by inkling 31 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
How many publishing companies can guarantee selling at LEAST 6 million copies of each book they produce?
On the web the WTS is listed as a Charity in the UK and gives a turnover of £14,000,000 for last year. They send some of this money back overseas, which they list as "expenses" but there was still around £3,000,000 clear profit (not spent on expenses).
Sirona
As happened locally - A 'poorer' congregation did not have enough money to PAY THE SOCIETY for their literature the brothers had ordered. The WT Society was going to STOP delivering literature to that congregation if they didn't PAY UP! By literature I mean the mags, bibles etc. Two other local congs had to have a 'whip round' to pay the poor congregations literature bill!
The Society is NOT a charity! It demands payment for goods provided! If payment is not received literature is STOPPED!
The public, in theory, get the mags free. The JWs, one way or another have to scramble for cash to pay for the literautre.
Therefore, it is a SCAM!!
As happened locally - A 'poorer' congregation did not have enough money to PAY THE SOCIETY for their literature the brothers had ordered. The WT Society was going to STOP delivering literature to that congregation if they didn't PAY UP! By literature I mean the mags, bibles etc. Two other local congs had to have a 'whip round' to pay the poor congregations literature bill!
The Society is NOT a charity! It demands payment for goods provided! If payment is not received literature is STOPPED!
Okay, the average JW rank and file members will say that the above is an example of
wild apostate claims. While I believe the above is true, I will taper it for the sake of the R & F.
The C.O. visits your congregation. He tells the elders, "You receive 2000 magazines a month
and 40 books and 10 Bibles. At 25 cents per mag, 1 dollar per book, and 2 dollars per Bible,
your congregation might ordinarily contribute $560 per month. Receipts show that they
barely contribute $200 per month. They are losing over $360 per month here." (He would ignore
the unknown cost of producing the literature and use inflated "sales" costs that sound reasonable
from a retail point of view.)
The elders are expected to point this out. The C.O. will point it out on his visit and in his
remarks to the congregation. If it is not resolved in six months, the pressure goes up. If the
congregation is contributing even half of the $560 per month, the organization is making huge
profits, because they have a very low cost to produce the stuff. They won't put as much
pressure on that congregation. Even in the example above, the $200 per month is producing
a profit.
Conventions do better than congregations at contributing. This is because they inflate the
cost of expenses and report a deficit. They do this by including their customary donation to
the WTS in their expenses.
The books are paid for by members and distributed by free labor They buy numerous copies of each publication. The scam part is that publishers pay for the literature. selling at LEAST 6 million copies of each book they produce?................................................. All of the above still refer to a price, and a sale. This stopped YEARS ago in USA. There is NO charge to the congo, the pub, or the victims. So why are we here at JWD still saying this? I have questioned this in all other threads about it I have seen. It demands payment for goods provided! ...............................................I have never heard of this...anyone? Even in the example above, the $200 per month is producing
a profit............................................I do not think this would would cover even basic expenses, ink, paper, electricty, food, etc. If it is not really be SOLD at all, which is what I am pretty sure is the case, then lets get in JWD harmony here......oompa
Magazines, Books, and Research Aids
The Watchtower, the primary Bible study aid for members of the faith, has an average printing of 28 million and is published in 155 languages. Of these editions, 145 are translated and printed for simultaneous release. Awake! is a religious magazine with some general interest items. It is published in 81 languages and has an average printing of 34 million. These two journals have the largest circulation of any religious magazines in the world.
http://jw-media.org/people/statistics.htm
That's an average printing of 62 million magazines a year.
If they collect a few pennies per rag, that $$$ is tax free-income and the interest on it is compounded for exponential growth.
~Sue
Even in the example above, the $200 per month is producing
a profit............................................I do not think this would would cover even basic expenses, ink, paper, electricty, food, etc.
