BUYING AND SELLING WITH GREEN BUCKS
Offered: I will
fix anything that's broken.
Wanted: Editor
for doctoral thesis on Ghandhi, non-violence &
environment ethics.
Offered: Desktop
publishing services.
Wanted: Leads
for junior accounting job.
These are a few
of the 672 ads in the April issue of the LETS
Toronto Trader, "the Newsletter of the
Local Employment Trading
System."
For its advocates,
LETS promises escape, someday, from the
dictates of the global economy. "We should
be able to meet our needs
locally," says Michael Schreinder, staff
co-ordinator for LETS, but
multi-nationals prevent it by undercutting
local prices.
LETS tips the
balance in favor of communities, he says, by
allowing people to buy or sell in "Greendollars."
With Greendollars,
they can trade on the LETS system.
In effect, LETS
operates as an alternative to the formal economy
represented by the Canadian dollar.
The value of Greendollars is
pegged at par to the Canadian dollar.
The difference is that
Greendollars exist only in the LETS computer.
There is nothing that
passes physically from one hand to another.
No Greendollar bills, no
cheques.
After a transaction
is made, the parties phone the LETS office in
an old University of toronto house that
is also home to the Varsity
newspaper and a computer entry is made.
The entry adds Greendollars to
the seller's account and subtracts Greendollars
from the buyer's. The
ideal is to have an account that hovers
near zero -- purchases
equaling sales."
Among the advertisers
in the April Trader are lawyers,
bookkeepers, computer technicians, a cabinetmaker,
an actor offering
assistance in preparing for auditions,
tutors, home renovation,
contractors, graphic designers, a tennis
instructor, a local radio
station seeking a full time station co-ordinator,
editors, an Internet
researcher, and people offering used goods
that range from maternity
clothes to refrigerators.
there are also
calligraphers, jewelry makers, a spiritual healer,
nutrition counsellors, and people offering
herbal tinctures,
aromatherapy, Shiat-su Tai-Chi, yoga,
reflexology and homemade
vegetarian foods. Some will take "100
percent Green" in payment, some
50% with the balance in federal dollars,
some simply say paying in
Green is negotiable.
According to
Schreiner, federal authorities have approved LETS on
the basis that Green transactions must
be reported for income tax and
GST in the same way as transactions in
federal dollars.
LETS has 700
members, two full-time and four part-time, and
operates on a budget of $40,000, in combined
federal and Greendollars,
raised through membership fees and levies
on transactions and
advertising. In the five years LETS has
existed, green transactions
have totalled $493,536.
So, how much
of an alternative is it? To get a feel, I spoke with
Paul LeBlanc, one of three partners in
total Office Professional
Services (TOPS) with 11 ads in the LETS
Trader, is the newsletter's
heaviest advertiser. A little more than
2 percent of TOPS revenues are
in Greendollars.
TOPS supplies
small businesses with a wide range of services. If
it hasn't got the equipment or expertise
needed, it will act as a
broker to obtain them. LeBlanc wouldn't
divulge TOPS annual revenue
but said it was in the middle third of
the range for small business
incomes.
For him, the
question has been, "How much was LETS going to
represent a fuzzy-dice economy (the new
age stuff) and how much a
talent-rich pool?"
The question
still isn't answered. But LeBlanc says, "For the
meat and potatoes of business, it's getting
better." The problem is
that so far there aren't enough businesses
on LETS to provide the
goods and services he wants. "We're having
trouble burning off our
Greendollars." Recognizing this, LETS
is developing a strategic plan
to pull in more businesses.
In the meantime,
LETS has fostered a sense of community. And
maybe the person who can fix anything
can hook up with the woman who
advertised: "Can you repair my ancient
Kirby vacuum cleaner? Picked up
second hand. Doesn't run."