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1)
Where can I spend my SeaVU?
Like any economy, that's always changing.
You're encouraged to post what you're looking for in the Marketplace
section of this website. Also, check out the Business Directory.
2)
Isn't SeaVU just some kind of barter system?
That
depends on your definition of barter. If you define barter as trade
or exchange, then yes--SeaVU money is barter in the same way that
Federal money is barter. If you define barter more narrowly, like
Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary--"to trade by exchanging
one commodity for another"--then neither Federal nor SeaVU
exchanges are barter since money isn't generally viewed as a commodity.
3)
Isn't it illegal to print your own currency?
No. Since frequent flyer miles
can be used to purchase all kinds of things beyond airline tickets,
they are a form of corporate-based currency. Complementary currencies
have a long history worldwide and an especially rich one in the
U.S. during the early 20th century.
Two primary things are illegal relating to currencies. The
first is making the currency look like the Federal money. If you
print currency that you represent as being Federal currency, it's
counterfeiting. SeaVU has completely different design, size, and
color compared to Federal currency and thus be unlikely to be confused
as Federal money.
The other is not paying proper taxes on transactions. This would
be considered tax evasion. SeaVU users are responsible for collecting
appropriate taxes in Federal money (since the IRS and other government
agencies don't currently accept payment in SeaVU) for all transactions.
An example: A Seattle-area store accepts 30% SeaVU. A SeaVU
user comes to their store for this reason and purchases a $10 item.
The store would charge them SV3 + $7.88. That is, 30% of the total
in SeaVU is SV3.00 + $7.00, with the $0.88 in sales tax on the full
$10 value being added to the Federal amount. The store would then
account for an income the equivalent of US$10.00.
4)
What is to prevent me from just printing bills in my own neighborhood?
Absolutely nothing. In fact,
we encourage it. Every currency system is like a different game--each
has its own rules and own style of play. Federal money has rules
that makes "winners" out of those who manage to hoard
large amounts and invest it in ways that earn interest. SeaVU makes
"winners" out of those who prefer to trade with locally-owned
businesses and individuals in the community. Other systems like
TimeBucks make "winners" out of those who do service for
one another or volunteer for nonprofits.
If you can get a group who can agree on a particular system of exchange,
by all means, do it! Do your homework first, however, so you can
avoid re-creating failed systems of the past. Check out the Resources/Links
section of this site for recommendations.
5)
If 1 SeaVU = 1 dollar then why not just use a dollar?
One of the many reasons you might
want to use SeaVU in addition to Federal dollars is the difference
of where they come from and what they represent. Every Federal dollar
was created by a bank or similar institution as debt, so every dollar
you own represents somebody in debt somewhere in the world. It causes
much of the poverty, bankruptcy, and credit problems you see on
the news, as well as the need for the growth-for-growth's-sake economy
that rewards people for digging up and cutting down natural resources.
Every SeaVU in circulation was created by someone in your community
willingly accepting the commitment to offer a similar value of goods
and services to their community members. It causes more local self-sufficiency
and increased connection between people, encourages the building
of social capital, and decreases the gap between rich and poor.
6)
Does the SeaVU system have a good sound financial management system?
Yes.
SeaVU's financial systems are based on almost a decade of research
into both successful local currency systems as well as the causes
of failure in unsuccessful ones. In addition, while many experts
agree that a viable currency should have a daily reflux of 1% (meaning
the average unit is in circulation for 100 days), our chosen issuance
limits are based on more conservative numbers (a 60-day average),
therefore keeping the SeaVU economy "tighter" than it
would strictly need to be to remain viable.
7)
Will my SeaVU be worth less in value two years from now?
Yes,
no, and maybe.
Yes, in the sense that one SeaVU is worth US $1.00, and the
buying power of a Federal dollar will almost inevitably drop over
time because of how they are issued.
No, in the sense that unlike Federal dollars, SeaVU are not
meant to be collected, saved, or hoarded. They are meant to be used
to facilitate exchange. SeaVU garners no interest, so there's no
sense keeping SeaVU for periods as long as a year or two. The more
quickly you earn and spend, the less the Federal money can devalue
in the mean time.
Finally, Maybe, in the sense that the SeaVU system could
make the decision to "unplug" the currency's valuation
from the Federal dollar. If this is done, the SeaVU value could
be free from the drag of the Federal. However the risk of doing
this is that new users wouldn't have a sense of how much a SeaVU
is worth. At this time, we've decided that until a critical mass
of businesses and individual users intuitively and instinctively
understand how much value is represented by a SeaVU, it's better
to equate that value with a well-known currency.
8)
How do I save for retirement in SeaVU?
Easy! The more you use SeaVU,
the less you're using Federal. The less you use Federal, the more
of it you can save and invest. The more Federal you save and invest,
the more you build for retirement.
Meanwhile, the more you use SeaVU, the more you make connections
with the local economy. The more you make connections, the more
community you build. The more community you build, the greater social
capital you have, upon which you can draw if the need arises in
your retirement.
9)
I live in Bellevue, does anyone accept SeaVU there?
