This past week we have been putting together our various budgets for 1980. With inflation as it is in the U.S., we need a 15% increase in the publishing budget just to hold level for this coming year. At the moment this type of increase doesn't seem to be forthcoming, so we are working on yet more ways to make our dollars go even further.
One dramatic impact on our cost effectiveness would be an increase in our PT newsstand percentage response. I mentioned before how with a little more effort some local church areas have increased their response. This has been done by either changing the outlet used or avoiding waste. Some church areas are very good and have a response that is double to other areas. An example of one badly run area was a deacon who was stocking unwanted magazines in his garage without letting us know, while an area just 40 miles away was desperate for more magazines, Let's all be very careful with the magazines we're entrusted with.
Another very effective way of saving money once we get people on the PT list is trying hard to keep them there. To this end we're continuously refining our renewal program and are, with the help of the Quest magazine staff, increasing the effectiveness of the program to ensure the highest renewal rate ever.
We are just about holding our own in PT circulation. Having begun the year with a total of 694,000 subscribers [in the U.S.] and, in spite of severe cutbacks in newsstand distribution and media coverage, we still have a circulation level of 681,000. This is just over 100,000 less than the same time last year when we were enjoying the results of more extensive TV coverage, TV commercials, and a newsstand circulation of one million.
We have been able to maintain this circulation with a massive mailing to former subscribers, PT newspaper inserts, gift subscription envelopes bound into the magazine and improvements in the renewal program. All this has been helped by the improved quality of subscribers coming in from Mr. Armstrong's broadcasts.
We are hopeful that in the future our financial picture will improve so that our goal of 3 million PT subscribers can be reached.
PUBLISHING SERVICES UPDATE
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