From oil dependence to local resilience

They say there's no substitute for cold hard cash, well there is now a new more colourful currency in town.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/dominionpost/4695822a27729.html

The Wairarapa Green Dollar Exchange are introducing new cash notes that can be used to purchase local products and services.

Spokesperson for the exchange, Hayden McGrail says getting the vouchers printed has been a real thrill for the whole organisation.

"We are excited about the potential that the vouchers have to involve and benefit the Wairarapa as now non-members can participate in our community currency for the first time."

18,000 vouchers are being printed with a total face value of 76,500 WAIS, pronounced 'wise'. They will be introduced slowly as members withdraw the vouchers from their exchange accounts and non-members purchase them.

Each of the six denominations feature an iconic Wairarapa scene including daffodils, Castlepoint, the Fell Engine, the Tararua Ranges, Greytown town centre and grapes. Local computer graphics tutor and artist AJ Hunter designed the vouchers and comments that they "are some of the prettiest things I've done". He suggests the vouchers could become popular as unique Wairarapa souvenirs.

The vouchers have been printed on high quality, durable, synthetic paper. The intricate design on the notes are not only

colourful and attractive but extremely difficult to copy due to their high resolution. Each note is also serial numbered.

Work is now underway on the next phase of bringing local businesses onboard. While the vouchers are currently accepted at the Green Dollar Exchange's monthly markets Mr McGrail says the real benefit will come when a good number of Wairarapa retailers accept the vouchers as part or full payment for their goods and services.

"All Wairarapa businesses know the benefits of stimulating the local economy and keeping the profits in the region, WAIS vouchers fit perfectly with this value," he says.

Wairarapa people should see 'WAIS Vouchers Accepted Here' signs in participating shop windows very soon.

Mr McGrail says they will be an ideal promotional tool for any business wanting to distribute gift vouchers but don't want to produce their own as these are ready to go. Many businesses and groups use petrol and other gift vouchers as rewards, reimbursements and payments hopefully they will soon opt for these vouchers of ours.

Mr McGrail asserts that the Green Dollar Exchange is not creating or "printing money" as WAIS vouchers can only be issued from one of our exchange accounts and the sum of all our accounts added together is zero.

"They are simply our Wairarapa green dollars in a paper form that anyone can use," he says.

The face value of each note is currently equivalent the New Zealand dollars.

"Our group has 18 years of practical experience behind us already," says Mr McGrail.

The group is anticipating its 500th new member joining up very soon and is bracing itself for the interest being generated by the vouchers, locally and overseas. The group is holding a "Get WAIS" information tonight (Wednesday) in the Carterton Senior Citizens Hall starting at 7pm.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Christoph Hensch on September 18, 2008 at 7:58

The picture is linked from the Dominion Post website. Maybe you could contact Helen Dew or Hayden directly for more photographs.

Permalink Reply by Deirdre Kent on September 18, 2008 at 8:22

Good on you Christoph. I was just going to do it. Looks terrific. A new design..

Permalink Reply by maryanne on September 20, 2008 at 10:03

I have seen your WAIS vouchers and am very impressed. It would be nice to be able to adapt them to other regions in NZ.
maryanne

