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PASTOR'S REPORT, July 11, 1979
Page 10
SLOWER MAIL SERVICE
We recently did a survey to track the postmark dates on envelopes as they
came in to our office. The results show that the bulk of the mail now
arrives within 3-5 days of postmark. When holidays or holydays intervene,
you can add two days to that average (5-7). While we still
receive
some
mail within a day or two, some takes as long as 10-15 days.
If you
have
material which needs to reach us by a certain date, please
give the letter a little extra time to make the journey. Also, realize
that our response time is going to be a little slower.
It's not likely that mail service is going to get any better, so take the
longer mailing times into account for all future mailings.
--Ted Herlofson, Ministerial Services
PUBLISHING SERVICES UPDATE
The Good News magazine was brought back to life again by Mr. Herbert
Armstrong in January of this year. It's about time for an update. The
magazine is printed locally here in Los Angeles and is trucked back to
our own mailing department here in Pasadena where Eric Shaw and his crew
handle the labeling and work with the U.S. Post Office so that readers
get their copy as soon as possible.
The circulation is holding at around 113,000 worldwide. This is because
of the present policy of offering the Good News to members and co-workers
only. The breakdown is as follows: the 83,000 U.S. copies are sent to
32,000 member households and 46,000 to co-workers. The remaining 30,000
go to our overseas readership and are shipped out from Pasadena each month.
We
have
been relatively successful with the use of bind-in literature
request cards. The cards are at the moment pulling an average 10 times
better than a booklet advertisement using a cut-out coupon. We have been
getting an 8-10 percent response to the cards which shows that even members
of God
1
s Church respond better--just like the average reader--when a
separate card or envelope is stitched into the magazine. The card makes
requesting a booklet easier than using a cut-out coupon, or having to
write a letter of request. Dexter Faulkner, the managing editor of the
Good News, and I have felt for some time that members would read more of
the new literature that was coming out if we made it easier for them to
respond to our offers. Those bind-in cards seem to be proving the point.
Members are a relatively untapped source of booklet readership.
--Roger Lippross, Publishing Services Director
I�TER..""JATIONAL NEWS
Guyana
It has been only for the last three years that the brethren in Guyana
have
been able to meet regularly. In October 1975, British-born Paul Krautmann
went to Guyana and began assisting with the Church in his spare time.
Formerly, Mr. Stan Bass would visit Guyana once or twice a year, meeting
and counseling with the people who were responding, in most cases, to the
WORLD TOMORROW broadcast over a local radio station.