by fulltimestudent 37 Replies latest jw friends
Well that all depends do they have a contribution box compartment? I mean they WT ain't that hard up stupid and just giving away literature are they? I'm sure their is incentive on the publishers part to pay the stipulated cost out of his pocket if no contributions are forth coming.
I truley wounder if the GB lost it financial mind or what? What a waste of corporate lackey power these CEO out to be shot and executed for their corporate ineptitude in how they are utilizing available resources.
Do the witnesses , R&F , who obtain magazines from the KH to place freely with the public , do they have to cover the cost of the mags. they obtain ? Just curious .
smiddy
@brokeback no contributions are asked nor is it suggested to the public to do so and on the Cart there is no money-box. The Carts display says 'FREE'
On our Cart there is a diary in which we write experiences and results.
@smiddy no the rank and file do not cover the costs of books, brochures and magazines on the carts
A pioneer relative of mine is regularly on cart duty.
I've asked her a few times if she has much results but obviously she is quite reticent about being seen to be negative when talking to me. She has admitted that on occasions she has been there for 2 or 3 hours and nobody has taken any literature. Occasionally she'll throw in an vague experience , for example she told me last month about how a former bible study picked up a brochure and is "thinking" about coming back to meetings ( yeah - right. ). Doubtless she'll be spinning this one a bit as a positive experience at the meeting to give the impression that it is better than it really is.
Personally from a marketing point of view I think the trolley concept is probably a good idea , especially in the cities. In fact , when I was an active JW I often wished the Society would have done something like this. The average member of the public will have virtually no contact with JWs but at least if there is a visible presence in tube stations , malls etc then there is some kind of promotional activity , albeit with very limited tangible results.
Lets face it- the results from D-D are very poor anyway. And anyway as we know- the preaching work has never been about results. If it was , JWs would be knocking on doors in the early evening rather than during the day when no-one is at home.
They did it before, much near the origins of the group. Remember the pictures of cars with the big speakers? People with signs hanging on their necks on the street? If memory serves me correctly (and please correct me if I am wrong) everything changed when Rutherford came around. I read somewhere that Rutherford paid his college education selling books door to door. He had experience in the business. He probably did not think public witnessing would do any good. Remember that JWs use to sell "subscriptions to paradise" in the not too distant past. With that model gone out the window and the bad numbers, they are resorting to old tactics I guess.
No, the cart does not have a money box. However, I remember clearly the days (not more than 5 years ago) when every demonstration had to be ended with the householder pretending to ask how much the mag was. To which we were supposed to reply that we take voluntary donations. I have not heard that in a long time, until about late 2014. Last time I've heard that again was just this weekend. In our last assembly, an example of witnessing on the street was presented and the above example was introduced as well.
Around here they have been told that they must not accept money "on the cart" . I guess they are mindful of trading laws or a negative feedback to the authorities.
The info that I get is that shedloads of mags and brochures go out but very little quantifiable results , in terms of studies or people at the Hall.
I heard the instruction to sit by the cart and wait for someone to approach, but in town someone shoved in my hand a mag: it said "Satan Is Real " in bold title. If I had been in a strange town I would have given a smart answer but I did not dare in my home location.
Like a lot of Advertising and sponsorship, I suspect that the plan is simply to raise "brand awareness" and get their name out there in public - in the hope that people will respond when contacted another way
Yeah.. I am sure those that are truly and sincerely committed to "saving" people, would probably make a push to give out literature. I would figure that if the effect of that is big enough, eventually two things could happen...
- The cong would be asked to cost the magazines, since so many are going out
- Instructions would be send reminding people that the true purpose of the cart is not to hand out flyers to anyone walking by but rather what we, in the internet world, call a honeypot.
