"Also the history of Watchtower magazine subscription is very instructive. .......... If you are making a profit you want as many subscribers as you can get." - slimboyfat
Yes, it is instructive indeed. Lets take a look at some FACTS:
January 1, 1985 Watchtower magazine inside cover states:
.20 cents American per issue.
$4.00 per year annual subscription (equal to .17 cents per issue)
So actually, when you bundle in subscription and cover price together, WATCHTOWER was not grossing even .20 cents per issue. And the total gross revenue assumes that cash was received for each and every one of the 11,150,000 issues printed for that particular printing run. But lets not let facts get in our way. Individual subscriptions were the most labor intensive and probably the highest cost per unit shipped in proportion to their total magazine sales. Don't forget, I too was a Bethelite. Until WATCHTOWER adopted more modern forms of processing their literature, this is how a subscription was processed:
1. Subscription form was received in the office and mistakes were corrected on each and every paper subscription form.
2. Corrected form was sent to Graphotype and a metal plate was made for each and every subscriber under the US branch.
3. The metal plates were sent back to the subscription office to look for errors.
4. The corrected version of the plate was sent back to graphotype for reprocessing.
5. The corrected metal plates were then sent back to the subscription office and stored in huge metal cabinets on wheels by state and zip code.
6. When each zip code of subscribers was to have their magazine processed for the week, a cabinet of the metal plates was rolled over to the rappers. These were machines that processed and wrapped every single subscribers magazine. Piles or stacks of magazines were fed by hand into the machine, which wrapped the magazine in lightweight, HIGHER COST kraft paper and stamped an address on each one. There were many of these machines.
7. Each zip code had its own canvas bag that was then stacked up to the ceiling and back to the rear of a full size trailer truck trailer! This went on day after day after day after day..........nonstop.
The individual subscription, besides being given at a discounted price to the customer, also had to have postage affixed to it. WATCHTOWER paid the postal rate of .11 cents American per pound of shipping. ( USPS.com Postage Rates for Periodicals: A Narrative History) Without even figuring in the production costs of the magazine and the handling of the individual magazine, once you figure in the freight charge, an individual subscribed magazine now grosses WATCHTOWER between .155 cents American and .16 cents American.
So as far as GROSS income, individual subscriptions appear to be a losing proposition for WATCHTOWER all along and not the money maker that you seem to make them out to be.
