Something that surfaces occasionally one Facebook is LETS. I've come across a few people who've tried it, but it doesn't seem to be something that ever really gets taken on long term by anyone. Buy nothing groups seem to be going better long term. The premise is the same, but without worrying about keeping ledgers.
Many people are time poor as they try and provide for their families in the system, so earning another currency which isn't fiat is likely to feel low down on their list. It's hard for them to see value in it, when they don't have much time to then take part in that community using the currency. Then with the mention of depreciation, why bother at all, if by the time you've found something you might want to spend it on there might not be enough there? This cycles back to why the Buy Nothing groups might be so successful. Contribute when you want and ask for things when you want without having to worry about whether you have enough of the currency left.
Therefore, these people are also most likely to just give away things like excess produce, rather than worry about figuring out any exchange for it and that kind of detracts from the currency value side for those to whom it is important.
Something like this would work well in circumstances where the majority of people in the area have no other choices any more or in a self sustaining community which is mostly isolated from the rest of society.
Sorry, I'm only really putting out the obstacles here as to why I think these things don't currently catch on. I don't really have any solutions to overcome them, other than saying the freedom of Buy Nothings work well in our current system. I would also add that having fiat and WIN feels like it's only adding an extra layer, especially when fiat covers everything anyway.
Perhaps Tom would be better off starting out with the Buy Nothing model and seeing what works from that. Being in the country, you would certainly be in a different situation to the suburbs, so interest could be better.
NO this is exactly what I wanted to hear. I think one of the problems is that he needs to float his idea with more people and get valuable CRITIQUE (not criticism) rather than having the idea float with just a few people. The obstacles are GOOD!
I agree - I think this would be great for a lot of hippies who don't work much anyway, having chosen to 'opt out' of the system. I also think it'd take some full on organising, a bit like I do with Natural Medicine - media, delegating etc. It would really take some dedication, which is why I'm a bit fuzzy on committing until there is a solid plan that will really work.
It's hard isn't it - you have to be idealist and aim high, but also realistic and earthed at the same time.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
That really is the tough part; meshing the ideals with the reality to bring things to fruition.
You can also add free items/services on https://www.community-exchange.org/home/