It’s like subway or toll tokens, you pay more ahead to receive a discount. You can’t use the tokens anywhere else, but you still use the service – so why not get the discount and benefit the local community!

Mike @ TheThriftyLife’s last blog post..Can Email Save You Money?

Mark Herpel
editor@ccmag.net

Okay, so the 5% extra purchasing power is nice but my town doesn’t have much in the way of worthwhile local businesses to support by way of regular patronage.

The largest amount of money I pay to a local entity each month is my rent. If I could get a 5% discount on that I’d be all over it. But saving 5% on a $10 a week purchase from the local farmer’s market isn’t worth the hassle of going to the bank and exchanging the money. That’s a savings of maybe a bit over $2 a month. Even if the savings got up to $5-10 a month it might not be worth it. There are so many easier ways to save the same amount of money that don’t involve running to the bank and doing crazy currency exchanges.

SaveBuyLive’s last blog post..51% of Americans are now committed to either spending less or saving more

But it makes sense that it *could* work. Also, thanks for sharing on the possible flaws that could happen as well. But I guess those in Mass. have figured out how to make it work for them, so maybe the rest of us should take notes.

After more reading, I found this quote and thought I’d share it for those of you who don’t click over to other links….

“A good community, as we know, insures itself by trust,
by good faith and good will, by mutual help,
A good community, in other words, is a good local economy.”

-Wendell Berry, from “Work of Local Culture”

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