Nice topic on Linkedin

by Gorb 3 Replies latest jw friends

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  Gorb

  I think we have to see jw.org like the corporations named in the topic on LinkedIn:

  Jon Davids.

  3e+ CEO of Influicity | Author of ...

  
  

  McDonald's does it. So does Marriott. And Costco too.

  All these companies sell you one thing, but make money on something else.

  I call it the mystery money machine.

  Here's how it works.

  → McDonald's is the world's biggest real estate company pretending to be a restaurant chain. The company owns 25,000 buildings and lots of land underneath. Franchisees pay rent and McD's cashes in. Flipping burgers is the glue holding it together. (There's no glue in the burgers - promise.)

  → Costco is a retailer that sold $226B worth of stuff last year. But they barely made money off that. So how did they land a profit of $9B? Memberships. Yup, 80% of Costco's profit comes from the $100 fee you pay just to walk in the door.
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  Sea Breeze

  I agree. The Watchtower religion is the perfect religion for the hardworking unregenerated man:

  1. You get to take credit for you good works and contribute towards your personal salvation.

  2. Not to worry about a literal conscious existence after death if you got it wrong and didn't do enough.

  3. Even if you got it wrong, you'll likely get resurrected for a do-over petting panda bears, cobras, and lions while you move into a big movie star mansion.... since they didn't make it.

  4. No need to abandon yourself to Christ, you'll pay your own sin debt when you die.

  That of course is the sales pitch, and it is very attractive to many people. It is a "sensible" religion. But, the real thing that the WT profits from is the real estate holdings and the million upon milions of dollars many countries pay them each year based on their membership. Don't forget the millions of dollars that gets willed to the Society at death from many members. Never mind that the descendants get shafted.

  Thanks for the reminder and the parallel business models! Great post.
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  NotFormer

  They used to be a publishing company masquerading as a religion. Now they're a real estate development company. The latter model isn't working well like it did. One: the payouts for all their CSA settlements must be eating into it in a big way. Two: even without the legal problems, simply sitting on large land holdings isn't viable without some cashflow. Without the cashflow from the publishing business, the real estate business probably isn't sustainable long-term.

  Interestingly, all of a sudden, McDonald's business model doesn't seem to be working for them as well as it once did. A lot of similar businesses that once were coining it aren't doing as well as they did.
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  WingCommander

  1. I haven't eaten at McD's in about 10 years. About once a summer I'll have Burger King or Wendy's. I try to stay away from all fast food or anything deep fried.
  

  2. I don't belong to Costco, too expensive. I belong to BJ's Wholesale Club. Same stuff, some even better, cheaper membership cost.
  

  3. I was never technically a "member" of the JW's despite being born & raised in it. I was never dumb enough to get dunked. (so I was never DF'd aka "removed.")