by somebodylovesme 16 Replies latest jw friends
I've heard a few comments about Watchtowers and Awakes being left in doctor's offices, laundromats, etc. Maybe the Witnesses are lazy in my home area, but I have never seen anything like that -- and I think, since I always look for something to read, I would have noticed. Strange. Is it just less common in rural areas?
Just a little observation for a Monday afternoon.
It depends on your area quite a bit. In one territory I was in there were few pioneers and the Witlesses were nowhere to be seen. It was an apathetic congregation. In the area where I live now I see the magazines in Spanish all the time -- usually next to the advertisements on how to stop bed-wetting on your exit from the grocery store. In another area where I do a lot of personal business I see the literature all the time in English.
I throw out more magazines per week than the average publisher places according to the 2004 yearbook. Seriously!
Bradley
Yes. You are the only one.
I have seen them in doctor's waiting rooms, hotel laundry areas, and just about anyplace where trash accumulates. I have known people who have "routes", where they drop off the stuff.
I see them in laundromats mostly.
Blondie
... guess my area is "lucky", then. :) Actually, I have heard dubs around here say that theirs is a congregation "in trouble" because the numbers are dropping, hours are very low, etc. So it does make sense. I had just never even HEARD of mags in public places!
SLM
A popular time-expanding trick of many publishers, and an integral part of the famed "pioneer pace," is to "start your time" by stopping at laundromats and leaving copies of the magazines on a tabletop somewhere in the room. This accomplishes two things: You are now officially on the clock, and you don't have to talk to anyone. It helps if the the laundromat (other public places , such as hospital waiting rooms, will also suffice) is pretty far away from both the KH and your assigned territory. That way you can easily get in an extra hour in travel time, since the clock is now running.
I used to do this sort of thing until I came to reason that, hey, I'm technically out in service the moment I walk out my door with a coat and tie on, and I found it easier just to "start" my time then and end it the moment I walked back into my house and took off my tie. That way I could count any breaks I took along the way. I was taught these techniques by a long-time pioneer, by the way, a guy who specialized in "long days" to get in his required 90 hours: He'd travel to "rural territory" some 60 miles from home, stopping at the first laundromat to start the clock, and ending 12 hours later at the nearest laundromat close to his house to end his time. In between, it was drive, stop for gas, drive, stop for lunch, drive, stop and knock on a door, etc. He'd come home that night with his car littered with paper cups and candy wrappers, his book bag lighter by the dozen or so magazines he had left under the doormats on the steps of not-at-homes. His monthly reports really looked good.
It really depends on where you are and whether you happen to be on the magazine rout of an overzealous JW.
I remember when I was auxiliary pioneering I placed mags in the same locations over and over to the point that the owners started asking me not to leave so many..
I just saw some Awake magazines -- at the grocery-store exit -- in those metal stands where free newspapers and advertising pamphlets were stacked. I wonder if this violated any ordinance -- or any agreement between the publishers of those other newspapers and the owner of the stand.
BTW, the Awake was about "TAXES". So did they take a conservative or liberal stand on taxes? How did they handle this political hot potato? It seems any comment on such an issue would violate their stand on "neutrality" and non-involvement in the world's affairs.
"I used to do this sort of thing until I came to reason that, hey, I'm technically out in service the moment I walk out my door with a coat and tie on, and I found it easier just to "start" my time then and end it the moment I walked back into my house and took off my tie."
Businesses call this "portal-to-portal". A lot of service calls (for equipment repair) are billed in this fashion.
Mustang
I've seen them left in public places...when I do...I pic them up...appear to read them with interest...take them with me...and deposit them in the nearest dumpster.
