadvantage in offering a toll free phone number. A phone leech may share part of their life story, for example, "I have two wonderful children, and they are getting out of school in a week for summer vacation. Long ago, in the time of monopoly costs for long distance telephone calls, a toll-free phone number was almost mandatory for a nationwide businesses. Some people like to read do not like to read very much.. There are some advantages for owners of a toll free phone number