They won't if they don't
know about it. And you won't know if they do unless you ask. So
wherever you live, the next time you're making an exchange with
someone who you suspect might accept SeaVU (or might eventually
accept SeaVU), just ask them: Do you accept SeaVU?
When they say they do, make the exchange with SeaVU (or a combination
of SeaVU and Federal).
If they ask "What's SeaVU?" just let them know it's a
local money that builds our local economy and refer them to seavu.org.
Better yet, give them a small-denomination note, and point out where
it says the web address. Then they have some SeaVU to play with
and have a reminder of the URL!
10) Why do I have to spend 20 U.S. dollars to
get 1000 SeaVU? Isn't that just like getting free money that I or
someone else doesn't really have to pay back? If so, what happens?
Let's
break this down:
Why do I have to spend 20 U.S. dollars? The US$20 helps the
SeaVU system cover the costs of printing and providing SeaVU to
the community. Our main Federal money cost is printing the bills.
Isn't that like free money I don't have to pay back? No.
When you become a member, you sign an agreement that you will return
an equal value at the end of your membership. You could just keep
your SV1000 under the bed for years, re-discover it when you're
remodelling or something, and give it back to us. Or, you could
spend some. When you spend some of your initial SV1000, you're making
a commitment to earn that much back because you still have to return
what you took out from the system. (Alternatively, you could return
Federal bills in the place of SeaVU you didn't earn back.)
What happens if someone else doesn't pay it back? Well, we
hope we don't have to deal with that. However, from a systems perspective,
it would cause inflation. Simply put, inflation is when there's
more money in circulation than the value of goods and services available.
So if someone breaks their membership contract and doesn't offer
value (goods & services) to the community to earn back what
they've spent, then there's more money in circulation than goods
and services.
If we have a problem with someone breaking their contract, we'll
look at possible legal actions depending on the individual situation.
11)
Can I get more than 1000 SeaVU to spend?
Yes--through two different
methods. Every SeaVU member gets 1000 SeaVU that they can issue
themselves (with the agreement to earn it back by providing goods
and services to the community) with their membership. To spend more
than 1000, members can either simply earn it in the SeaVU market,
or apply for a higher issuance limit. Earning it is preferable to
many because it doesn't require an eventual repayment to the SeaVU
system. However, individuals and organizations with a need for larger
amounts can demonstrate their ability to earn SeaVU and have their
1000 SeaVU limit raised according to a formula agreed upon during
SeaVU's creation. Contact the SeaVU System board to arrange a meeting
if you'd like to raise your limit.
12)
Where are all these places that are pictured on the bills?
The images used on SeaVU's
first printing are art and architecture in Seattle's University
District. SeaVU was conceived at the Puget Sound Community School
located in the U-District. Future printings will feature art and
architecture from other Seattle communities.
13)
Wouldn't it be easy to counterfit SeaVU bills?
Our plans for anticounterfeiting
features in the currency are tied roughly to the level of participation
in the system. While we're small, our bills have only rudimentary
anticounterfeiting features. More will be added as the system grows,
becomes more diverse, and the likelihood that you're exchanging
with someone you don't know personally increases.
14)
Why is there an expiration date on the bills? What happens when
the bills expire?
Stuff happens. Money gets
washed, stolen, torn, worn out, lost, burned, eaten...whatever.
Unlike Federal dollars, however, SeaVU represents actual or promised
goods and services in the local community. So when stuff happens
to SeaVU bills, it means there's an imbalance between what's available
and the money supply. Put another way, there is value in the system--the
goods and services--that now have no currency representing it; it's
"lost" value.
Having
an expiration date on the bills allows the SeaVU system to recapture
that lost value. We have records of how much SeaVU has gone out
to members. As the expiration date approaches, SeaVU members can
turn in their old bills for an equal value of newly printed ones.
When the date has passed, we can determine how much value was "lost"
to attrition and re-issue that many new bills into circulation.
Having
the bills expire also gives us a good excuse to release new sets
of bills focusing on the art and architecture of different area
neighborhoods!
15)
Why are the bills smaller than regular money (U.S. dollars)?
While we were doing our research
on successful and unsuccessful currencies, we found two things.
One, several of us had positive reactions to smaller bills and thought
others might as well. And the other was that we liked size and color
differences to help distinguish denomination. Every SeaVU denomination
has its own color, and the bills come in three sizes: small (fractionals--1/10
and 1/4), medium (single digit--1, 5), and large (double digit--20).
16)
Why do you use paper bills as coins instead of using metal coins?
Why use small denominations at all?
All over the world there are paper
bills that represent value less than US$1, so why not here? And,
printing paper bills was less expensive and more flexible than minting
metal coins.
There
were two reasons to print small value bills. 1) Small denomination
bills give every user an easy advertising tool for SeaVU. Pass these
out to your friends, collegues and businesses that you want to encourage
to be a part of the community. 2) We are doing everything we can
to encourage our future leaders to be involved in local currency
and we are fortunate to have quite a few youths involved in the
SeaVU system. Youth transactions are typically smaller than adults.
Share your SeaVU with kids and/or encourage your kids to join the
system. There is a special $5 membership fee for anyone under 18.
Youths get a 100 SeaVU "loan."
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