The way the accounts are set up during the assemblies is a racket, pure and simple. I remember when our assembly hall was being built they constantly made solicitations for money. They would give you a piece of paper and ask how much you could contribute per week for it in order to make "appropriate calculations." The poor brothers in our hall had to stretch their budges for years in order to pay for it. Many brothers spent just about every Saturday working on the construction of it for a few years until it was completed. After it was built, they thought that it'd be a lot cheaper to have our assemblies now because we didn't have to rent a place. When we started having our assemblies there it was a shock to see that the expenses were still several thousand dollars. We couldn't believe it. Of course, the shipment of cash to the society was all kept a secret.
What bothers me so much isn't really the fact that they sent money to the society. From everything I've heard, it amounted to four or five dollars per attendee. The problem is the dishonest way they go about doing it. They misrepresent the truth in order to keep an appearance of being different from "worldly" religions that pass around a collection plate. When I discovered what they were doing, I finally realized why they didn’t want us going to a restaurant during lunch. It keeps more money in your pocket that way, money you can fill the contribution boxes with. They even use pretty young girls to lure men to boxes. Assholes!