Question Box

● When is it proper to leave free literature, and how should this be done?

If someone is interested but cannot afford to contribute for the literature, we could give the person a booklet, an older magazine, or a tract. Perhaps some back issues of the magazines could be distributed free when visiting nursing homes and hospitals. They could be left at Laundromats or in the lobbies of residential buildings where our work is restricted. However, good judgment should be exercised as to how many and how often magazines are left at one place. The managers of some of these places have complained because of having to discard magazines when there are too many left over a period of time.

Some publishers may occasionally leave a single older issue of a magazine at the door when no one is at home. However, if we were to leave magazines indiscriminately at not-at-homes each time the territory is worked, people might reason that the magazines are free. So it is good to use discretion in this matter. If the congregation is experiencing problems because older issues frequently are left when people are not at home, the local body of elders can review the matter and make suggestions that would be appropriate for the territory and in the best interests of the work. It may be more appropriate to leave tracts at not-at-homes.

Since worldly persons with bad motives may look for outward indications that no one is home, a tract or an older magazine that is left at a door should be placed completely out of sight. (Matt. 7:12) If other printed material is found at a door, it may not be good to leave anything additional on that occasion. No literature of any kind should be left in mailboxes, since that is prohibited by postal regulations in the United States.​—See Our Kingdom Service, May 1981, page 8.