Literature Carts

by NotFormer 10 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  NotFormer

  Whenever I see a photo of a literature cart, they all look the same to me. Are they a standard design? Who makes them? Does the WT sell them? If they do, do they sell them to Kingdom Halls or individuals? Are they different in different countries? Are they just bought off the rack at hardware or office supplies places?

  It may seem a bit of a trivial thing to be asking about, but getting a cut from something that JWs are required to have has been the WT's modus operandi in other areas. Something needs to be purchased for use by many JWs around the world for their kingdom service. Does the WT get a piece of the action?
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  Teddnzo

  Yes some brothers in Bethel left, they set up a little factory making carts and are making a big profit. Lots of ex bethel elites make money from JW activities

  some ex bethelites set up an ap that most congregations use now call JWsheduler. It was free to start with, then they got most congregations used to it and started charging

  once they started charging every month they changed the name to new world scheduler and had a big disclaimer that they are not officially from the branch. Even though they are all ex bethelites from fishgill which is the computer dept.
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  InquiryMan

  Can this be proven? I trad somewhere they were imported from a Chinese company..

  Jw:

  Carts

  Literature carts are made by a single manufacturer and distributed globally. Currently, one cart costs $43 U.S., excluding shipping and other costs. To date, more than $16 million U.S. has been spent on carts, and over 420,000 have been shipped to congregations worldwide.

  Jw talk had a discussion that they had the sign made in china
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  Teddnzo

  Yes that is correct. I had it on good authority from someone who knew the brothers from bethel who designed and built the first ones. They set up a little company and got their designs mass production in China.

  The congregation pays out of donated funds and those brothers have made a tidy sum out of the enterprise
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  Gorb

  For the build of the new HQ, jw.org has own manufacures in China and an own trade office. I have pictures somewere in a backup.

  Follow the money.

  G.
• 

  Atlantis

  Jehovah's Witness Literature Carts.

  One BOE states that JW's should "not" display their Bibles. This statement is also found in the 2014 February Kingdom Ministry on page 4. (See the Kingdom Ministry scan with a "Red Box" at the bottom left.)

  
  

  The carts were actually started in France in 2001. There have been many different styles of carts.

  
  

  The PDF file of the history of these literature carts can be found in the Internet Archives. There is a tiny scroll button on the right to scroll down, or you can download the entire PDF.

  
  

  Scroll down and look to the left for (Download Options)
  
  

  https://archive.org/details/jehovahs-witness-literature-carts
  
  Grandpa!
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  NotFormer

  Thanks, that pretty well answers all my questions. On the one hand I'm surprised that individual JWs don't own them for bragging rights, but on the other hand, I'm not surprised that they are owned by congregations, as that creates another "privilege" that can be handed out.

  Does Bethel get a cut from the company that sells these things?
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  New day

  Individuals don’t own them, but if somebody falls over a cart and gets injured, the bro or sis manning the cart is the one that will be sued for compensation. At least that is the case in the European country I live in where you are individually liable while manning the cart. The cong and the org accept no liability!
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  NotFormer

  New Day: the WT is such a bunch of arseholes!

  Can the publisher take out public liability insurance off their own bat?
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  Biahi

  Fortunately, New Day, they only need to set up the cart for 5 minutes per month, to be ‘active’. That should cut down on the liability.