Case Stories
Katahdin Time Ken Anderson grew up in a rural community in Michigan during the 1950s and 1960s.
Dollar Exchange While he once farmed full-time, by the time I came along, my father had taken a job in thecity, and continued farming and logging part time. As people were apt to do then, He grew
up watching his father, a full-time farmer barter skills to accomplish daily activities, leaving
the flow of cash in the community to be maintained by those who wouldn’t participate in
the system of exchange. For example, instead of paying the butcher to cut up his venison
after hunting season, he might shoe the butcher’s horses. No money was exchanged.
While the example above was not very formalized or part of any community-wide program,
recent time has come to create programs such as the Katahdin Time Dollar Exchange. In
this more formal bartering system, one “time dollar” is credited for each hour of service
performed. Whether the service is a professional service, mowing a lawn, helping to clean
a stream, or playing cards with seniors at a local nursing home, for every hour you give,
you get an hour back. These time dollars can be redeemed later in the form of services
that you may need from someone else.
In the spirit of helping a neighbor in need, the KTDE brings people together for mutual
benefit. In addition, its members perform community services for the greater benefit of the
Katahdin, Michigan region. 1
1 Katahdin Time Dollar Exchange:
http://magic-city-news.com/article_3883.shtml
Barter Systems, Inc. Barter Systems, Inc. is an organization who aims to offers business owners and
Commercial Barter professionals, another means of meeting many of their ongoing business and personalneeds without using cash. BSI clients have the ability to use trade dollars earned by
selling their products or services to other BSI client companies or to member companies
belonging to other barter exchanges located throughout North America, the Caribbean,
Europe, Australia and South America. Below is an excerpt from a thank you letter written
to BSI by one of their satisfied members:
“We are writing this letter to thank you for the newest business opportunity you have
introduced to our company. It has opened several doors to our company that would have
remained closed, if it were not for “Barter Systems.” With “Barter Systems” we have
gained new customers; with the new customers, we have gained trade dollars; with the
trade dollars, we have been able to utilize the potential buying power within the vast
network. The end result, we keep more “George Washington’s” in the bank!
“In addition to the new customer’s and the new income, we have utilized the trade dollars
in several ways. All expensing involved with sales is done using trade dollars. We give a
fifty dollar gift certificate to the employee of the month, via Barter. We have
counteracted the high costs of medical insurance by taking advantage of the many
medical services within “Barter Systems.” In the future we are going to have all of our
company holiday parties through “Barter Systems.” We plan to use the catering services,
DJ services, entertainment services, and whatever else might prove to create smiles on
the employees who make our business work. Where we used to budget money for such
events now we just Barter!
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