—From Mordecai of WS Pubs DO876 13 FEBRUARY 1980

THREE COPIES OF MAG 17 (160 PAGES) SENT AIRMAIL SEALED TO THE FAR EAST & PACIFIC WILL COST $27.14 INSTEAD OF JUST $5.42 BY AIRMAIL PRINTED MATTER! That's just an example that shows the very much greater cost for sealed letter mail! Personally, I think it's quite a luxury & a generous gift to the field that we even use AIR printed matter instead of SURFACE printed matter (those same three copies to Japan for instance would cost only 52 cents by SURFACE printed matter‚ 1/10th the cost of air printed matter & one-fiftieth (2%) sealed air letter rate!!).—Are we interested in surface printed matter—or is time too short & Komix too urgently needed? We used to use it for heavies in Rome. Surface printed matter would save $2,400 on post for a 160-page Komix Mag!

I DON'T THINK THE FIELD IS AWARE OF THE ENORMOUS EXTRA COST OF SEALED MAILINGS! Since there's no cost or sacrifice involved to them directly, it's pretty easy for them to just check the little box on their TRF Form & think nothing of it. From the beginning to the end of January, the number of Homes requesting sealed mailings increased 19%! I wrote in a Report last August that every 20% of the Family that requested sealed mailings would double the already large postage bill!

WHAT BRINGS THIS TO A HEAD RIGHT NOW IS THAT WE ARE SENDING OUT SO MUCH MORE THAN WE EVER HAVE BEFORE!: Bigger Mags in page size & contents & frequency, but with the increasing number of Homes requesting sealed mailings we'll need a huge budget increase to cover these costs! The irony of the situation is that the number of stamps will hardly even fit on some letters!—& no matter how we wrap the big Mags, they're always going to look lots more conspicuous to officials than good ol' airmail printed matter! So all that money doesn't buy anything in the way of security or speed (Air printed Matter is already pretty fast), & sealed mailings are even lots more trouble to package & process on our end‚ & we send'm out last! Sealed mailings added $2,000 to our postage costs last month over what they'd have cost were they Air Printed Matter, & the difference next month is likely going to be much greater!

SO IT WORKS OUT TO $11.11 EXTRA PER HOME AVERAGE POSTAGE ALONE FOR SEALED SERVICE, & the total of that sealed postage equals more than what we used to spend to send out two Mags to everyone, sealed & printed matter! At any rate, we would need to raise the additional charge to the IRFers to at least $10 additional to cover costs there. The postage for TRFers might be covered by their tithe, but it still seems like a waste of the Lord's money for just anyone to be able to request sealeds, similar to how it would be a waste for everybody to pay $20 extra to get a book from Hong Kong by air rather than waiting for normal surface post! (Amen!—Dad)

WHAT WOULD YOU THINK IF A PLAN were proposed whereby any Home on a list of countries that are Islamic, Communist or other types of police-states could get one copy sealed for nothing above their tithe, but Homes in countries not on this list would need to enclose $10 extra above their tithe in addition to just checking a box to get theirs sealed? Then they'd really have to pray about whether they needed it! (We told you you'd have to pay $5 extra for sealed mailings!—Do you?—Now it's costing $10 extra! All mailings are partially sealed anyhow. If they wanna see it, they'll open anything!)

I HOPE THIS LITTLE REPORT HELPS. In some situations possibly one copy sealed may be safest, but I'm interested in what you think about more normal Homes. At least you may better understand where the dough goes that rolls the gold. Just want to see it roll it as far as possible!—Love, Mordecai (AMEN! God bless you, Son!)

(DAD: THIS IS UTTERLY RIDICULOUS & UNREASONABLE! Sorry,—we can't afford it any longer! If the authorities want to see what's in it, they'll open it anyway! (Like they did in Israel & Malta!)—And sealed mail is even more suspicious & arouses more curiosity! Forget it! No more sealed mailings! I believe open Mag mail is even safer!—We get ours unsealed!—Why can't you!—Sorry! That's it! You've had it! No more! If you can't get your Mags unsealed in your country‚ you'd better move to another!—Or send us $10 extra for such postage above your normal gift! Sorry!—Until then, you'll get'm unsealed!—Lots of others in your country do, with no trouble at all! Try it! You may like it! GBAKYAMYAB!—Love,—Dad STOP WASTE! TRUST GOD!