Brixton is making its own money... how does that work?
Discussion
Brixton to make Brixton Pounds (B£s)....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8245276.stm
How on earth is that going to work other than meaning people are stuck with money they cant use anywhere else in London.
Surely that will damage the trade as everyone will refuse to use it due to its limited appeal?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8245276.stm
How on earth is that going to work other than meaning people are stuck with money they cant use anywhere else in London.
Surely that will damage the trade as everyone will refuse to use it due to its limited appeal?
Dupont666 said:
Surely that will damage the trade as everyone will refuse to use it due to its limited appeal?
The idea is that people will use local shops. So its good for the local area.Thats it really.
Eta some slocal shopkeepers will almost cetainly give B£ discounts. so although the exchange rate is £1 to B£1 the localised buying power of the B£ will be greater.
Edited by scotal on Friday 18th September 14:35
scotal said:
Dupont666 said:
Surely that will damage the trade as everyone will refuse to use it due to its limited appeal?
The idea is that people will use local shops. So its good for the local area.Thats it really.
Of course it will... no doubt its all being printed at the tax payers expense?
evenflow said:
w
kers! 
Don't worry, it's not legal tender or anything like that. More like book tokens. They'll have a value to the retailers who can cash them in for real cash and like book tokens only certain retailers will take them.
I'm not a big fan of the concept if I'm honest and suspect it'll be dead in the water once the novelty wears off. It's part of the Transition Towns movement and as such I suspect it'll mainly be taken at organic deli's and other places that the lentil munching middle classes of Brixton like to frequent. However I don't think it's particularly offensive or wrong in any way. I don't think Lambeth Council are directly funding it but they are giving support which is fair enough as it is intended to keep money within the local community.
As for counterfeiting, I was curious about that myself but I suspect that a few basic security measures would make it pretty hard to launder any worthwhile amounts. It'd be more worthwhile to counterfeit Argos vouchers I'd have thought.
I'm not a big fan of the concept if I'm honest and suspect it'll be dead in the water once the novelty wears off. It's part of the Transition Towns movement and as such I suspect it'll mainly be taken at organic deli's and other places that the lentil munching middle classes of Brixton like to frequent. However I don't think it's particularly offensive or wrong in any way. I don't think Lambeth Council are directly funding it but they are giving support which is fair enough as it is intended to keep money within the local community.
As for counterfeiting, I was curious about that myself but I suspect that a few basic security measures would make it pretty hard to launder any worthwhile amounts. It'd be more worthwhile to counterfeit Argos vouchers I'd have thought.
Edited by rpguk on Friday 18th September 15:43
richardxjr said:
Only numptiness if you're the one buying...The amusing thing about the first launch of Lewes Pounds was that on launch day most were locked up in the organisers house, the person being elsewhere. Some interesting figures were around as well. They 'made' more money out of people changing sterling to sell the Lewes Pounds on eBay than to spend in the shops. They've just relaunched it as the currency can only be valid for 12 months, so new designs to tempt the suckers on eBay.
It's actually been quite successful, but is really the preserve of the DFL's (Down From London, local term essentially meaning NIMBY) who see it as helping the lovely little quaint country community that they want to mould into a little Kensington, please keep the noise down and take your nasty local traditions away. sorry, getting a bit bitter there
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