At our service meeting it was announced that there is a change in the manner in which magazines are now to be delivered to the congregations.
Up until now, magazines were sent to each Kingdom Hall via UPS. In years past magazines were sent to each congregation PO's home address via UPS.
Going forward, magazines will be sent only as far as the Assembly Hall. It is the responsibility of each Kingdom Hall to send brother(s) twice a month to drive out there, pick up the magazines, and return.
This of course saves a little bit of money for the Society - shipping larger packages to fewer addresses will cost less.
However, what about the expense to the local congregations?
A typical Assembly Hall probably has 20-25 circuits assigned to it. Each of those circuits has 20-25 congregations.
That's 400-600 congregations, maybe 200 or 250 Kingdom Halls shared among them. Each of those Kingdom Halls now has to send, twice a month, a van or truck to the assembly hall to pick up the magazines.
Our Kingdom Hall is only about 40 or so miles from the Assembly Hall - but what about congregations out in the sticks? Maybe they are 150, 200, 300 miles away from their assembly hall. Think of the expense - the gasoline alone could run into the hundreds of dollars per month. Multiply that by the hundreds of Kingdom Halls assigned to each assembly hall, then think of the dozens of assembly halls in use in the USA.
As usual, the Society acts to save itself a little money, and in the process, sneeringly gives the finger to the congregations that support it.