The Ultimate Barter

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Tell businesses that local money stimulates spending by those otherwise too poor to purchase, promotes locally owned small businesses, and keeps wealth in the local economy. Tell everyone they're in total control of how much they accept. Popular retailers should set a rate of acceptance (per purchase) within what they expect they can re-spend, then gradually increase acceptance of HOURS as the list grows. Collect a small sign-up fee from everyone in order to print the money.

3 . Design your fast barter newspaper. Type up the stories and listings (Computer database programs, such as Filemaker Pro for the Macintosh will alphabetize entries automatically for you). Include a coupon inviting more participation, and leave spaces in your layout for display ads.

4. Sell display ads by showing sample pages of your newspaper to businesses. We now accept local currency for nearly the full price of ads.

5 . Print the money. Use colors. Our 2 HOUR note ($20) is printed on locally made 100% cattail paper with a watermark, and we use soy ink. Our printer accepts up to 30% of the price for printing in money that he himself prints. Serial numbers convert the paper into money.

6. Print the first newspaper and mail them with the agreed local currency payment to each pioneer participant. Every note disbursed is recorded by serial number, name of recipient, and date. Accurate records are essential to accountabili ty and credibility, and these records are open to any participant on demand.

7 . Distribute the newspaper to the public. You might publish the list as an insert to a Pennysaver-like newspaper.

8. Issue a press release to introduce the list and money to the larger audiences of TV, radio, and other newspapers. Invite more people to swap their skills and goods and combine the meeting with Barter Potluck suppers to discuss how things are going. Be sure to remind people that barter income is taxable.

9 . Keep in touch, especially with those likeliest to earn the most money. Retail participants, to the extent of their popularity and visibility, give special credibility to the currency. We therefore help people with a big HOUR income to focus on ways of spending them—say, by reading them the list, noting their selections, or providing them with personalized Ithaca HOUR Shopping Lists for easy reference. When they want to spend their HOURS for something not yet on the list, we try to find what they seek.

Many of our business participants have become enthusiastic HOUR spenders. They've even spent hundreds of HOURS with people not yet listed, by offering HOURS as payment and then showing the newspaper.

10 . Call everyone on the list periodically to make sure phone numbers and listings are accurate. I pay people an HOUR per hour for this work.

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