THE FUTURE OF MONEY Bernard A. Lietaer - library.uniteddiversity ...

The Cafe de la Paz in Berkeley, CA, needed capital for refurbishing
a community meeting room at the side of the main restaurant. It
approached several banks with a request for financing. When none
was forthcoming, the Cafe de la Paz issued a scrip which was
redeemable against lunches and dinners in the future. The accounting
works as follows: a client buys for 3100 the value of 120 'Dining
Dinero' (so the client gets a 20% discount on the corresponding
meals). As the cost of goods sold is about 940, Cafe de la Paz still
makes a $60 profit on the transaction. It also obtains the financing
needed, and in addition has increased the loyalty of its clients. It is a
win-win for everybody.
last examples of a special type of complementary currency aiming
at local employment are local loyalty schemes. It is now generally
recognised that small businesses are the major source of future
employment. However, the development of superstores and
American-style shopping malls has continued unabated over the past
decades. For instance, in the UK, superstores have increased their
share of retail space from 12.9% to 23% over the ten years to 1996. In
some areas 70% of the grocery market is accounted for by just two
superchains. The net result: systematic death of the local retail
outlets, and the transformation of downtown areas into 176
ghost towns with high unemployment and crime rates. This doesn't
have to remain so, as was proved by a butcher's initiative in a small
English town (see sidebar). The possibilities for local loyalty schemes
to revitalise local downtown’s, stimulate small business employment,
compete more effectively against the larger distribution systems and
improve the quality of life generally have only been barely tapped so
far. With the growth of Internet businesses, expected to become onefifth
of European company sales in five years time,"' the importance
for groups of smaller businesses to learn the sophisticated use of
complementary currencies can only increase over time.