PUBLISHING SERVICES UPDATE
Newsstand Distribution Program Continues to Expand
Exciting things are happening in The PLAIN TRUTH Newsstand Distribution Program! Last week in New York City, 12 high-volume newspaper and magazine distribution outlets opened up to us. Each will be using a single column, three pocket display. Preliminary estimates indicate these outlets will distribute a total of 12,000 magazines each month!
One outlet is located in the very heart of the New York financial district — on Water Street near the American Express Building. Thousands of prominent businessmen and women will have the opportunity to pick up their own copies of The PLAIN TRUTH. There is also a potential for opening up distribution in another 300 newsstands in the New York area, as funds become available.
An additional 37 Elson's gift shops will begin distribution of The PLAIN TRUTH on October 1. Ten "Book Corner" bookstores in the Boston area have also recently become available for distribution of the magazine.
Member Participation Is Up
Preliminary results of a survey of all local newsstand programs in the United States reveal that there are over 1,500 more members involved than there were at this time last year. Almost 9,000 members are currently involved in the Newsstand, Card Holder, Waiting Room, Brochure, and Library Book Programs.
U.S. Newsstands Increase
The survey also reveals that there are nearly 5,000 more newsstand outlets distributing The PLAIN TRUTH than at this time last year. This brings the total to over 24,000 in the United States alone. Pastors and assistant coordinators report that enthusiasm for the program has never been greater. They also report that they cannot seem to keep the newsstand displays filled. Magazines seem to be "flying off the stands." In just over one month, newsstand coordinators throughout the U.S. have requested their magazine allotments be increased by almost 200,000.
In the past few months, many thousands of newsstand readers have returned reply cards requesting their own subscription to The PLAIN TRUTH. In fact, response has doubled in the last 12 months.
Impact on a New Member
Finally, we would like to share with you a letter received by Mr. Ron Lohr, pastor of the Tampa, Florida Church. It is from a young woman who is now a freshman at Ambassador College. She wrote to Mr. Lohr thanking him and all involved in the Newsstand Program in Tampa for the work they are doing in distributing The PLAIN TRUTH locally. She first came in contact with The PLAIN TRUTH in a laundromat in Tampa. The letter mentions that she was working at a restaurant in Hyde Park, Florida.
It was there that I first came in contact with The PLAIN TRUTH. The cooks who also worked there had been receiving the Spanish edition of The PLAIN TRUTH for three years. One directed me to where it was displayed in the Howard St. Laundromat, where I picked up my first copy. That is about all I did — pick it up. For some reason, it didn't catch my interest. Approximately a year later, when events in my life were taking a turn for the worse, I began to look in the area laundromats for the PT again.
Later she moved back to Maine, where she and her sister became more and more interested in the Church. They began to attend Bible studies and Church services, and within four months both were baptized.
That was a year and a half ago. We are now "PT reps" ourselves, and I can't help chuckling to myself, as I stock the PTs in our local laundromats, at the memory of me — half-frantic, rummaging through the pile of magazines at a "mat" on Macdill Avenue, searching for the TRUTH! Thank you for having it there — for doing your part, and sacrificing your time and effort!
And thanks to each of you ministers and brethren. Your efforts, ingenuity and ideas for 'improvement are helping to make the success of this program possible!
— Ray Wright, Publishing Services
