Amount of Magazines Wasted

by Nosferatu 19 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Nosferatu

  I wanted to figure out approximately how many magazines are thrown into the trash (for one year). I got some almost useless statistics from jw-media.org to work with. The statistics are for the year 2004

  Watchtower Printing = (approx) 26.4 million

  Awake Printing: (approx) 22.8 million

  Approx Total magazines printed: 49.2 million

  Publishers:
  6513132

  Bible studies + Publishers (baptized and unbaptized):
  12598519

  Now, I've taken the following into consideration that neither bible studies, nor publishers (including children) don't throw out their personal copies of the magazines (for the year anyway). Remember, the bible studies include those who will eventually quit studying, the elderly who only want someone to talk with, the "more than 2 RVs = bible study" rule, and probably children of JW families. There's plenty of magazines to go around.

  Approx Watchtowers wasted:
  26400000 - 12598519 = 13801481
  or 13.8 million

  Approx Awakes wasted:
  22800000 - 12598519 = 10201481
  or 10.2 million

  Approx total magazines wasted:
  24002962 or 24 million

  That's almost half of the amount printed!!!

  These are the magazines that are just left at the door, are taken out of politeness, are sitting in stacks on JW bookshelves, and are left in laundromats and waiting rooms. These are the ones that get tossed in the trash.

  Anyone want to convert this number into rainforests being cut down?
• 

  unbeliever

  I've put JW literature in my birds cage for years to shit on. I can only imagine how many people use the literature for their animals to shit on.
• 

  AlmostAtheist

  Watchtower prints 10 mags -- cost what? Penny a piece? Nickel?

  Dubs pick up 10 mags, drop $3 in the box.

  Dubs place 2 mags, get $2 contribution. Drop it in the box.

  Watchtower spends $1, maybe $2. Gets back $5.

  Waste? From their standpoint, it's a huge success!

  The trees, of course, have their side of the story as well...

  Dave
• 

  metatron

  There's vast numbers of people who take magazines "to be nice" and quickly discard them.

  The reputation of JW's as uncharitable family wreckers is draining the organization. Thankfully,

  the Governing Body is doing little or nothing to stop this.

  metatron
• 

  TopHat

  Who is the FDS...are they the 5000 or so anointed? Or just the GB?
• 

  blondie

  The faithful and discreet slave are all the anointed living on earth at any given period of time. Today the number hovers around 8,000. The governing body is a subset of the anointed, chosen from among the male members.

  Per the WTS

  So far this description of the FDS holds true and has not been extended to the "other sheep" "great crowd". When the number of "spiritually strong" male members of the FDS dwindle, it might change.

  20 years ago, most JWs did not think that the 1914 generation doctrine would change.

  Blondie
• 

  TopHat

  Thanks Blondie, That is what I always thought...but sometimes the r&f will tell us that the FDS is giving us food at the proper time. As though they all 8000 are doing the writing and publishing at Brooklyn. So it becomes confusing.
• 

  blondie

  I haven't heard of any male anointed JWs outside Bethel solicted for their ideas or listened to if they submitted them. If there are, they already have a previous strong connection to Bethel.

  I would say that even the GB members have little or no input on the articles. I have seen how they "research" and write them up and walked through that area, asked questions. In my opinion it is mostly cut and paste with a point here and there drawn in to address "problems" cropping up in the congregations.

  As to any "interpretation" of scripture/prophecy, that died with Fred Franz. The Daniel and Isaiah books are merely cut and paste of what he wrote in the past. I lived through the Fred Franz heyday in the 60's and early 70's. With the embarrassment of 1975, the WTS has held their cards closer to their vest on such things.

  The angels and/or the holy spirit that Rutherford and past WTS writers attributed to their knowledge are very rarely mentioned. As a child I always wondered how the holy spirit conveyed ideas to the minds of the people writing the articles...since they weren't inspired, as their stumbles along the road to "truth" shows.

  What an arrogant group to think that God was singling them out for special understanding to pass along to the rank and file. In the early days when all those in the WTS were anointed, that way of thinking was not hammered as much.

  Blondie
• 

  TopHat

  The GB is sorta like the Pope who says he represents Jesus. What Gall !!
• 

  jstalin

  There's a great article on Wikipedia explaining the FDS:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faithful_and_Discreet_Slave