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An alternative to cash currency that has been running locally for 25 years is still going strong.
The Local Exchange Trading System (LETS) – founded by former Forres Community Council chairman Stewart Noble – facilitates exchange of goods or services by its members.
New Moray LETS member, Lorna Normand, confirmed there are currently a total of 100 members of the scheme.
She said: “Values of inclusion, community and support uphold the system. LETS is a non-monetary way of valuing and fostering the healthy, social things people do for or share with each other. Sometimes we want help with small things and can’t afford an expensive professional. Sometimes we feel more isolated than we’d like to be or at a loss for someone to hold the end of a bit of wood, help with the IT, water the garden when we’re away, help paint the kitchen, build a bike shed or put in a new zip. Members might have knowledge or skills to share that are not professional … A second hand bicycle might do just as well!”
LETS is a locally initiated, democratically organised, not-for-profit community enterprise that records transactions of members exchanging goods and services by using locally created currency. It allows people to negotiate the value of their own hours or services, and to keep wealth where it is created. Similar trading systems around the world use ‘metric currencies’ that measure, as opposed to fiat currencies used in conventional value exchange.
The Moray LETS online accounting system keeps a tally of transactions by a central processing of exchanged cheques. Members are issued with quarterly statements. Unlike a barter system where individuals can only make a direct swap, they can earn or spend LETS in transactions with any other members at any time. Quarterly LETS trade fairs in Forres invite members to trade creativity and skills, new or used items. Quarterly newsletters publish members’ offers and wants. Facebook and Signal flag up news and are trading platforms. And social events throughout the year bring members together.
Email [email protected] for more information.
