Bega Valley LETS is just part of a growing network of people who welcome a system of alternative trading. LETS works on the energy provided by its members; so to get full value from your LETSystem please read this information as it will assist you to harness your energy and make the system work for you.
Our opportunities are limited only by our imagination!
The fundamentals of a LETSystem:
- A LETSystem is a trading network supported by its own internal currency. It is self-regulating and allows its users to manage and issue their own 'money supply' within the boundaries of the network.
- LETSystems are community based non-profit trading systems that enable members to exchange goods and services using little or no cash. It is a method of trading, which depends on skills and time instead of money, exchanging a unit of local currency (Sapphs), not as an alternative to conventional money but to complement the current system of trade.
- LETSystems do not issue any money; each person creates their own.
- The money only exists as numbers in accounts, moving from account to account. The recording of these transactions is done using a computer. This is very much like having a conventional cheque book account.
- Each member holds an account in a 'central office' where transactions are recorded. Trading is done with cheques and multi-list transaction sheets. All accounts begin at zero. For one account to move up, another account must move down. So at any one time approximately half the members will have positive balances and the other half will be negative.
