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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, DECEMBER 28, 1984
International News
From Mr. Frank Brown November mail income from areas served by the Boreham
wood office is up 5.3% over November 1983, bringing the year-to-date in
crease to 8.8%. PLAIN TRUTH circulation is currently 72% higher than No
vember 1983, although it has dropped slightly since October 1984, due to
nonrenewals. U.K./Eire circulation now stands at almost 148,00O.
GOOD
NEWS circulation is 8,200 and growing steadily, and is expected to double
during 1985, following the direct mail promotion. Growth in the Church is
continuing, with a 6.5% increase in members over this time last year.
The visit of Mr. Leon Walker, Spanish Regional Director, Mr. Keith Speaks,
Circulation Manager for La PURA VERDAD, and Mr. Roger Lippross, PLAIN TRUTH
Production Director, has marked a milestone in the printing of The PLAIN
TRUTH in England. With the commencement of the printing of the Spanish
edition in Britain, along with the addition of the Caribbean English and
Asian English editions, the total print run for January was just over 1.2
million magazines. This run was comprised of the French, German, Dutch,
Spanish, Italian and Norwegian editions plus four different English edi
tions. To mark the occasion, our printer, Alabaster Passmore, hosted a
celebratory lunch, and a toast was made to "the first million" followed by a
second toast to "the second million!"
Ambassador Press, originally owned by the Church, was designed and built to
our requirements for the specific purpose of printing international edi
tions of The PLAIN TRUTH. The printing presses at Ambassador Press are (un
usual for such facilities in Europe) designed to print American size quarto
magazines, rather than the European size A4 magazines.
Since its purchase of the plant at the end of 1981, the Passmore Print Group
has been investing in the facility, installing new plastic wrap equipment,
new pre-press equipment, new high-speed binding equipment and a two-colour
web press. Additionally, both four-colour presses have been refurbished.
This investment has allowed them to match the very large increase in our
print run, which has risen more than four-fold during the last three years.
In addition, they are producing the much increased quantities within the
same time period as they did three years ago, which is quite an achievement!
All editions are out of the plant within ten working days of the arrival of
film from Pasadena. Future plans call for the installation of a much larger
press to cope more efficiently and cost effectively with our job.
The reason so much printing is now centralised in the U.K. is three-fold.
Firstly, as mentioned, Ambassador Press is ideally equipped to cost effec
tively produce multiple language editions of The PLAIN TRUTH. Secondly,
the British Post Office offers an extremely large variety of different de
livery services at reasonable prices, allowing us the option of sending
magazines by surface, by an air speeded publisher's service, or by air
mail. In addition, the U.K. has excellent air freight and sea freight ser
vices all over the world. Finally, in the U.K. over ·the last 15 years, a
great deal of "know how" in managing and controlling publishing operations
has been developed, which benefits the non-English editions serviced from
the U.K.
Scandinavia: Response rates to recent advertisements in the Norwegian and
Danish editions of READER'S DIGEST are very good. The Norwegian edition
has pulled 1.26%; while the Danish achieved a noteworthy .80%.