As someone who lives in a locality not too far from you Joe I can totally confirm your evaluation of the impact JWS have in this area. The town I live in has approx 0.5% wintesses out of the local population. Shortly before I left around 3 months ago I noticed a massive increase in the time spent in the 'field' by the congregation as a whole, partially down to the August campaign. My mother has taken to going out two or three times a week from once a week ever since the campaign finished. In any case since my departure I can honestly say I've only seen them knocking on doors once or twice and I work in town a lot.
My wife and I have both said how little we see of them since we no longer attend. The most visible sign is the cart every morning in the town centre. I have to agree that we can now see how little impact they really have in the real world and it's been a real eye opener for us.