On another thread, I gave the example of Consumer Reports producing a full magazine
that is free of advertising, yet sells for just a couple of dollars. The pages are all glossy
and full of color photos of cars or toasters. Somehow, this commercial magazine makes
a profit. Now imagine a much cheaper product like the Watchtower and Awake!.
You have to get "retail" prices out of mind. Paper costs $.04 a sheet to a consumer.
WTS doesn't buy it by the sheet, and they don't pay consumer prices.
Black ink is not expensive, and color ink costs more, but it is sold by the 50 gallon drum.
Ink has remarkable coverage- a little goes a long way.
Electricity and food for the workers, well- it costs what it costs. Imagine not paying taxes
on these expenses, though. Food is cooked by volunteers. They don't have a vast choice
on the menu at each meal- you eat what they cooked. WTS got rid of many people that
eat food. They sold buildings that use electricity. So maybe there was waste there.
You are technically correct that they don't "sell" the product anymore.
JW's are conditioned to think positively about everything that is Watchtower related, and
negatively about everything that is worldly. Why is it that they can generalize about
Babylon the Great, the nations of the world, merchants who sell toys for Christmas,
the world of entertainment, etc. etc. but they cannot accept generalizations about WTS?
They have a product. It is produced at a cost. They analyze the cost and cut waste in order
to maximize return on their investment. They need to bring at least as much return in as their
cost. The "publishers" are actually asked to cover the expenses. If I phrase all of that without
saying "sell" or "profit" does it sound nicer? A duck is still a duck if it quacks and swims and
flys even if you call it a waterfowl or just a bird.
OTWO: You are technically correct that they don't "sell" the product anymore.
Thank you OTWO! That was my my point, so lets stop spreading "apostate bile" that WT is "selling" literature. There is a big reason why they can easily afford to give the literature away, and are not that concerned with covering costs, and I agree that cost is minimal, which makes it easier to give away. MOST revenue to WT comes from already existing well invested money! Period (imo). Any donations for lit or anything else if gravy at this point. agree? disagree?.....I am open to all thoughts on this.........oompa
As happened locally - A 'poorer' congregation did not have enough money to PAY THE SOCIETY for their literature the brothers had ordered. The WT Society was going to STOP delivering literature to that congregation if they didn't PAY UP! By literature I mean the mags, bibles etc. Two other local congs had to have a 'whip round' to pay the poor congregations literature bill!
The Society is NOT a charity! It demands payment for goods provided! If payment is not received literature is STOPPED!
The public, in theory, get the mags free. The JWs, one way or another have to scramble for cash to pay for the literautre.
Therefore, it is a SCAM!!
So the congregations have a target to meet for donations from the indivdual Witnesses, in order to pay for the literature ? I'd love to see some documents about this case.
The publishing is just one of many aspects of the WTBTS.
They are mainly into real estate and investing.
OK lets get this straight.
In the UK the dubs started to ask for "donations" on literature for TAX REASONS.
Where JWs used to pay a few pence for each rag, and similarly charge that out to the public, nowadays you have people "estimating" in their heads how much the mags cost and giving a "donation".
I'd be prepared to bet that they get more donations for the literature than they did before.
For instance, where you used to be able to buy a bible for £3, noone in their right minds would put that price on it now. So you'd have a householder giving £5 or more for a bible - if they are remotely decent people.
I once met a blind person on the ministry and asked for the cong to order a Braille book. I got interrogated about it and was told that the cost of the book was too high to just "give out" and that the person had to be 100% interested and 100% willing to give a donation. They don't want blind people being JWs - problems getting them to do your sales for you.
In the local hall, we were told to NEVER EVER tell a householder that the mag was FREE. We were carefully schooled to say "there is no charge, but we accept donations"......ALWAYS always mention a donation. If the householder decided to give what they estimated to be an OK amount, they'd be likely to give 50pence or £1 compared to 30 pence which was the old charge! Therefore MORE profit, NO TAX.
Sirona
