Battered by Economic Crisis, Greeks Turn to Barter Networks

[IndigoStar]

VOLOS, Greece — The first time he bought eggs, milk and jam at an outdoor market using not euros but an informal barter currency, Theodoros Mavridis, an unemployed electrician, was thrilled.
“I felt liberated, I felt free for the first time,” Mr. Mavridis said in a recent interview at a cafe in this port city in central Greece. “I instinctively reached into my pocket, but there was no need to.”

Mr. Mavridis is a co-founder of a growing network here in Volos that uses a so-called Local Alternative Unit, or TEM in Greek, to exchange goods and services — language classes, baby-sitting, computer support, home-cooked meals — and to receive discounts at some local businesses.
Part alternative currency, part barter system, part open-air market, the Volos network has grown exponentially in the past year, from 50 to 400 members. It is one of several such groups cropping up around the country, as Greeks squeezed by large wage cuts, tax increases and growing fears about whether they will continue to use the euro have looked for creative ways to cope with a radically changing economic landscape.

“Ever since the crisis there’s been a boom in such networks all over Greece,” said George Stathakis, a professor of political economy and vice chancellor of the University of Crete. In spite of the large public sector in Greece, which employs one in five workers, the country’s social services often are not up to the task of helping people in need, he added. “There are so many huge gaps that have to be filled by new kinds of networks,” he said.

Even the government is taking notice. Last week, Parliament passed a law sponsored by the Labor Ministry to encourage the creation of “alternative forms of entrepreneurship and local development,” including networks based on an exchange of goods and services. The law for the first time fills in a regulatory gray area, giving such groups nonprofit status.

Here in Volos, the group’s founders are adamant that they work in parallel to the regular economy, inspired more by a need for solidarity in rough times than a political push for Greece to leave the euro zone and return to the drachma.

“We’re not revolutionaries or tax evaders,” said Maria Houpis, a retired teacher at a technical high school and one of the group’s six co-founders. “We accept things as they are.”

Still, she added, if Greece does take a turn for the worse and eventually does stop using the euro, networks like hers are prepared to step into the breach. “In an imaginary scenario — and I stress imaginary — we would be ready for it.”

The group’s concept is simple. People sign up online and get access to a database that is kind of like a members-only Craigslist. One unit of TEM is equal in value to one euro, and it can be used to exchange good and services. Members start their accounts with zero, and they accrue credit by offering goods and services. They can borrow up to 300 TEMs, but they are expected to repay the loan within a fixed period of time.

Members also receive books of vouchers of the alternative currency itself, which look like gift certificates and are printed with a special seal that makes it difficult to counterfeit. Those vouchers can be used like checks. Several businesspeople in Volos, including a veterinarian, an optician and a seamstress, accept the alternative currency in exchange for a discount on the price in euros.

A recent glimpse of the database revealed people offering guitar and English lessons, bookkeeping services, computer technical support, discounts at hairdressers and the use of their yards for parties. There is a system of ratings so that people can describe their experiences, in order to keep transparent quality control.

(The network uses open-source software and is hosted on a Dutch server, cyclos.org, which offers low hosting fees.)

The group also holds a monthly open-air market that is like a cross between a garage sale and a farmers’ market, where Mr. Mavridis used his TEM credit to buy the milk, eggs and jam. Those goods came from local farmers who are also involved in the project.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/wo...e.html?emc=rss

[Lord Sidious]

And so it begins, the people find their own breathing space.

[Anchor]

I wonder how many Greeks actually know what a 50% or 60% haircut that the banks have to agree to, will mean?

It read that it means that they loose that percentage of their accounts above a certain level.

Banks close, assets frozen, haircut applied, banks reopen, Greeks unhappy with the "robbery"

Brutal.

[dAkapacity]

Thank you Indigo Star! This sounds really wonderful.

Here in Belgium, I'm a member of a LETS (= Local Exchange Trading System)-group, which is very similar to this. We use 'handjes' (little hands) as a trade commodity.

One member helped to transform some cloth in curtains. Meanwhile another gave me some eggs and bioproducts which she couldn't eat all. Total cost: 80 handjes (about 40 euros). Another member asked me to drive him to a furniture store with my little bus, after which we constructed the wardrobe he bought together. Total of hours spent: 6,5 (for 110 handjes) and a little hard currency to pay for the gasoline.

Before you register with LETS, they ask you to make a list of the services (sometimes goods) you can provide. Also another list of services you would like to do is asked. You can change this online whenever you like and current offers or demands can be sent to all members as well.

Every year there's the cost of about 10 euro and 10 handjes just to pay administration costs (all are volunteers).

It is fun and doesn't feel like working at all. With most people you have a good connection and after the service is done, we often spent some more time together (to eat something, ...).

You can have a maximum of 500 'handjes' above or below 0. If you crossed -500, you can't receive any more services (you have to start providing), until you're back above that amount. If you crossed +500, you need to stop providing services for a while (It's time to start receiving :-). This way your account is always balanced.

If you like to start your own LETS-group, this is a link on how to do it: http://www.gmlets.u-net.com/design/home.html

Pz,
xxdA.