Letter to The Congregations Secretaries and City Overseers, 1991-02-15: Subscriptions to magazines
WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY OF NEW YORK, INC.
25 COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 11201. U.S.A.
PHONE (718) 625-3600
February 15, 1991
TO THE CONGREGATION SECRETARIES AND CITY OVERSEERS
Dear Brothers:
Each issue of The Watchtower and Awake! magazines is part of the vital "food at the proper time" that "the faithful and discreet slave" is providing for our spiritual benefit. (Matt. 24:45) Even though a person is a subscriber to one of the magazines, he may miss some issues if he fails to renew his subscription promptly. This emphasizes the importance of sending new subscriptions immediately to the Society and also promptly caring for Expiring Subscription return visit slips. Although renewal notices are inserted in the magazines and Expiring Subscription return visit slips are sent to the congregations two to three months before the last issue is sent, a large percentage of the Expiring Subscription slips that we receive have been delayed, resulting in subscribers missing one or more vital issues of our magazines.
It is the responsibility of the congregation secretary to train and work with the accounts servant and the brother handling subscriptions in sending new subscriptions to the Society weekly as received and also distributing Expiring Subscription return visit slips immediately upon their receipt. The city overseer has the responsibility of working through those he selects to assist him to forward the slips he receives to the proper congregations promptly. The following will assist each of you in caring for this privilege of service:
The accounts servant may handle the subscriptions, or another dependable brother can be assigned who can devote his entire time to caring for subscriptions. Both of these brothers work under the supervision of the secretary.
When the original subscription and its duplicate are turned in by a publisher, the brother caring for them will proofread the slips while the publisher is present to determine if they are legible, the spelling is correct, and the information is complete on both copies. This includes the city or post office, zip code (if known for certain), congregation number (if the subscriber is in the congregation territory or attending that congregation), and the language. The duplicate slip should be marked "copy" in the upper right-hand corner and retained by the congregation.
a. Before each subscription campaign, the How To Handle Subscriptions Properly form (S(d)-11) should be reviewed with the congregation in a Service Meeting part and then put on the information board. Publishers should be encouraged to refer to these instructions before turning in their subscriptions.
b. The information on the How To Handle Subscriptions Properly form will also be very helpful to the brother handling subscriptions, and he should be thoroughly familiar with it.
c. Each week all subscriptions received, even if only one, should be attached to a completed Weekly Subscriptions form (M(d)-203) and given to the secretary who will carefully check and proofread them before mailing promptly to the Watchtower Society at our Wallkill address, using the M-203 yellow envelope.
The duplicate slips should be kept clipped to the carbon copy of the Weekly Subscriptions form until that group of subscriptions appears on the Shipping Acknowledgment from the Society.
a. Then the Weekly Subscriptions form will be placed in the accounts servant's file, and the duplicate subscription slips should be filed alphabetically for easy comparison when Expiring Subscription return slips are received from the Society.
b. The Society sends a notice (M-210) to the congregation when a subscription is not deliverable as addressed and is no longer being mailed to the subscriber. Compare it with the duplicate copy in the file to determine who originally obtained it so he can check it out. Please return this notice to the Watchtower Society at our Wallkill address, and show the correct address or indicate on the form that the original is correct.
When subscriptions are turned in, the accounts servant or the brother handling subscriptions should encourage the publishers to make return calls regularly to determine if the magazines are being received.--See point 11 of the How To Handle Subscriptions Properly form.
a. If a publisher informs the one handling subscriptions that magazines are not being received by a subscriber after six weeks, refer him to the secretary, and the secretary should gather the information as outlined in point 11 of the How To Handle Subscriptions Properly form and write the Society immediately, with all correspondence signed by the secretary and presiding overseer.
When the Expiring Subscription return visit slips are received from the Society, the presiding overseer will, at the next meeting, give them to the brother handling subscriptions.
a. He will pull the corresponding duplicate subscription slips from his file, attach them to the Expiring Subscription slip, and give them that week, if at all possible, to the publishers who originally obtained the subscription.
b. In this way the subscriptions can be renewed quickly, and subscribers will not miss any issues of the magazines.
If you receive any Expiring Subscription slips that are not for your congregation, please forward them to the correct congregation, if known. Otherwise, return them to the Society at our Wallkill address.
a. DO NOT write or mark on these slips in any way.
b. DO NOT mail them with new or renewal subscription slips, but mail them separately with a covering note explaining why they are being returned.
For additional information, please refer to the S(d)-11 form, How To Handle Subscriptions Properly. We appreciate your cooperation in caring for your many duties and pray Jehovah's continued blessings upon you.
Your brothers,