Permalink Reply by Martin Adlington on April 8, 2009 at 20:47

I have had experience of a local currency in Byron Bay. Unfortunately I have to tell you that the concept has very limited application...viz: I sold my artworks at the local market & accepted "ecos" from local people. Note at this point that I had paid cash for the canvases, paint, & stall rent.When I had $500.00 worth I went to spend them - but I didn't want a craniosacral massage, my chakras balanced, or to get in touch with my spirit guide. I wanted to pay my rent, buy fuel for the car, pay my power bill, buy a digital camera, buy more canvas, pay my stall fee, buy lunch.......no mainstream business was involved.........OK..... I decided to try getting my chakras balanced as after a week of this they were getting seriously out of kilter....the fee was $50 - half payable in "ecos" & half in real hard cash[??].......I ended up donating the 500 green dollars to the charity shop - basically they were worthless...
I agree that after the abandonment of the gold standard, all curriecies became intrinsically worthless, however this issue is compounded in the case of the ‘eco dollor’ - the basic principle of currency is that it is simply a convenient medium of exchange...we all know that no currency is worth the paper it’s printed on...but regionally, nationally, & globally we all need an agreed medium of exchange...that’s simply all money is......try going to Wellington & buying a flat white with an Orewa dollar, or in Browns Bay even.......they will laugh you out of town - I know I’ve done it.....
Another problem is forgery - so simple today with a laser printer..any smart cookie will print eco notes............another issue I found is that people will tender a 20eco note for a 5eco product & ask for change in hard currency - I only obliged this once!!..for very obvious reasons........
The idea may work on a small scale - but not for people in business, who have to pay cold hard cash for rents, raw materials etc - there is no point in having a million eco dollars when your suppliers/landlord demand CHC [cold hard cash]....
I’m sorry, but I cannot really see what problems instigating local currencies will solve.....is there actually a problem???...I’m afraid that I haven’t encountered a single problem tendering CHC worldwide....as far back as the Roman Empire they realized that for economies to work on any scale they needed a widely-recognised currency. “Local” in Orewa may be a geographical radius of 20km, but Orewa is an urban area...Byron Bay is a rural area & ‘local’ is within a radius of 100k - I was not prepared to drive a round distance of 50km to pay 10ecos for a haircut to Mullumbimby- that’s where the nearest eco-dollar-accepting hairdresser lived....
personally, I think that this whole issue is a waste of time..lets not derailed by the latest incarnation of Social Credit...

Permalink Reply by Deirdre Kent on April 9, 2009 at 8:42

Christoph seems to have dealt with the issue of local money keeping money in the area and I want to address the fact that there was a poor range of goods and services for a person with a credit to spend. Annette Riggs from California has started up a couple of trade barter systems for businesses and she won't let people start trading till there are at least 100 in the group, because otherwise they have a bad experience. They must also represent a wide range of goods and services. Can't have more than six printers, plumbers etc. LETS should do this too. To allow ten or twenty alternative healers in a small group is just to demonstrate a lack of understanding of what a local economy is. It is up to the members to persuade a wide variety of businesses to join and to set rules for what will be an effective mutual trade circle.

I am also astonished with the sentence "I’m sorry, but I cannot really see what problems instigating local currencies will solve.....is there actually a problem???..." We are in worldwide economic collapse, 97% of the money traded on the foreign currency markets are for speculation, our government is now backing our bank deposits and can't honour this promise if all banks go at the same time, or even two of the big ones. Have you been keeping up with the news? We need to trade and the money we now use is sick money. Would you like to read my book Healthy Money Healthy Planet - developing sustainability through new money systems? Or try reading Bernard Lietaer or going to Tom Greco's talks in NZ right now.

CHC cold hard cash seems fine because it is trusted nationally. However banks are in trouble because it is a basically flawed system. Understand how money is created as interest bearing debt and you will start to understand why debt is increasing, why there is a growing gap between rich and poor and why the economy needs to grow or else it will collapse. A constantly growing economy is drawing down natural and social capital and the planet is now in serious peril. So CHC which you like is actually wrecking our lives. Money is fine provided it is not created as interest bearing debt, and all CHC starts this way!

Permalink Reply by Martin Adlington on April 21, 2009 at 20:22

Please keep me posted as to when local businesses accept these notes, as in my experience this is a vertical struggle. You do realize that if/when they become popular as "souvenirs" they will be withdrawn from the system...are you giving change in hard currency & are you accepting notes from other [worldwide] alt currency systems??. I have a very high res printer..your call...

Permalink Reply by Hayden McGrail on July 14, 2009 at 20:38

I'm sure our designer AJ Hunter - computer graphic artist would be open to modifying the design for other regions. His website http://www.oblivion-graphics.com/
I'm sure our group would be open to the idea and our local printer would also be keen on the work - they are now experienced in the process and the paper.

Permalink Reply by lee0007 on August 19, 2009 at 23:31

Hi Martin, I'm curious to know if you've ever traded Time (as a universal measure of value) in exchange for people talents and skills? We are working to connect communities, groups and organisations in order to facilitate a nationwide Time Trade system and I'd be interested to hear what risks or barriers you might see this involving. It is strictly a service - no goods - marketplace wherein one hour time = one time credit www.worknow.co.nz

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