Is the Organization just a terrible MLM MULTI LEVEL MARKETING

avidbiblereader

If you ran a business based on how much literture that has been printed which I would like to know ABOUT (just a rough guestimate) how much literture has been printed compared to how many witnesses are still left, don't you think this is a terrible ran business? How much money do they spend annually on Bethelites, CO;s, DO's and special pioneers and missionaries. Don't you think this is just a terribly ran business. If you were an investor, with this type of return on money and time, don't you think everybody would have pulled out their stocks?

How many pieces of lit has been printed?

How much money spent annually?

Time, who knows and I am not just counting FS time which is inflated anyway?

What kind of return do you think this is?

SELL, SELL, SELL is what a smart investor would be screaming.

abr

restrangled

My mother has already given the WTS $200,000.00 Now if 50 more people do that, they have earned tax free $10,000,000.00 for doing nothing. If 500 people gave that amount it would equate to $100,000,000.00 of tax free money. The real money is in getting the older witnesses to fork over their assets. I knew of a widower who gave millions when she died. This is where the real money is.

That is the whole reason that they print so many articles on how to leave your money to the WTS instead of your blood family.

When you've been a JW your whole life (73 years) and you still feel like you have to "buy" your way into the afterlife by leaving your life savings to the WTS, it speaks volumes.

Outaservice

Well, all of their salespersons pay their own expenses, such as gas, vehicle, and time (no wages), plus sell an awfull lot literature to their own people (sales persons). And extra income comes from outright charitable contributions, (i.e. leaving them the farm, wills, etc.)

Plus a lot is made on payments on Kingdom Hall loans, which hall they still own after they are paid for. This is all tax free real estate.

Also, stock in many ventures (some war companies) etc. affects the bottom line.

So, yes, if it was a company looking for investors it might be a good thing. However, one thing would keep me from it.................and that is.................The God factor. It will not last forever.

Outaservice

MeneMene

IMHO - It is definitely "terrible" and a scam but I don't know if I would consider it a MLM. My father's family recently gave them their inheritance of about $600,000. It doesn't matter that his JW kids are struggling to survive and could have used his share if he didn't want it. (His x-JW kids could have used some too.) - - - I think the WTBTS has really learned how to scam the old people out of their money. But they are much more subtle about it than the TV evangelists.

SirNose586

It shares some features of MLM, but is not truly MLM.

Although the nonstop recruiting resembles an MLM, there is no "upline." The recruiter is not paid from his downline. The Tower is the only upline. In a way, it's better than an MLM because the head rakes in all the cash, and each hub in the pyramid is paid in one big check, cashed after they are dead!

restrangled

But they are much more subtle about it than the TV evangelists.

But equally shameless. So here in just a few minutes with just a couple of posters, we have quickly added up hundreds of thousands given to the WTS.

If 3000 JW's gave their estates, and those estates average $200K, that would add up to $600 million dollars.

Free

1 dollar a week, lets lowball say 10,000 congs in the U.S. alone at about say 900,000 peak publishers.= $43,200,000 a year, oh yeah, and what about the real estate ? they could sell kingdom halls and start to liquidate and no one would say anything. They run so efficient and everybody works like dogs in Brooklyn and the Farms for peanuts, they really pack them in there. The return must be huge financially for the golden boys of Brooklyn . MLM's have nothing on the Watchtower machine.

pobthespazz

No it's much much worse than that

diamondblue1974

Its an extremely well run business with a considerably successful business model; everything is horizontally integrated and it would seem that instead of being a MLM type operation it has more in common with an 80s style conglomerate or group of companies.

Consider its operating divisions:-

These include, Direct Sales of Literature, Construction, Conferencing and Event Management, Investments and Stock Holdings, Building and Property, Land Holdings, logistics etc.

Consider its corporate structure and route to market:-

New York, Branch Office, Congregation, Publisher, General Public.

Consider its organisation structure and its similarities to corporations:-

Publisher (Direct Sales Person)
Ministeral Servants (Sales Supervisors)
Elders (Divisional Line Managers)
Presiding Overseer (Branch Sales Manager)
Circuit Overseer (Area Sales Manager)
District Overseer (Regional Sales Manager)
Branch Office Dude (National Sales Director)
Governing Body and Directors (Board Level Directors)

No in my view not a MLM business but a corporate body.

DB74

avidbiblereader

Wow, I feel for some of you who have watched your family squander a ton of money on the org and especially when the scriptures makes mention many times that ones should look after their own families, I agree that have insidiuosly got people to hand over the lifes fortune to them. I was thinking about several other features of my questions

How many pieces of lit has been printed? If they have printed over 2 billion pieces of lit and only 6 million witnesses that is only .003 return, in the advertising world and a normal MLM that is a terrible return.

How much money spent annually? The last figure I seen over six years ago was over 73 million annually, sad there is where much of the retirement and will money has gone, on people living off others and their families, when the Bible says that if you don't provide for your own, you are worse than people withot faith. Also, if that money was properly invested in even a safe CD, WOW what kind of return would that bring, instead, they have spent in on people that have left their ranks without any return.

Time, who knows and I am not just counting FS time which is inflated anyway? Billions of hours, even at minimal wage, they could be the richest of all org or very close to it.

What kind of return do you think this is? There is no investor out there who would continue to pour time and money into an org that has to use fear and mind control over its members to stay afloat.

I really appreciate all the other responses and sorry to hear how your family has given so much and how it was done.

abr

Is the Organization just a terrible MLM MULTI LEVEL MARKETING

Share this