| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Quail By Mail |
Totnes Pounds - Do you use 'em or loathe 'em?Totnes in South Devon has, for awhile now, their own form of currency called a Totnes Pound. Read about it here, today's Independent:No war and peace here, just your friendly neighbourhood link shortening fairy Has anyone here used them? |
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| RichardW |
This thread needs moving as this is a sales / advertising section.
THREAD MOVING FAIRIES PLEASE |
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| gil |
And as if by magic..... | ||
| sean |
I haven't, being miles from Totnes. I did vaguely see something about a Devon Pound the other day. Don't these things tend to founder on the fact that anyone with useful skills ends up with vouchers for a billion pounds' worth of Feng Shui? | ||
| Chez |
As Sean says, they do tend to fill up with complementary therapies. The LETS scheme in Oswestry has floundered. I am still thinking I'd like to set one up and I think Mochyn was interested, too - but it's having the time ... | ||
| Jamanda |
I think this is different from LETS. It's accepted in shops that participate instead of pounds sterling. Presumably they take normal money too though. | ||
| Chez |
Oh! Sorry. I think that LETS are supposed to be accepted by 'normal' traders, too, in the broad vision - only the government make it really hard to do, as they tax them as cash ... | ||
| sean |
It is a LETS scheme, just one with vouchers called pounds. | ||
| Aeolienne |
Haven't been involved in Lets, for reasons explained in diary entry quoted here:
Sat 29 Oct [2005] Went to conference on "alternative economics" in the Cathedral chapter house. There wasn't much opportunity for conversation between the various talks/workshops, but I did manage a brief chat with a lady from the local Lets group (Lets = Local Exchange Trading System, a sort of modern-day bartering in which people exhange skills & services for a local currency). I think that I'd heard her saying that she was a life coach by profession, which intrigued me - not that I was hoping to get a free session out of her, of course. Also the idea of Lets has long interested me. I did once go along to their monthly meeting shortly after moving to Exeter, but that was as far as I went. The big stumbling block for me is what skills I could contribute and how (time being the usual bugbear here). Someone has said that it would be perfectly OK to join Lets & make use of their services for a while before giving anything, but I don't feel comfortable with that - I feel guilty just thinking about it. God knows, I feel twinges of guilt at my not taking a more active role in the walking club - how much worse would I feel freeloading on Lets? It has been suggested - by me, actually - that I offer maths tuition. But would I be able to deliver? What if the syllabus has changed since I did GCSE? What if I'm hopeless at explaining concepts to someone with less mathematical ability than me? What if I can't find the time? Etc etc. These were the issues I'd raised at the Lets meeting two years previously, and essentially I went over the same ground with the lady at the conference. I tried to explain the problems I was having lately with time management, which prompted the usual titter, so I remarked that it only made it worse that everyone finds my plight apparently so funny. The lady insisted that she was expressing sympathy. I didn't know what to say to that; I only reflected (in my head) that I wished people could express sympathy in a way that sounds less like schadenfreude! So my burning question "Should I get involved in Lets?" got the usual replies: "It's up to you / you'd be most welcome / we're always glad to have new younger members etc." Bit of a disappointment. Something of a communication problem. |
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| Quail By Mail |
I wonder if any lips will curl if I leave Totnes pounds as tip money in a cafe/restaurant. | ||
| Jamanda |
You not convinced then? It obviously can only work if the shop keepers can bank the Totnes pounds. Who ever issues them has to turn them back into real money if requested - much as the Bank of England is supposed to turn your notes back into gold if you ask. |
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| Chez |
When I win my premium bond, I am going to present it at the bank and ask for the equivalent in gold, just so I can look at it for a bit  .
Although the way things are going, I suppose it might be better to take it and stash it under the bed. |
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| Quail By Mail |
I'm pro-Totnes pound but not everyone is going to be a fan of it. So I'm going to experiment and have some fun. As an imposter, living in the next town! | ||
| Stacey |
What's to stop you printing your own? | ||
| cab |
Not being evil. Although its a fair point, because the more successful the scheme the more likelyhood that someone will fake the currency, and the more important putting some security measures on the notes would be, hence the cost would then be higher. |
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| Treacodactyl |
Re: Totnes Pounds - Do you use 'em or loathe 'em?
There's a piece in the latest Permaculture magazine about them. I'm not sure of their use, the main benefit seems to be tourists will take them home as a souvenir leaving real money behind. The article also failed to mention tax implications, although as I think it's £1 - 1 Totnes pound you just put them through your accounts like real money. What's the main benefits? |
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| colour it green |
the interesting thing is.. as a local.. the pounds are not in much use. I haven't been offered them.. i have used money..
the reports would have you believe all of Totnes was using them.... 
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| Quail By Mail |
So, so far, no one here has really much experience of the Totnes Pound.
I was going to go to Totnes today to report on the usage of my Totnes Pounds but then was wooed by the sea and went to the beach instead! |
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| Jamanda |
Good choice! |
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| shadiya |
We did some Wolvercote pounds like the Totnes ones and they were really popular for a while but then kind of fizzled out. The good thing about them is that they encourage people to think about trying to keep money in the local community, unfortunately, that always seems to be the same few people that have been trying to save the planet for the last thirty years ( showing my age there!  ). If tourists buy them and take them home as souvenirs, all the better - it is what tourists are for after all!  Plus, they were a lot nicer than real ones, wonder who it was that suggested to Queenie that they do a reprint with her with a double chin??  Obviously banking on it not being technically treason I suppose. But I expect, if they had lasted longer than six months, some bright spark would have printed their own and buggered things up for everyone else. Basically, it's about trying to get people to think outside the box and start to take control of their money and their community. It was just an idea and I think it has been quite popular but it wasn't ever meant to replace 'real' money, they were just trying out a few ideas as part of the Transition movement and good luck to them I say. Anything that makes people think has got to be a good thing surely? Or not, she says, scratching head and reconsidering that last statement in the light of the hordes of Daily Mail/ Sun etc etc readers out there...
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| james_so |
We shop in Totnes and have found the same, my partner worked in a food shop in Totnes for several months and says she was never offered one... |
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| vanessa |
I have an ancient pre-decessor to all this! The town of Lille in northern France had what it called "bon de ville" notes; printed on thin card, numbered and signed by the town Maire (mayor) around the time of WW1. My grandfather had a 25 centime one, which he gave to my mother ... who has, in turn, given it to me. 25 centimes around 1918 would have been worth having, even if it could only be spent in the one town!! |
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| Slim |
Some American takes on the idea for anyone interested:
Vermont New York |