25.01.2024

Best possible deal

We have not yet made any permanent arrangement for a replacement printer after that fire. But hopefully that will be done very soon and we will then be in a position to know whether or not we face increased costs.

Naturally, instead of making the assumption that we must pay more, we will be negotiating the best possible deal we can. After all, we are willing to pay a month in advance by standing order. Any businessperson worth their salt knows that in return for a guaranteed income it is more than worthwhile to offer a substantial discount on the ‘normal’ - ie, one-off - cost of printing a 12-pager like the Weekly Worker.

Nonetheless, for next few weeks we do face a considerable hike in our printing costs. However, for the moment the monthly fighting fund target remains set at £2,250 - and the good news is, we are incredibly close to reaching it, with exactly a week of January remaining as I write. Thanks to some brilliant donations over the last seven days, our running total stands at no less than £2,138. In other words, we need just £112 to see us home!

Four of those donations - either monthly standing orders or one-off bank transfers - were three-figure contributions: thank you, comrades KB, GB, PM and SK (KB led the way by showing his gratitude and solidarity by donating exactly £200!). Other SOs came from TB (£60), DR (£20), GD (£15) and TT (£6). Finally comrade Hassan donated his usual fiver to one of our comrades. All in all, our fighting fund running total increased by a fantastic £722!

So now we have a good opportunity to go shooting past that £2,250 target - a way of showing that you - our readers and supporters - can do what is needed. A healthy ‘excess’ this month will certainly go some way to matching that increase we are paying the new, temporary, printer. We will see what they offer on a permanent basis.

So please play your part over the next seven days. Go online to contribute by PayPal (no-one did that last week!) or bank transfer/standing order - see details of the link on our website below. And there’s still time to send us a cheque - if you do it as soon as you read this!