Community Barter?

I just learned of Northern Colorado Community Barter.  This Community Barter is arguably the most successful community barter organization in the country.  If you have never heard of a community bartering,  it is a voluntary barter system whereby merchants and customers enter into an agreement to exchange real silver tokens in leiu Federal Reserve Currency.  The model that is practiced by NCCB benefits their local community in significant, measurable and practical ways.  Frankly, I am at a loss why this model is not being taken up and duplicated like wild fire across the nation.  


What makes it so appealing?  First of all, the "money" that changes hands has intrinsic value (it's real silver).  In case you haven't noticed, the price of silver has has all but doubled in the last few years.  During that same time period, the value of the American Dollar has shrunk.  Quite simply, communities that embrace a community barter system using AOCS approved tokens are hedging against inflation and promoting local wealth.


American Open Currency Standard (AOCS) is a complementary private currency "umbrella organization" that provides a platform by which competing private currencies, all of which share the same mission "to establish silver as a common medium of exchange" can offer the consumer some sort of "standard".  The recognizable AOCS approved logo on the token delivers "brand identity" and assurances to both consumers and merchants.

In Northern Colorado, The Local Currency or medallions are purchased at or below the current silver spot price,  $40.83 per ounce as I write this.  The face vale of the tokens is $50.00 so the consumer enjoys a discount out of the gate.  To make the benefits of the program even better, the consumer gets to pick a local charity that will receive a percentage of the sales proceeds from every medallion that is purchased.

I'm really hard pressed to find any downside to this  - It allows participants to support their local businesses, keep wealth in their community, support local causes, shop at a discount and hedge against inflation.

I just cant understand why it isn't aggressively replacing the Federal Reserve Currency that has no more value than the paper it is printed on. I suspect it's just that the work involved in signing up local merchants to accept the tokens while educating the consumer what a great option it is, may just be stalling the progress.  I'm reminded of the proverbial "chicken or the egg" problem.

NCCB claims to be very happy to help anyone who is interested in duplicating their model in their own community to get started.  I for one am IN!  I will keep you posted.