In another article, "A Tonic for the Local Economy" we discussed time share systems where hours of labor are exchanged. We recently met a new area resident who had first hand experience in running a time share system. Conrad Metcalfe and his wife, Annie, moved to Western New York last year from Connecticut. Conrad told us about his experiences with the Olympia Community Skills Exchange.

It happened back in 1978, when he was a college student at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. It all started with a college course which presented the idea of a time share system or skills exchange. The basic idea is to trade hours of labor. Everyone's time should be worth the same amount. An hour of physical labor would be equivalent to an hour of doctor's services. A group of students and teachers got excited about this idea. They thought that it might help the local economy and the people of Olympia. They decided to develop a local skills exchange.

The first step was to educate the community about the whole concept of a skills exchange. They began by publishing a newsletter explaining the basic philosophy and how it might actually work. The OIympia Community Skills Exchange was founded. The group of twenty students and teachers kick started the exchange by listing all the skills they themselves were willing to offer. Then they set up an information table at the local food co-op to present the idea and solicit memberships. They also appeared at community functions like fairs and church socials.

This is how it worked. When someone joined, they registered in the skills exchange bank and listed any skills they had to offer. Then they were given ten hours just for joining. The hours were credited to their name in the skills bank. They could send these hours for any of the services listed by other members. A "customer" obtained a service by calling the skills exchange. Then they were given the names and numbers of providers of that service. It was up to the customer to contact the provider and make arrangements for the work to be done. The hours of service were reported back to the skills bank, and were transferred from the customer's name and credited to the provider. Dues of one dollar a month were collected, which paid for the phone bill.

The skills bank wasn't a fancy computer system. In fact it consisted of a file of index cards itemized by skill category. One person might offer more than one service and be listed under several categories. At first, most members thought they had little to offer. However, after going over a list of needed skills, they often found they had many. For example, a woman who had never worked outside of her home might be able to bake for special occasions, run errands for those without a car, and do sewing. The Exchange had doctors, lawyers, carpenters and plumbers listed along with lawn mowers and babysitters for equal exchange of services.

Eventually, the Skills Exchange set up an office at the food co-op where they had started with the information table. In fact, the food co-op was always short of staff to work in the store, so they gladly accepted hours for rent. They also began offering food for hours. Having the Skills Exchange was good for business, and the co-op thrived. The staff of the exchange was also paid in hours. Folks with no other skills to offer would answer the phone in the office, keep the skills bank up to date, and help print the newsletter. The paper was published every other

month at first, then every month. When a member joined, they were given a complete list of skills offered. After that, updates were provided in the newsletter. Educational articles about the exchange were also included, as well as free advertising for any member desiring to drum up more business.

Conrad Metcalfe told us that the system was really very simple. It ran smoothly for the most part, connecting people with those who needed their skills. He recalled one incident in which the Skills exchange was called upon to arbitrate a dispute between members. A customer had hired a carpenter for a job, but was not satisfied with the work. The Exchange got them together to try to work things out, but to no avail. Finally two other carpenters were sent by the Exchange to do the job right, and their account was just credited with the hours. Conrad said it was so much simpler to add hours to the bank than to have to lay out cash.

From the original 20 founders, the membership grew to about 350. The exchange thrived for the three years Conrad was there, and for about four more years after he left. He feels the main reason it eventually failed was because the majority of the staff were students who would usually work for only a few years while they were attending college, and then drift off into lives elsewhere. Consequently, there was little consistency and a high turnover of staff. But it was a good organization that improved the economic health of the community while providing a real service for its members.

In many communities today, there is more than a little exchanging of skills. It's mostly done between friends and relatives and there is certainly no record keeping. Might it be expanded? Conrad has speculated about starting a more formal exchange here, but knows how much work that would entail. Now, of course, record keeping would be left to a personal computer, instead of a metal box of 3x5 cards. But, besides managing the exchange information there is the need to man a phone or table from which to handle skill exchange requests, and the required distribution of available skills.

We would like to offer The Gobbler as a forum for discussion of time share or barter systems, as well as alternative currencies (see article "The Ithaca Money System").