The Benefits of Bartering
As more and more people are left out of the global economy, communities across North America (and in more than 55 different countries) are turning to bartering as a complementary economic strategy and a way to build healthier, more cooperative communies.
Bartering builds community networks and breaks down barriers causing isolation. It provides people with access to services and products which may otherwise be unavailable, stretches scarce resources, and permits people from all walks of life to contribute to others and have their work recognized. A barter system provides a supportive environment where people can strengthen skills and try out new business ideas. It also promotes neighbourhood businesses and supports the local economy.
Who Benefits?
NDG Barter Network is a ‘LETS’ (Local Exchange Trading System) Why are these systems developing all over the world? Consider the benefits to....
INDIVIDUALS
Can buy goods and services even when you are short of cash.
- Buying essentials like food & clothing with credits frees up your cash for other purposes.
- Many members find credits give them access to luxuries they normally could not afford.
- All of us have skills, and all of us have needs. The NDG Barter Network gives unemployed and under-employed members a chance to practice and build skills, improving their job prospects.
- The NDG Barter Network provides a very low cost way to advertise a service or an item for sale, or test the market for a business idea.
- The NDG Barter Network is a social network as well as a barter system. Trading and social events foster new contacts and friendships.
- News travels fast within and beyond the barter network; word of mouth connects members to many other opportunities, including to jobs within the regular cash economy.
ORGANIZATIONS.
- Organizations which offer services or products for credit can access services and goods which are not in their budget (eg. An organization could offer catering services, workshops etc. for barter credits; they could use their credits for services not within their budget eg. transportation, translation, repairs and maintenance, accounting etc.).
- Organizations which have many volunteer workers have found that if they form a bartering network within their organization, they have a much lower volunteer drop out rate. They can also establish their own rules & rates for trading which suit their members eg. equal value for all work.
- Grants of barter credits can be made to an organization by individuals, other organizations, or by the barter system itself.
BUSINESSES.
- LETSystems, like the NDG Barter Network, encourage people to deal with local suppliers.
- Barter allows you to use excess capacity, and will bring you customers you might not otherwise have found. If a particular day is slow, sell for part barter credits, and you will increase your sales. Barter members are community-minded and loyal to other members. Word of mouth often spreads outside the LETS system, and brings cash-paying customers as well.
- The NDG Barter Network gives you access to a small amount of credit to get your business idea off the ground..
MORE CLIENTS AND MORE BUSINESS. ·
Advertising is free through the Members Directory of Services, and through regular Newsletters. Member potlucks provide word-of-mouth advertising, the best kind!·
- Being able to combine cash and credits means that more people are able to afford your goods/services, and spending is kept within the community.·
- Friendly networks develop as people become trading partners – this brings more people through your doors and, as we learn each others needs, we are able to adjust to others’ needs.
ACCEPTING CREDITS EXPANDS YOUR SPENDING POWER:·
- More clients means more income. Members stick together and bring their friends.Using credits means there is more cash for other goods and services.·
- Credits buy you the same things within the barter system that cash buys outside the system. twitter icons Many skilled people in NDG have spare time and valuable services to offer – as well as goods. The more business members there are, the more commercial products are available using credits.. Buy elk chandeliers be
HOW TO COMBINE CREDITS AND CASH: .
- Use 50% barter credits on particular items, services, surplus or seasonal items, day old products etc. (You get the full price for the items, but the use of credits means a % or your revenue will be spent for services and goods within the NDG Barter community).
THE COMMUNITY.
- Since barter credits cannot leave the community, they move from person to person indefinitely. We sell online different kind of china www.buy-replica.com swiss made watches we have all. Each trade sets off a chain reaction of local economic activity.
- Barter credit trading is immune from the pressures of the global economy. LETS systems give the community more local economic control..
- The NDG Barter Network builds community by linking people of widely different ages,social and economic backgrounds – families, seniors, students, immigrants, people without jobs, established professionals. url: essaysreasy.com
THE ENVIRONMENT.
- LETS reduces resource use (eg. transportation & fuel costs) by encouraging the purchase of local goods and services..
- The NDG Barter Network promotes re-use..
- Dealing directly with the producers of goods and services makes it easier to make informed choices about the impact of what we buy.