Growth of the Plain Truth newsstand distribution has been snowballing at an unprecedented rate over the past several weeks. We are finding it increasingly more difficult to keep up with the overwhelming demand for additional magazines and display racks. In fact, our allotment of June magazines has been completely allocated two weeks ahead of schedule: Consequently, we have already had to begin promising increases for the July-August issue.
It seems that the longer a Church area participates in the newsstand program the more adept our volunteers become at obtaining new and higher class outlets. However, we would like to caution our areas of distribution against making any commitments which would require substantial increases in shipment of magazines and or display racks without first making sure that we can supply the necessary materials.
As I have mentioned in recent issues of Pastor's Report, we are in the process of expanding into new airports on a regular basis (four nore are scheduled to open in the immediate future). This, coupled with the intense enthusiasm of those helping with the Plain Truth distribution, has caused us to use up our supply of display equipment much faster than we had anticipated. We now have a backlog of orders for almost every type of display rack. This means that delivery of racks will be delayed approximately 3 to 4 weeks. We would like any areas that have racks or magazines that they are not presently using to get in contact with us immediately. Hopefully we will be able to re-allocate some of these unused materials to areas unable to wait for us to catch up with our backlog of orders.
Nevertheless, the response to the newsstand program from first time readers shows that the concentrated efforts of our volunteers is paying off in a big way. Mail processing is now receiving in excess of 3,000 newsstand responses per week. This is roughly double the amount we were receiving 6 to 8 months ago, meaning that response has been increasing at an even faster rate than the distribution! We are expecting even more dramatic increases in response in the near future as a result of improvements in the format of the newsstand magazine. Also, a new insert card and advertisement have been designed to first appear in the June newsstand issue.
It is our hope that the program will be able to continue to grow at a steady pace throughout the upcoming fiscal year. As you can see, so far the results have exceeded our expectations.
Please communicate the information in this report to those most deeply involved in Plain Truth distribution.
Newsstand Update: New Growth & Challenges
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