My wife told me that they announced it at her hall Thursday. I thought it was cool that I knew she did and I don't go to the mtgs. Got a perverse thrill outta that. Anyway...
She wanted to know why I thought was the reason for the change. Was it to save money? One thing I learned in marketing class was that the costs of distribution doesn't change regardless of the number of links between producers and consumers. The SOCIETY will save money, but it's an expense that won't disappear. It will simply be passed on to the r/f. So, the cost savings is no doubt one of the reasons for the demise of subscriptions.
I told her that there were many people -- current non-JW subscribers -- who are about to go from never seeing JWs at their door to all of a sudden having personal contact with them from two to four times a month, each and every month. If they want to continue reading the mags and have no other option of receiving them, it's going to be a fact of life that they open up themselves and members of their families to a sales call where in the past that didn't happen.
The advantage to the Society is that instead of making 'cold' sales calls in the door to door work, the Corporation's foot soldiers (aka "publishers of the good news") will be able to make 'warm' or even 'hot' sales calls on these subscribers, increasing the possibility of bible studies, ergo converts. By making these personal contacts, these salesmen... um... I mean publishers will be able to gently persuade the householder "to examine the truths they are learning in a free home bible study." (I can hear the spiel even now!)
If somebody wants to continue to read the mags and NOT want to deal with dubs every week, there are ways around the sales maneuver, of course, but I think that's the thinking in Brooklyn. Along with the monetary savings.
