Speaker: Lisa

About: Lewisham LETS Scheme

Website: www.letslinkuk.org

LETS means a local economic trading system; Local exchange trading system; like a Babysitting circle, get tokens; give and take. Main aim: allow people to get goods and services that they couldn’t get normally. You get the materials and pay for labour in Anchors [unit of LETS currency in Lewisham]. People offer other services in return (massage, organic produce). Scheme works best the more people are involved. Some schemes work a fixed rate per hour (e.g. 10 anchors per hour); pros and cons: some invested more in the skills that they offer, skilled work. Timebanks: an hour for an hour whatever the skill. I get paid 8 anchors an hour for working in the LETS office. Members are debited 10 anchors for the administrative expenses. Some people ask for payment in part-anchors, part-money. Timebanks: specifically to prevent social exclusion, paid worker to see who deserves the services, people allocated services on the basis of need, person offers back what they can offer (e.g. cannot do ironing but good at computers, offer that). Charities offer funding for Timebanks (TB), LETS scheme not affiliated/ funded by anyone TB: provided in a smaller community area (e.g. Rushygreen).

IT/ Computers essential esp. email. Database that stores information about scheme members, how much they have spent or earned. Print out PDF files for each person's account, each person has a code (3-letter). What’s important is the amount of trade; when there's lots then the scheme is alive, when not then it’s dying. Email leaflets to new members as PDF file, saves on paperwork and postage. At the moment, email to share info about scheme. Phone calls less reliable, send PDF instead. Database on Apple Mac, email transactions to put onto database. IT problem: renewing technologies make previous Macs defunct, bought into the wrong system (by using Apple); few people on the scheme have Apples. No easy way to transfer the database off the Apple Mac. Want to have a website, open access database that's password protected; could be open to abuse (maybe Wiki, where you can save a previous copy); Should have open source makes it more transferable, generic. Hard for schemes to trade with one another, LETSlink UK a good way of getting past this. We need a new poster; Posters useful to go up on community boards; our poster aimed at a particular audience, companies do several different adverts to aim at various audiences. Distribution: to surgeries, libraries (centrally) and check that they have been put up. Mariam [comment]: speaking to people is the best way. Jochen [comment]: with flyers, the response is 1%. Poster with benefits (make friends, trade etc), but too long for a poster: eye-catching sentences? Storm [comment]: stand-out, means something to them, practical services like gardening. Highlight some of the people that want to do something, who are ready to do some of the work. Successful: stall at a community fair, good response (had one at Hilly Fields). Sell stuff on a stall, thus prospective members see the benefits. At the moment the scheme is shrinking, for quite a while (i.e. for the last years). To do with the mainstream economy, people are busy, over-committed, will pay for people to do work for them. Another problem, everyone too busy to be developing the scheme, lack of motivation with less people, not worth the effort, not everyone has access to email (no time to phone and print balances off), thus people without it are not being updated; sometimes get people to phone round; system breakdowns.

Future: close the scheme down but defeatist; hibernate the scheme might be better, can come back when it’s needed. Better to run the scheme in a small area (members spread out at the moment). Do a branch in a smaller area, e.g. in a school area, where people talk to one another in the school grounds; develop scheme around a community location (e.g. church). Chris [comment]: Limehouse Town Hall has got local business interested in accepting Limes (LETS currency) as part payment; people know the scheme works if based in a small area. Heathers Café in Deptford, vegan cafe, closed, advantage of it was that people could go and spend their Anchors there; staff could be paid in Anchors, local businesses involved. Maybe get an allotment to work on, motivation to work together, provide food for café. Intertrading: people still want to trade between schemes (Greenwich and Lewisham) People only want to occasionally trade something, if it’s not consistent then the momentum is lost. Brockley (with its coffee houses) would be a good place to get a community exchange going.