What do you think is behind the watchtower change in 2008 ?

by 5go 100 Replies latest watchtower scandals

• 

  blondie

  As much as it may seem that the WTS wants to keep info from non-JWs and ex-JWs, we have seen on JWD that it only takes one person posting on JWD or on another site to get the info to everyone.

  I really feel this is a financial move just as it was with stopping the subscriptions and having the Awake come out once a month, paperback books and bibles.

  It has taken 16 years to get here since they stopped charging a specific price for the publications to the rank and file. It never mattered whether non-JWs paid or not. The WTS had their money before the publications left the KH. I think the WTS was expecting the rank and file to donate the same amount of money anonymously to the contribution boxes. But I have known how cheap JWs can be. If there is no public accounting of individual payment, they figure "who will know." My husband and other account servants I have known said that very few JWs ever donated. It was usually a core group of 8 to 10 people who donated what covered the KH expenses and the mortgage if they had one. When the mortgage was paid off, donations took a big drop.

  It's the money, folks.

  Blondie
• 

  ozziepost

  It's the money, folks.

  It always is.

  Food at assemblies and the donation arrangement were driven by their desire to avaoid tax.

  The monthly "Awake!" is clearly the result of cost pressures.

  Etc etc.
• 

  5go

  No it couldn't be the money.
• 

  onacruse

  blondie and ozzie, while I can't disagree that money is a consideration in the business of the WTS, I would ask: How does switching from 2 Watchtowers a month to 2 Watchtowers a month save them any money?
• 

  Gopher

  How does switching from 2 Watchtowers a month to 2 Watchtowers a month save them any money?

  The JW-only version would only need one per publisher, or about 6 million. Whereas if they continued printing 2 public versions of the WT magazine each month, that would be a lot more. (What is the total printing of the magazines nowadays, about 15 million per issue? A lot of those magazines stack up in publisher's closets!)
• 

  thecarpenter

  onacruse, if one issue is going only to the witnesses, they only have to print maybe 7~8 million copies of that issue (6.5 million witnesses worldwide) instead of usual 20 million copies that's distributed worldwide. That ends up saving a considerable amount of money. Also, they don't have to translate it into so many languages for the copies that are distributed only for the witnesses.
• 

  jayhawk1

  Awake prints about 34,000,000 per issue. I'm guessing that would be 34 million per month or 16 million every other week. I imagine Watchtowers are also printed in the same every other week amount. Watchtower Corp will be able to print about 8 million of the insider Watchtowers and save millions of dollars.

  I also expect the congregation secretary to review JW placements and crack down on excess magazines that never get placed.
• 

  found-my-way

  ok, stupid question,

  (i am totally out of the loop here since no JW is speaking to me, therefore any new JW info i get is from this site..)

  heres the question:

  if only active JW publishers can get the watchtower, does that mean that they are not placing watchtowers at the doors anymore? are they only placing the Awake at the door?
• 

  Bonnie_Clyde

  How does switching from 2 Watchtowers a month to 2 Watchtowers a month save them any money?

  The JW-only version would only need one per publisher, or about 6 million. Whereas if they continued printing 2 public versions of the WT magazine each month, that would be a lot more. (What is the total printing of the magazines nowadays, about 15 million per issue? A lot of those magazines stack up in publisher's closets!)

  I still think that the next step would be to send the 15th of the month articles by email to a designated elder in each congregation, print out enough copies for each member and distribute them to the publishers a week or so before the meeting. Or, as "AK - Jeff" suggested on another thread, each Kingdom Hall could have a computer and a trusted elder could have a passcode to the WT website and download the material for distribution. That way the WT would only have to print one magazine per month and the congregations would have the responsibility of printing their study material. Not only would the WT wipe out their printing costs for 12 magazines per year, they would be able to lay off more Bethelites and further reduce their exposure to lawsuits arising from workman's comp-type issues.

  This "simplification" could start maybe 2009 or 2010 as they have to move slowly--not to upset the publishers.
• 

  ozziepost

  found:

  From what's been revealed on this thread and before, there will be two Wts per month, one for the R&F containg the study articles and another for "the public™", so it seems the h/H will be shown one copy of each of the WT and Awake! each month. Don't worry, they won't miss out!