More evidence that WTS is hurting for $$$ - change to special pioneer mileage reimbursement

by sir82 56 Replies latest jw friends

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  sir82

  With this new reimbursement you can knock 40%-45% off that 140 million.

  You really think the Society spent $140 million just on reimbursing car expenses for special pioneers?!?!?

  That 100% of that total went to car reimbursements, and $0 was spent on housing for missionaries, or medical care, or leasing cars for COs, or....?!?!?!?

  Dude....Changing the reimbursement formula for a few hundred SPs is a drop in the bucket...for the Society.

  As many have noted on this thread, it appears that the primary motivation for the change is to subtly put more economic pressure on the SPs, prompting them to quit so the Society can stop paying medical care and other expenses for them without looking like "the bad guy".
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  isaacaustin

  Agreed Sir82. I was assuming (wrongly) that the 140 mill went to vehicle reimbursement, which in reality may be 10% of that 140 mil. This will place, as you pointed out, a financial hardship on the sp pioneers, who in turn may leave that role, relieving the WT of the other associated expenses...but the sp pioneer is leaving his role, as opposed to the WT looking like the bad guy.
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  moshe

  Those reimbursement changes just blew a hole in the Sp Pioneer's budget and it looks like the bean counters have taken over the finances at WT hdqtrs. Maybe they had been getting a lot of individual donations for the WW-work and the contributions have just dried up this past year.
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  WTWizard

  I have a good idea: Make up the gas mileage. Tell them that your car gets 18 gallons to the mile (or something like that). Not miles to the gallon--gallons to the mile! And always put the maximum number of miles you are allowed, since you are going to need it.

  The 13,000 mile ceiling is way too low. If the special pio-sneers have to drive roughly 72 miles per day (which is a good estimate in the city), and they do field circus 250 days a year, you are looking at 18,000 miles a year. In rural areas, the daily mileage is even worse. If they have to travel 40 miles each way to the Kingdumb Hell for field circus, and another 300 or 400 a day to round up all those calls, this could easily blow away the 13,000 mile limit--and, in rural areas in the West, that is not out of line with what they will have to do.

  The Washtowel Slaveholdery deciding what the price of gas is? I suppose they will use numbers that are badly out of date, like the early 1960s when gas was 23.9 cents a gallon. Some members of the committee likely to set this "gas price" will use 17.9 cents a gallon! These numbers are accurate but a good 60 years out of date.
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  hamsterbait

  Dont forget too that the Witchtower sells off its CO and DO cars for a profit.

  They have a website to do this.

  Find my first ever post on this board!!!

  HB
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  aquagirl

  I just found some Elders meeting notes that talk about this.They have every meal and lodging need planned for these clowns,right down to Sister c.is sensitive to dairy and perfume,needs to have her hosts home very clean and odorfree.Brother c needs Some assistance with some work on his vehicle..And the money thing? Seems to me,by looking at these reports,that maybe they outta stop buying property and building more and more unusually expensive halls..Especially since most of it is touted as being volunteer.Well,I have evidence that certian members of teh body of Elders got paid for their time,while the other poor schmuks just worked in the mud and dirt for free.AND,an underaged kid,that was on a TRACTOR!!!!got injured on the quickbuild site,and had to be "bought off"...Hmmm...
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  dissed

  19,800 full-time employees with a budget of $140,000,000 comes out to about $600/month per employee on average.

  Everyone is cutting back by layoffs, and budget restrictions, companies, govt. agengies, etc......

  I'm sure its no different for the WTS feeling the pain of less contributions. Adjustments have to be made, but.........

  I don't see it as forcing SP off the list. Would you as a SP walk away from a free gift of $600 from the WTS in these times? Although the SP are not supposed to freelance work, I see them hustling to do odd jobs to supplement their needs.
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  Witness 007

  The Poor get poorer and the rich get richer!
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  sir82

  I don't see it as forcing SP off the list. Would you as a SP walk away from a free gift of $600 from the WTS in these times?

  I see your point, and to a large extent agree with it. Not so much for the $600, but more for the "free" health care coverage (not so free - they have to work 130 / 120 hours per month to get it). The SPs are covered pretty well - depending on their age, such coverage could easily be worth more than $1000 per month.

  But what's good for the SPs is not necessarily good for the Society. The Society likes to have SPs out there pounding the pavement and "encouraging" the local congregations, but it really really hates paying the $600 / month stipend PLUS $hundreds more on health care PLUS $hundreds more on auto expenses. And as these guys get older and older, they'll have more and more health problems - that's why they got kicked out of Bethel in the first place.

  The Society can get +/- 75% of the benefits of a Special Pioneer from a "plain old regular" pioneer - and they pay exactly $0 to the regular pioneers.

  They'd prefer that all the SPs become regular pioneers...but they are also very conscious of their image. They realize it would look really really horrible to kick out 50-something long-timers from Bethel and not "take care of them" somehow. So they set up hundreds of them as SPs.

  HOWEVER....wouldn't it be nice if those SPs quit on their own? That way, it's their decision, not the Society's. The Society looks oh so wonderful for "taking care of" those guys when they left, but gosh-darn-it, "Satan's old system" and its economic woes just happened to "force" those SPs off the list after a couple of years.

  If you're a football fan, it's kind of like the Jim Zorn situation in Washington. The Redskins owner continually humiliated the head coach, stripping away his responsibilities, trying to get him to quit so he wouldn't have to pay the remainder of his contract. Of course, the coach just refused to quit, preferring the guaranteed money from his contract. But others in his situation likely would have quit.

  Sure, the SPs get benefits from the Society, but it's not easy. Try living on $1200 / month, even with reduced auto and health care expenses - it's not easy. It's not a life of luxury, and small unexpected expenses can wreak havoc on their extremely tight budget.

  With the added economic pressure of this cutback (and more to come?) from the Society, many SPs just won't be able to continue, despite the remaining incentives from the Society. They'll go off the SP list and look for some sort of job that will at least somewhat pay their bills, all the while praising the Society for "taking care of them" for so long.
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  Doubting Bro

  Right and I don't think the WTS is getting the bang for their buck with SPs anymore. They're really no more useful than a RP but cost more. The MTS grads are probably more useful to the WTS since they are 1) not paid and 2) fulfill an administrative role which what the society really wants. I can easily see the program dwindling down to just a few old timers and being phased out completely over time. It's really just a waste of money.