Scrip Offers More Bang for the Bread
Radha Tereska Buko gets her hair trimmed, art framed, help with her computer and an occasional massage for a few slices of bread.
Burlington Bread.
It’s an alternative paper currency that allows people to barter their goods and services--from yoga and violin classes to catering and graphic design. Organizers say it boosts the local economy and promotes connections within the community.
“It shows that all of us have talents and skills whether they are in the want ads or not,” says Mark Montalban, a founder. “It helps empower people. They know they can get services. . . . It values all of our skills more on an egalitarian level.”
For Buko, the currency is a reminder of the world her father grew up with in Russia, where neighbors supported one another through poverty.
“It speaks of community, and supporting one another’s livelihood,” she says. “So that we come more in direct contact with the people who offer services.”
Laura Markowitz, a member of Burlington Bread’s steering committee, says it’s part of a renaissance of local currencies around the country that surfaced in the ‘90s. Now 30 U.S. communities have alternative currencies.
Local currencies became popular after the Depression when it was hard to get cash, she says, but many of the 400 currencies died after the arrival of the New Deal and centralized banking.
Currencies like Burlington Bread are as much about people seeking connections in their communities as they are about economics.
Buko is not much of a consumer. She says she lives simply, teaches meditation and counsels people on how to reach their goals. She uses Burlington Bread for things she would not normally treat herself to.
“So there’s plenty of places for me to spend bread, and I make relationships with these people and that’s more important to me,” she says.
Her daughter, Sierra Tarinelli, makes the most of bread. Tarinelli and her 5-year-old son live with Buko, paying $300 in rent with a combination of bread and massage, Buko says.
About 130 individuals and a handful of businesses participate in the alternative currency. The idea is based on a local currency that has taken off in Ithaca, N.Y.
The first slices hit the market in 1998, and now about $6,000 worth is in circulation.
Keeping it circulating is daunting.
“The biggest challenge is circulation,” says Markowitz. “Bread sitting there is not like money. When money sits there it earns interest. But bread dies. . . . The project dies.”
She hopes Healthy Living’s decision to become the first grocery store to accept Burlington Bread will get more of it moving.
“That’s been a major breakthrough,” she says.
The owner of the store, Katy Lesser, was asked to join and given a loan of 100 slices of bread. Like the other retailers, including the Book Rack in Winooski, Lesser allows customers to pay up to 20% of their bills in bread.
“I really don’t need French horn lessons, and I don’t need homemade soy milk,” Lesser said. “We need more businesses in their network. . . . I decided that I would be the one.”
She says she won’t use the bread herself. Instead she’ll give it away to her employees as bonuses.
The owner of the Book Rack, however, loves bread.
“I go out and enjoy it,” Mike Desanto says. “The bread is good for personal services, from massage therapist to lawn mowers [repair].”
Accepting the alternative currency builds goodwill with customers whether or not it boosts sales, he says.
“But we are complete, full supporters of the concept of Burlington Bread,” he says, describing himself as an anti-capitalist capitalist. “I would do almost anything to keep people from going into chain stores.”
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https://www.burlingtoncurrency.org/
