Recently, the Deseret News accounted the LDS missionary sales force to peak at 88,000 missionaries. These missionaries work labor-free, at least 50 hours (more likely 60-80 hours) per week when you include weekends. The larger percent of them pay for their own living costs, to the tune of (I believe) $450 per month, and are now asked, according to the Dnews, to pay for their own iPads at $400 each.
That's 88,000 missionaries working 50+ hours per week -- a total of 228,800,000 hours of free annual labor.
It's interesting that the DNews article mentioned iPads. In 2012 I compared the LDS Corporation with Apple Inc, concluding that: "LDSinc is a mind-boggling large, enormously well-fed, tax-exempt privately held company that seems to dwarf Apple Computer. "
I gave more numbers in that 2012 blog to show that, financially, LDS corp has asset holdings and liquid cash estimated to rival Apple Inc. What the LDS corporation has that Apple doesn't shouldn't surprise you: LDS Inc has $4+ Billion in free sales-force labor, if you consider each salesman is about the same age and competency as an Apple Inc store salesman.
How did I get that $4 Billion number?
...88,000 missionaries
x 50 hours per week
x 52 weeks per year
x 2 years per mission
x $10/hour wage
-----
$4,576,000,000
Each of these missionaries is hoping to hook new converts that will donate 10% of their lifetime income to the LDS corporation. In the USA, per convert that could total six-figures of donations over a couple decades, not to mention free labor of service by cleaning buildings, selling the gospel for free to new converts and counting the monies in the ward clerk offices. Missionary free labor is still just a drop in the multi-billion dollar bucket when you include all the time individual members give to the promotion and up-keep of the LDS corporation.
Apple wets their collective pants wishing for so much revenue per new customer with all the donated free labor. They might net a few thousand dollars in sold products. Tangible products that the customer can actually hold in their secular hands. LDS products? Mostly beyond the vaporous veil.
An insider at the COB has recently recounted to me that the LDS Corporation has about $15 Billion in liquid cash, not tied in assets, companies or properties. That's a lot of cash to purchase new assets. And they have mostly free labor to provide accounting and upkeep on the ecclesiastical (or sales) arm of the corporation.
Labor is the most expensive outlay for most corporations that produce tangible products. For a corporation selling vaporous veilware, its labor is ... well, it's free. They have nearly zero raw materials to buy in producing their doctrinal product. And they pay no taxes on the promotion, sales and donations received for their veilware.
So where does all the money go?
The old Ogden Temple, torn down because it wasn't pretty enough. Where does that money go?
David -- great post, but I'm pretty sure that is the Provo Temple. You can delete this comment after you replace the picture.
ReplyDeleteYawn, you do realize that you've been boring your audience judging by the lack of comments lately.
ReplyDeleteI so appreciated this post. I was EXHAUSTED on my mission. I believed back then, but it was during my exhaustion and them wanting more and More and MORE than my very, very tbm shelf started to crack. I was so tbm that I was not even aware that I had a shelf to crack. But it revealed itself and I realized that this corporation did not care about any of us...just itself. When I returned home my parents had become so hard core tbm that I could never be myself. I could never decompress from the mission. I was engaged but ended it as I was just so over the church and all it expected of me and I had not yet even BEGUN to live my own life. My parents were FURIOUS! They severely verbally abused me for daring to not get with the program and I then fled the house. Their abuse almost destroyed me. As a woman I was to OBEY! I would not.
ReplyDeleteI left the church back in 1996. I look at the monster the church has become, the corporation sole, the billions of unaccounted for dollars...yet wards in poverty. It is a sick, sick SICK cult!
Thanks again.
I am glad they have some reserves to pay for the thousands of properties and temples that they have to take care of as well as support millions with the free food they get. Its nice to know they have reserves to support these programs in case of emergencies. .. we should do the same!
ReplyDeleteThat is the Ogden temple, the Ogden tabernacle can be seen next door.
ReplyDeleteFemales are not pushed to serve a mission like males. Sounds like you blew a lot out of proportion.
ReplyDeleteNo what I'm saying is since the women are not pushed to go on a mission she could have stayed home and not have anything to whine about. Frankly, as a convert, I think all Mormon's should go on a mission, that way they can gain an appreciation at how really horrid life is for many people living outside of the church.
DeleteAnonymous: "all Mormon's should go on a mission, that way they can gain an appreciation at how really horrid life is for many people living outside of the church."
DeleteLol. Yeah, non-mormons, living the horrid life.
Maybe the reverse could happen. We can send others on a "mission" to Provo and Central Utah just to see how silly life is for many people living inside the church.
Frank, you are really clueless aren't you. But, that is understandable, especially if you grew up in the Mormon culture.
DeleteThank You David. Keep 'em coming :-)
ReplyDeleteAmazing, huh, what's your point?
ReplyDeleteA player doesn't pay his hoes, except by telling them they're special, that the rest of the world's against them, and that they need him.
ReplyDeleteRegardless if you are male or female you should not be "pushed" to serve. Service is a voluntary thing...and no one should be asked to "serve" without pay for 2 or 1.5 YEARS! You want to help out for 2 weeks? Go for it...2 years? Extortion.
ReplyDeleteYou can only be pushed if you are willing to be pushed. However, as I've said I think every single person born in the church should be required to serve a church. That way they can see what life is like outside of the church. Mormon's are raised in such a protected environment, this is the only way they can see just how cushy their lives are!
ReplyDeleteImagine a world where 88,000 people from one church volunteered for two years to work at places like Habitat for Humanity or local Food Banks, Homeless Shelters etc., instead of trying to persuade people to buy into the Mormon brand of religious dogma.
ReplyDeleteAccording to my recollection from over 30 years ago, we reported closer to 80 hours a week not including required scripture study. You also didn't calculate in overtime pay.
ReplyDeleteIt is too bad so few of those missionaries actually do humanitarian work. Also, think of all the good retired temple workers could do if they served the living rather than the dead!