Thursday, 2 July 2015

The Exmouth Cockle: a virtual currency

There is gaining interest into the ideas and practicalities of 'alternative' currencies:
Futures Forum: Alternative currencies >>> from the New Economics Foundation
Futures Forum: Alternative currencies >>> responding to market and government failures
Futures Forum: Local currencies: getting radical: a P2P perspective >>> "The End of Banking: Money, Credit, and the Digital Revolution"

Exeter is well-advanced in getting its own currency together:
Futures Forum: A click to help Exeter Pound

Exmouth has had its own LETS virtual currency for some time now:
Exmouth LETS Website

And it will be meeting later this month:

LETS are having a summer lunchtime BBQ 
at the Rethink Centre in Meeting Street on Saturday 26 July.

Transition Town Exmouth | Dealing With Climate Change and Peak Oil

This is from its website:

About Exmouth LETS

Launched in August 2010, Exmouth LETS (Local Exchange Trading System) is a not-for-profit, community-based barter system, one of over 450 similar systems around the UK. It is affiliated with Transition Town Exmouth and supported by grants from Exmouth Town Council and The Cooperative Membership Community Fund.

Exmouth LETS comprises individuals and groups from Exmouth and the surrounding areas who have pooled their skills and resources to form a local network that allows members to trade goods and services without using money. It is managed by a Core Group elected by the membership.

Anyone can become a member of Exmouth LETS because we all have something to offer, whether it is a skill such as decorating or chiropody, a service such as shopping or giving people lifts, or goods such as crafts or home-grown fruit and vegetables. Local organizations – such as schools, churches and businesses – can join, as well as individuals.

Instead of using pounds and pence, Exmouth LETS has its own virtual 'currency', the Cockle. Exmouth LETS members earn Cockles by providing goods and services, and then spend them on things they want from the Directory. And to make the system fairer, all services are priced at 10 Cockles per hour, be it reflexology, massage, cooking, cleaning or carpentry.

Being a member of Exmouth LETS is an excellent way of getting things done when you may not have the cash to pay for them, and of helping other people at the same time. It’s also a fantastic way to make new friends and keep in touch with your local community.

A list of all the goods and services offered and requested by members is published in our online Directory, which is constantly being updated via the website. Offers and requests include cookery, gardening, equipment hire, childcare, building and decorating and much more. For members without internet access, this Directory is printed out and distributed every few months. If you are thinking about joining Exmouth LETS, you can click on the Public Directory Search to see what goods and services are available.


Exmouth LETS Website

The Directory has hundreds of members offering goods and services:
Exmouth LETS Website
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