by inkling 31 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I have heard several people refer to the Society as publishing company in the business
of selling books and magazines.
I just don't see how this view can be valid considering that I almost NEVER see
any "Voluntary Contributions" come in from the door-to-door work.
It would seem that as a publishing company, they would be just breaking even.
Perhaps there are pulling a profit, but I dont see how it is from "Literature Sales"
[inkling]
The books are paid for by members and distributed by free labor
While it is a scam, it is very inefficient. The scam part is that publishers pay for the literature. Then when a householder accepts the literature any contributions go back to the society.
That is how it works in theory. In practice, publishers do not always pay for literature and most just give the literature away.
The result is that the society is slowly abandoning books, decreasing mag distribution, and moving to brochure campaigns.
The Watchtower has a regular, Captive Customer Base, the JWs. How many JWs are there right Now? 6 Million? They buy numerous copies of each publication. Then they give most of them away so they will have placements to count on their service records.
Doesn't get any better than t that.
I have heard several people refer to the Society as publishing company in the business
of selling books and magazines.I just don't see how this view can be valid considering that I almost NEVER see
any "Voluntary Contributions" come in from the door-to-door work.It would seem that as a publishing company, they would be just breaking even.
Perhaps there are pulling a profit, but I dont see how it is from "Literature Sales"
[inkling]
There is a trick you might not be aware of they do and that is they still keep track of pricing. If a congregation places to much without bringing in donations the the watchtower society makes the congregation pay for it. They try hard to hide it as a voluntary donation to the watchtower in the anoucements on tueday night.
Think they make any money on their banking, insurance, investment, construction, or convention businesses?
Rutherford geared up the WTS to be a very efficient sales organization, fear labour printing and distributing books at high margins. In the 1990s when I was in Bethel Aus the cost per magazine was about 20 cents whilst the sale price was 80 cents.
You are quite correct in that it is now suffering financially since the "contribution" arrangement was introduced in the 1990s. This was not by choice but due to tax laws. There has been a drop in profitability since then, and the WTS has been scaling back, selling off property, releasing Bethel staff and becoming more efficient in the production of magazines in order to cope.
Lover Of Truth . . you said,
"Doesn't get any better than t that."
You are sooooooooo right.
I really don't know how those guys at the top can sleep at night . . but then again, I'm only a nine year old boy that still believes everything his JW mother tells him.
Actually the literature is merely the vehicle that drives the true ecconomy of the WT, namely real estate. Just as mcdonalds selling burgers and fry's, is secondary to the founders true goal of prime real estate acquisition.
I've seen several people mention that profits from the literature have been falling off. I was always told - even as a JW - that their profits had actually gone up considerably since they were forced to switch over to the donation arrangement. (According to my local Elders and the literature servant at any rate) Has this changed or what's up with that?
If the Witnesses aren't giving as much, then it would also stand to reason that profits would fall for the lit since they're the ones paying for nearly all of it one way or another.
IsaacJ
