Elder says "Watchtower is cutting costs"

truthseeker

An elder told me the other day that the reason the Society is making the Awake! magazine monthly, is to cut costs.

Didn't tell me that the Society were simplifying, or trying to make the Awake more Kingdom friendly.

Nope, just cost cutting.

kls

I wonder why he didn't say why the need to cut costs,,,,,

Dragonlady76

"Watchtower cutting costs"..........well isn't every corporation now a days?

All those publishers on JWD sure ain't helping!

Dragonlady76

stillajwexelder

well isn't every corporation now a days?

Well I agree and if Garybuss posts on this thread I am sure he will too. If you view the WTBTS for what they realy are a Book/magazine/brochure printing corporation with a side business in real estate then it makes sense to cut costs

ithinkisee

Most average joe elders know nothing more about the real reasons behind what the Society does than you or I do.

If you have some documentation it might be true ... but after leaving Bethel and talking with a few Circuit Overseers, I was surprised at how much they do not know about what goes on at Headquarters.

-ithinkisee

garybuss

Yup stillajwexelder, All from my personal observations and opinions, worth what you pay for them.

If we look at the areas of the Watch Tower conglomerate's cash flow divisions, we see the printing business is the least profitable. The most profitable is the charity division. They have virtually no operating expenses. They are the people who collect the cash gifts, the wills, the property, the jewelry, and the stocks. HUGE profits!

The next most profitable is the event sponsoring division. They set up the conventions and sub lease facilities to the downstream divisions as well as collect donations. This is really a cash cow.

Next most profitable is the real estate holding and development division. This is where the receipts are mostly invested and allowed to grow tax free. In real estate investment terminology this is called internal rate of return and it's high.

The next profit center in line is the local congregation donations and the least profitable and the MOST work is the publishing business.

cyber-sista

Yup Gary, that makes total sense. Even the WT publications that are being printed are more cheaply made--most are no longer hard cover. The study books are probably more profitable than the magazines because every JW needs to ~~buy~~ possess one. Seems like mags and brochures were being placed more and more with the public and not so many books--or at least it seemed that way to me--the public hardley ever gave money for the magazines--most of us were glad if we could give them away.

I remember the WT telling us that every member of the family should have their own book bags and their own copies of the study publications even if they were young children who couldn't read. Being a JW is kind of like being in a book club--the first few books are free, but after that you have to keep buying them forever and ever. The WT has created a market of dedicated paying book consumners among their own R&F. Can you remember when they had a new book release at the assemblies and how much like a sales pitch it was? How many of us followed the lead to gratefully donate our money for these ~~cheaply made poorly written~~ valuable publications?

cybs

iiz2cool

I wonder if they'll ever create a "members only" section on their web site. Publishers? would then be able to download their "spiritual food? at the proper time" in .pdf format and print them at home. Publishers? could gain access to this private section by making a "suggested donation" with their Visa or Mastercard. Of course, this would be a regular monthly donation to the worldwide work?. Publishers? could then print numerous copies of the magazines for the field service? activity themselves, saving the society money and increasing their profit margin. All costs and labor would be downloaded to congregations and individual publishers?. This simplification? would help Jehover "speed up the work".

Walter

AK - Jeff

iiz2cool -

I'm sure the basic technology is there for exactly what you propose. But the internet being the very dangerous place that it is makes that proposition a dangerous one indeed... how would they prevent the unwary pub from loosing his bookmark and having to type in Jehovahs witnesses in the search engine - my gosh so many things could happen if he did that..................... there could be apostate websites out there in cyberland- better to keep em off that..............

Jeff

truth_about_the_truth

An elder told me the other day that the reason the Society is making the Awake! magazine monthly, is to cut costs.

What??? I thought it was to focus more on the Bible???!!!!

Elder says "Watchtower is cutting costs"

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