All this brings to mind Pastor Russell's remark of "when the good Lord fails to provide funds, we will understand it to mean the end of our work" I see the Good Lord is enlisting the help of the IRS. Couldn't come soon enough.
Literature Is FREE To All, Donations For World Wide Work.
by PublishingCult 32 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Dogpatch
hi InterestedOne, I am not sure but it is probably late 80s literature catalog. BTW, they still charged for many years in other countries not affected by the sales tax debacle. What hypocrites.
Randy
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Mr. Falcon
They do this because picking up literature serves as a convenient reminder of their privilege and responsibility to support the worldwide work regularly.
HAHAHAHAA that's rich. I take pride in the fact that although I waste gas and time on them, I haven't contributed a dime in at least 8 years.
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Mr. Falcon
BTW, they still charged for many years in other countries not affected by the sales tax debacle. What hypocrites.
WHAT??? damn. Could you elaborate?
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factfinder
@InterestedOne-
Hi! Yes I understand what PC is saying! But the witnesses look at it differently. In other words- the monies used for emergency relief measures, building branch offices and Kingdom Halls, renting facilities for conventions, operating gilead and other schools, etc are considered to be different than the money that goes directly into the printing, binding and shipping operations. jws know it is all inter-related- how the wts choses to describe it does not matter to them.
That is why I asked: so what?
What is a big thing to ones at jwn is very minor and petty to witnesses- that is the view I had and my brother has too.
@Randy-
thank you for posting the information from the KM. Yes I remember all of that. At first we would make our donation each time we'd pick up our mags and lit. and later also put in any money we got from householders. ( I got very little.) In time I only did one or the other. Since I hardly got any money back from those I gave lit to I began cutting back on my donations.
The WTS was dishonest in not giving the real reason for the new donor arrangement- to avoid paying taxes.
I remember they suggested we donate those rediculously high amounts for things. I could not afford it- so did not order them. Years later however I did-and just donated what I could. Over time I donated less and less. I was getting practically nothing from the fs- so if I was giving the lit for free I should not have to pay so much for it either. I used the old prices as a giude but in time could no longer afford to even give that much.
When the Insight volumes came out in 1988 the price was $14.00 for the set. It is rediculous they were later suggesting $40.00- yes, they were trying to get a lot more money from the witnesses. But did it work? Obviously not if we consider they cut the g down to once a month (thereby splitting production of it in half), then a few years later split the w into 2 editions- one not for fs (thus cutting production of the w by about 25%), and over the years keep producing softcover books, even the larger books are almost all softcover now. I remember back in 1989 when they first started producing softcover books for the field it was explained to me by a bethel brother it was for economic reasons:
1) more and more countries in Africa were removing bans and restrictions on jws
2) Eastern European countries, especially the lands of the former USSR were removing bans and restrictions,
thus demands for books from these lands was going way up. But the brothers in those lands could not afford to cover the costs of all that literature. By producing softcover perfectbound books rather than burstbound hardcover books the society saved
50% in shipping costs and
60% in printing/binding costs
Ever since then more books became softcover perfect bound ones. True- there are 6 fewer steps needed to produce these books- which simplifies production, but the real reason for the change was for economic reasons.
I do not think they have suggested what donations should be for any of the literature in a very long time. There was nothing in the KMs on that.
I sent in the coupon on the back of g for the sc Creation book about 2 years ago. I did not send any money. It took a while but they sent me the book with no mention of any donation. They mailed it to me! I was surprised!
I do remember an elder explaining to me that the cong WAS BILLED for the annual supply of forms as that was not considered to be literature. It was around $30.00- so less than the cong would pay a commercial printer for them.
And if the cong wanted an extra shipment of literature in any given month or needed something shipped express mail or Fed ex the society would bill the cong. the exact amount for the shipping cost.
We can see how dishonest the wts was, in how they presented the new donor arrangement.
But most active jws do not see it as such or care.
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Dogpatch
Jan Groenveld first alerted me to this from Australia, then by correspondents from a few other countries. It seems it took a couple of years or so to cover their hypocrisy. Maybe the donations from Mozambique didn't cut it. :-))
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Mr. Falcon
wow. thanks. that's messed up.
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Mad Sweeney
We can see how dishonest the wts was, in how they presented the new donor arrangement.
But most active jws do not see it as such or care.
Of course not. They're fully indoctrinated into the organization. We understand that most active JWs are under mind control or thought reform or whatever catchphrase you prefer to call it. Nevertheless, it doesn't hurt to educate people about it. Even the most minor of issues can plant a seed and sometimes even become a catalyst for greater investigation into other things the WT has been dishonest about.
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factfinder
Mad Sweeny- I see your point. Hopefully one day something will be able to plant a seed in my brother's mind which will cause him to investigate.
Hopefully something will get through. Good point.
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InterestedOne
So does the Society still bill the congs for their literature orders or not? If yes, I would be interested if anyone here on the inside could provide a sample bill (like if a secretary elder could provide a sample breakdown of how it works - nothing confidential, but accurately depicting the process). If no, does that mean the congs order as much literature as they want, and the Society sends it all for free & the cong only pays shipping - is there no accountability at all between how much literature is ordered vs. how much the cong sends from the "www" box? Does the Society not have any means of keeping tabs on which congs are running a "deficit?" If they do have a method, how do they specify the dollar amount to determine that deficit?