Moneyless Trade/Exchange Schemes
Moneyless Trade/Exchange Schemes
Does anyone know anything about these schemes? Years ago I thought there were some operating in this area but have googled today and found nothing. I've heard them called LETS schemes but sites that came up weren't that great. If there isn't one for our area it might be a good thing to set up! Cheers in advance
Not wildly enthusiastic ...
Sophie
I first became aware of LETS in 96/97. I think they're a sort of technological fix for people who don't know much about technology. If you want examples of moneyless trade / exchange schemes, I could point out three among my immediate neighbours - e.g one neighbour mows another's lawn for using her parking space; I use yet another's front garden, because they're not really interested in it. What makes them work - and will be essential for LETS - is a degree of trust and neighbourliness, which has to start from the bottom up. If you try to bring in the complexity of a LETS scheme, with setting up accounts, recording transactions, etc., I think most people's eyes glaze over. If you then wonder how it could be done better, amazingly, you realise you are rediscovering how normal money transactions work. Two things killed LETS schemes for me; one was somebody enthusiastically showing me an Access database which he thought I could use to help run such a scheme, and the second was finding a similarly enthusiastic write up of them in a book by Anthony Giddens, at the time touted as Tony Blair's guru of New Labour's Third Way.
If you want moneyless exchanges. just make friends with people. It's fantastic how it works, and without having to think about it. Hope this comment wasn't too unfriendly
I first became aware of LETS in 96/97. I think they're a sort of technological fix for people who don't know much about technology. If you want examples of moneyless trade / exchange schemes, I could point out three among my immediate neighbours - e.g one neighbour mows another's lawn for using her parking space; I use yet another's front garden, because they're not really interested in it. What makes them work - and will be essential for LETS - is a degree of trust and neighbourliness, which has to start from the bottom up. If you try to bring in the complexity of a LETS scheme, with setting up accounts, recording transactions, etc., I think most people's eyes glaze over. If you then wonder how it could be done better, amazingly, you realise you are rediscovering how normal money transactions work. Two things killed LETS schemes for me; one was somebody enthusiastically showing me an Access database which he thought I could use to help run such a scheme, and the second was finding a similarly enthusiastic write up of them in a book by Anthony Giddens, at the time touted as Tony Blair's guru of New Labour's Third Way.
If you want moneyless exchanges. just make friends with people. It's fantastic how it works, and without having to think about it. Hope this comment wasn't too unfriendly