A few years back, local currencies were all the rage. They work a bit like gift vouchers. Locally printed (often with beautiful art work and security tags), you ‘buy’ them from banks and shops, and then receive your change in pounds sterling. Because for each pound put in, another sterling pound is taken out, they don’t negatively affect inflation. The idea of local currencies is that they can only be used in local indie shops, so encourage the opposite of supermarket domination. One odd story was of a major supermarket that tried to get involved, not realising the point of local currencies was to save the local shops that were being destroyed by them!
But in England at least, local currencies have hit quite a few roadblocks, and not appeared to have taken off, as they do elsewhere. The Bristol Pound was the most successful, but has recently morphed into Bristol Pay (an account to make online payments to other holders, receiving tokens in return). And its success created the launch of The Exeter Pound, which closed down very soon after it was launched. Also gone are the Totnes Pound (the first in the country), the Stroud Pound and Lake District local currency vouchers (which were also good to use by holidaymakers in this popular tourist beauty spot). The local currencies remaining in England are Brixton Pound (transitioning over to a token scheme) and The Lewes Pound (which appears to be last man standing).
The reason given by most local currencies that have failed is that we are gradually moving to a cashless society (like it or not). This is partly due to COVID and also many shops and cafes don’t even use bank notes, especially vegan/vegetarian outlets, as they don’t support them being made with animal fat, to make them non-slip. So unless you use some kind of app-based token payment, often there are not enough notes circulating to make them viable.
Our economy is based on spending billions, to persuade people that happiness is buying things. And then insisting that the only way to have a viable economy, is to make things for people to buy. So they’ll have jobs, and get enough money to buy things. Philip Slater
Thriving Local Currencies Abroad
However, abroad local currencies thrive. This could be due to countries like the US still having a large cash-based system (perhaps due to tipping and most peope eating out in restaurants). Some highly successful local currencies around the world include:
- Canada’s Salt Spring Dollars. These beautiful notes likely work, because Salt Spring is an island, with a strong community spirit. Islanders and visitors can use them to buy food, clothes and petrol, and shops can turn them back into Canadian dollars if wished. They are legally considered gift certificates, which means nobody has to pay sales tax on them (just the customary sales tax, like with regular dollars).
- Germany’s Chiemguaer has over 3000 users turning over £5 million a year with 600 businesses, but has a 3-month window, so the turnover is much faster (people only buy the notes they need, and spend them quickly).
- Ithaca Hours are used in a small New York suburb, known for its eco credentials. Based on a similar currency used during the Great Depression, millions of them are in circulation, and used by residents and businesses. This currency goes a bit off-piste in that they are only used independently, so not transferred back to American dollars.
- Berkshares (Massachussetts) is one of the USA’s most successful local currencies, accepted by over 400 businesses. In paper and digital versions, they are also used in community banks, and local shops that accept them, are promoted to local people.
Read Local Money: How to Make It Happen In Your Community (written by the co-founder of Transition Liverpool, this book includes information on local currencies, along with credit unions and timebanking. Includes what does and doesn’t work!
Set up a TimeBank
Photo by Shane Rounce on Unsplash
A more popular form of local currency is a timebank. LETS schemes were popular a few years back (using local exchange currencies) but due to tax complications, Timebank are more popular. Invented by a US social entrepreneur (who thought it up while recovering from a heart attack), you basically just download the software, then everyone lists their skills (which can be anything from shopping to dog-walking to painting to electricians and child-minding, depending on qualifications and CRB checks). It doesn’t get rid of jobs, it more fills in the gaps of social care left behind, and everyone earns the same amount of ‘one hour’ (extra hours can be donated to local carers or disabled people).
You can then ‘spend your hours’ on whatever you like. And it’s safe, as the software ensures someone always knows where you are and what you’re ‘working on’. For example, a woman could sew children’s clothes, and her husband may be good at DIY. In return, they can ‘earn hours’ to have someone plant trees in their garden, walk their dogs and do their elderly relative’s shopping, if they had no time or car. It’s also a great way for older forgotten people in society to feel of use – often they have skills (mending doors, baking cakes) that many younger people don’t have.
The whole sharing movement does not stop there though. We have car-sharing, garden-sharing (people who grow food in the gardens of elderly people then share the harvest), sharing workspaces (much cheaper than a big long lease, if you all just use it for a few hours each week, and work from home the rest of the time). Right through to sharing tasks either through online websites or within communities. In this post, we’ll look at them all.
