Branch Letter

Dear Fellow Publishers:

For years people all over the world have been saying, When will it stop? The price of everything is going up and up​—food, clothing, carfare, and now postage. Of course, if you do not write letters, the rise in postage does not affect you. But if you are mailing out millions of magazines every month, in addition to thousands of letters, then it does affect you.

On July 1, 1971, throughout the whole world there will be a change in the postage rates. Already in the United States we have felt the effect of the change of first-class postage, and some changes have been made in the postage required for the mailing of magazines. In England the cost of mailing one individual copy of a magazine to a subscriber now is 4.8 cents per copy, which means that it will cost the Society $1.15 to mail the 24 magazines in a year’s subscription. In Germany it will cost the Society 5.5 cents to mail any magazine out of Germany, or $1.32 simply for postage for a year’s subscription. Mailing a magazine to a subscriber in Germany itself would cost about half that much. Word was just received from South Africa that mailing individual copies of any of their South African editions of The Watchtower and Awake! to Europe, South America or Asia will now cost 9.8 cents per copy. From our main mailing centers such as the United States, Canada and Britain, sending an English copy of The Watchtower to a foreign subscriber will cost anywhere from 3 to 4.8 cents per copy.

In view of this, the Society has decided that it would be wise to make a change in the subscription rate in order to cover the cost of postage. Any subscriptions obtained by you during July will still be at the rate of $1 for a year. But beginning August 1, 1971, all new subscriptions and renewals for the Watchtower and Awake! magazines for one year will be $1.50. This applies to all semimonthly editions in all parts of the world. Monthly editions will be 75 cents a year.

When bulk supplies are shipped out to congregations, postage will not be as expensive per copy as when mailing to individual subscribers, but the bulk-rate postage has gone up too. So beginning with August 1, 1971, the charge made to congregations for distributors’ copies will be four cents a copy, world wide, in all languages. Still, publishers will continue to offer the magazines to the public at five cents a copy, because we want to keep the price of the magazines within the reach of everyone world wide. No change will be made in the rate for pioneers.

If brothers prefer to get their copies through the congregation, they can obtain one copy over the magazine counter at four cents a copy. Getting your copies locally at four cents a copy will cost you only 96 cents a year. However, if you want your magazine mailed directly to your home and you renew your subscription after August 1, then the subscription rate will be $1.50.

The Watchtower and Awake! magazines are doing a wonderful work. As you will observe in the July 15 Watchtower, the printing of each issue will be 7,350,000. The July 8 Awake! will reach 7,050,000. We firmly believe that circulation of these magazines will continue to rise.

While the parcel-post rates on literature have gone up and so have freight rates, the Society does not intend to change the price of its bound books or Bibles. These will remain as they are.

We sincerely hope and pray that the grand witness that is to be given in these “last days” will continue to be given with zeal and earnestness to Jehovah’s praise.

We hope to see you at the assembly and that you will enjoy yourself immensely. We know that the program from the very first day will stimulate every one of us to press on in this marvelous work of declaring Jehovah’s name and preaching the kingdom of God.

Be assured of our warm love.

Your brothers,

BROOKLYN BRANCH OFFICE

[Blurb on page 4]

Plan to attend each session of the assembly.