Community Exchange NewsCommunity Exchange News is the Newsletter of the Wellington Talent Exchange group of the SANE Community Exchange System
| Community Exchange News |
| No.2, 11 August 2006 |
Community Exchange News is the Newsletter of the Wellington Talent Exchange group of the SANE Community Exchange System |
Contents:
1. Welcome
Welcome to issue 2 of the Wellington Talent Exchange (WTE) newsletter. In this issue I again answer the question "Where do we stand?" and talk a bit our most recent event, about an event coming up, about a visitor from the Cape Town Talent Exchange, and a few 'technical' points about the exchange and how we use it. I have included some points from last months newsletter. These seemed important enough to be repeated.
The upcoming event, a seminar at Dev-zone in the Wellington city, offers an exciting opportunity for us to talk to people who will tend to have a good understanding of why we are working to build our exchange.
There is no more for me to say here than to invite you again to write for the newsletter and share your thoughts and experiences.
Russell Bishop
Administrator
2. Where Do We Stand?
Trading to date has been T4 525. In July we traded to the value of T1 270. (In June it was T588.) We now have 29 member accounts. The account numbering is a little misleading here: there are numbers in the thirties, but this includes the account numbers allocated to other exchanges, in New Zealand and elsewhere in the world.
3. Question and Answer Session and Shared Meal
We had a successful session at our home in Belmont on Sunday 6th August. We were six adults and five children. Some of the questions we addressed are mentioned in this newsletter. We had an enjoyable time and got to know each other better.
We had apologies from 10 people for this Question and Answer Session. I was grateful to those who phoned or emailed to say they couldn't make it to the event.
I am not sure how to go forward with this kind of event. I think that if we met regularly then you and your fellow members of the exchange would be able to plan to come along for the opportunity to build your confidence in the system, and enjoy getting to know the people offering valuable services and goods in the exchange. On the other hand it may be better for me to talk to members individually about their needs and help each person to stimulate activity in the exchange. Please let me have any thoughts you may have on this.
4. "The Meaning of Money, and a New Kind of Money!!" Seminar at Dev-zone 24th August
I have connected with the people at Dev-zone in Wellington city and will address people from their network on 24th of this month. Dev-zone reaches out to a range of organizations doing development work. I believe that those who come to the seminar will be ready to hear about how the WTE offers a new way of organising our economic life. I am hoping that a number of people will join the exchange that day or soon afterwards.
If you would like to help me put forward the ideas behind and the workings of the WTE please contact me and we can work out how you can present the seminar with me or support my presentation.
5. Visitor from Cape Town - Accommodation paid in CES money!!
Laura and I welcomed our friend from Cape Town Elfi Tomlinson into our house for about two days a week or two ago. Elfi is a stalwart of the Cape Town Talent Exchange. It was great to catch up with the latest news from Cape Town, especially about the progress of the Cape Town Talent Exchange. The system there seems to be doing very well. I was hoping that Elfi would be with us for the Question and Answer Session on the 6th August. Unfortunately her plans took her out of New Zealand on the 5th.
It was exciting too, to accept payment for the accommodation in CES money. This helped to affirm that the wider system, while promoting local trade, paradoxically, can also help link people efficiently from across the globe.
6. Any questions? Any doubts? Please contact me!
If you ever have any questions or doubts about any aspect of the WTE or the wider system, please do contact me and we can meet or chat on the phone or by email to find answers and deepen your understanding of the system and increase your confidence in using it.
7. Restricted by Your Offerings? No Way!!
One of the questions raised at the our Question and Answer Session was about whether we are restricted to those items we mention in our offerings. There is freedom in the system way beyond this. You can at any time negotiate to offer any service or goods to any member. The fact that a particular item is not mentioned on the site does not restrict you.
8. Negotiating with Your Partner Member
This was also raised at our Question and Answer Session: Any time you work with any member of the exchange you can negotiate any terms or arrangement which works for both of you. You are not constrained to do exactly what you mention on the site.
9. The Dreaded Negative Balance!!
Here's an issue that troubles us because we are all committed to operating with real integrity. Nearly all new members in the CES believe that they should 'put something in' before they buy anything. When we started in Cape Town in 2003, we all had zero balances. Someone had to go into negative. I took this on and paid Tim to change the oil on my car. Since then I have been in and out of negative. Currently, I have a negative balance. I am fluctuating around a point. For now I am just happy to be active and stimulate the system. Those of us in negative balance are prompting our brothers and sisters in the system to spend. We too, up to a reasonable level, can continue to spend. The nature of 'a reasonable level' has been debated quite a bit. In Cape Town they are considering placing some limits on how far people can go into 'debt'. It's part of my job as administrator to just watch quietly to see if any person in our exchange is starting to go so far into negative that they may have trouble returning, at some stage, their balance to around zero. The whole approach here is that of a community of people who know each other, and will assist each other to the benefit of the whole community. The word 'empower' is now a bit overworked. It applies here though. We are empowering each other to serve the community.
All of this can obscure the most important point here: please do not hesitate to spend in the system, even if you have a negative or zero balance. Every time you spend, you stir energy into the system.
Repeated from the last newsletter:
10. Keeping Your Offerings 'Live'
When I bring a new person into the exchange I generally set their offerings up to stay current for a period of 6 months. As a result of this there are a few offerings due to expire in September, and quite a lot in October. Please just have a look at your offerings and consider reseting them to expire later.
11. Improving Security with a Personal Password
I'm worried about the security of your account if you still have the password given to you by the automatic system when you joined. That original password is sitting in my Yahoo site on the email and I imagine a very determined person could get in there and see it. Please do go in some time and give yourself a very personal password and ensure the security of your account.
12. Making Your Offerings Attractive
Please think of the exchange as a way to let people know what you can do that would be of great value to them. You need to think of your offerings as 'adverts'. Please have a look at how you've worded your offerings and see if you can make them 'sing'. That is, can you make them show the high quality of your work and skills, and the goods you may be offering.
13. 'Substituting' Day-to-day Purchases and Work Activity into the Exchange
Some time ago I coined the term 'substitution'. By this I meant the shifting of buying and selling from the nartional currency system into the local currency system. I think it good if you can get things that you normally buy for dollars, in the exchange. It's also good if you can do work you normally do for dollars and receive local money in payment for it, or of course sell goods that you would normally sell for dollars, for local money. In line with this I am keen to reach a point where we can all buy the things we most value, on which we currently spend most of our Kiwi Dollars, in the exchange. Those items we spend most on and which we can't really do without are: food, clothing, cleaning materials, accommodation, practical services (house maintenance, plumbing, ...), transport, financial advice, business advice, child care, labour, entertainment. Quite a bit of this is already on offer to us in the exchange. Please think about ways of 'substituting' purchases and work activity into the exchange.
14. 'Indulgent' or Special Offerings and Wants
The exchange will also, of course, sometimes offer those rare 'exotic' or special or 'indulgent' things, which we mostly prefer not to buy, mainly because they just cost too much. It also allows for us to be a little 'indulgent' in what we offer - to offer to do things, just because we enjoy doing them. My 'Astronomy Wonder Session' was somewhat in that category. While I was Carter Observatory there were oportunities to teach this fascinating subject. Now I have few such opportunities. I am using the exchange to create the chance to talk to people about the 'heavens above'.
Wellington Talent Exchange Administration
Email: well-at-ces.org.za
Web: www.ces.org.za
The SANE Community Exchange System is an initiative of the South African New Economics Network