A typical LETS trade

Suppose Betty is looking for someone who can cook casseroles.

She looks up the resource list that is available either on paper or on the CES web site’s member’s page, and calls up Alice who is offering the service she is looking for.

Betty agrees with Alice to pay her 15 units, and Alice cooks the casserole and delivers it to Betty. Betty gives Alice a BrisLETS trading slip for her work for the amount of 15 Units; she also gives Alice $6 to cover the costs of the materials. This cash component of the trade is not counted in the LETS account.

Alice sends in the trading slip to the bookkeeper, and her account is credited 15 Units. Betty is now “in commitment”, as we like to say, by 15 Units, and acknowledges that she will, some day, perform a service for a fellow BrisLETS member.

In fact, a month later she is asked by Chris to update his website, for which Chris gives her 25 units. This means that Betty’s account is 10 Units in credit, and that one day Chris will do something for another BrisLETS member.

What if Betty wasn’t able to update Chris’s web site and declined to help? No problem. One day Betty will be able to do something for another member, when she is ready.

See LETS in action for Hugh’s photo journal which illustrates how LETS works in practice.

Watch the video for a further explanation as we operate in the same way