I’ve Joined the Freeconomy

The news of the attempted walk to India inspired me to join the Freeconomy, which was the philosophy that was being promoted by Mark Boyle aka Saoirse. The basics of the system is simple: An economy where people exchange skills and services without the use of currency.

I joined a similar Local Economic Trading System (LETS) in Dublin over ten years ago. At the time I believe there were a couple of LETS operating in Dublin. I don't know if there still are any. Each LETS established it's own currency which people would use as either full or partial exchange for services. When I joined I submitted my details and what (few) skills I had. My details were included in a directory which listed the available skills on offer within the LETS.

A common failure of LETS type economies is that the skills on offer are usually of the more esoteric variety. You tend to find aromatherapists and face painters in abundance and a shortage of plumbers or electricians. I can't remember what skills I advertised in the LETS. I remember one of them was as a bicycle courier. The rest were even less skilled than that.

The LETS never got off the ground for me. Firstly no-one contacted me to ask me for my services and secondly the couple of people I contacted wanted most of their payment in hard cash rather than in the LETS currency.

The Freeconomy is similar to the LETS that I joined with the difference that it doesn't have a currency and asking for money is against the rules. Obviously there is a difficulty here that without exchanging a credit of some kind you can't be sure that you're going to get the same value from someone else in exchange for your service. It is based on the very idealistic belief that you should give without the expectation of receiving.

More practically the web-site, which serves as the directory of available services includes a profile on each member and a space to give a personal testimonial. If the person who you are providing a service to doesn't have something to barter in return they can at least write you a testimonial which will help to improve your reputation within the Freeconomy. This means that once the system were put into use it would be possible to establish the track record and gain some level of trust in the participants.

The Freeconomy web-site makes use of Google maps to show the location of the members. By clicking on their geo marker you can see what skills they offer. You can also search by key-word.

Because the Freeconomy is intended to function at a local community level you are only shown those members within a 10-mile radius of your location. Presently there are 4,223 members spread throughout 82 countries with 984 skills available. At the moment 50 of those members are in the Dublin area.

The Freeconomy is experiencing a good rate of growth at the moment. When I joined on February 26 I was member 4195 so 28 people have joined since me. Of course it is likely that not all, or perhaps even the majority of those members are not active, but time will tell.

Joining the Freeconomy has also brought home to me how few skills I really have! From the huge list of possible skills all I could pick out were: Letter writer, Leaflet/Poster Design, Graphic Designer, Image Editor, Internet Surf Searcher, Seed Saver, Data Inputter, Public Relations, Food Shopper for Elderly, Friend, Nice Person, CV / Resume Writer, Help with official letters, Journalist, Proof Reader, Typist, Web Content Writer.

If you live in Dublin and you're looking for any of those services join the Freeconomy and get in touch!