The local skills exchange that modernised without selling out
A market town's LETS group had been running for 12 years — but the spreadsheet was a nightmare, new members couldn't work out how to trade, and younger members expected a better experience. They wanted to modernise without losing what made it special.
Twelve years of trust, trapped in a spreadsheet
A thriving market town had a LETS (Local Exchange Trading System) group that had been running for 12 years — but it was dying. The spreadsheet was a nightmare. New members couldn't figure out how to trade. Nobody had updated the skills directory in two years. And they were struggling to attract younger members who expected a better experience.
They wanted to modernise the LETS without losing what made it special: the personal relationships, the trust-based trading, the genuine local economy. Every commercial LETS software they looked at either cost a fortune, charged per-transaction, or required members to hand over personal data to an American company.
A LETS that runs itself
The skills exchange migrated their LETS onto ETC's base economy infrastructure — which is included free in every membership. The Unity Pounds wallet for trade amongst members replaced their spreadsheet ledger. Unity Pounds are the local currency. All 300 members have balances. Trading records are transparent to participants and private to the wider world.
The marketplace replaced their paper skills directory — every member has a listing of what they offer and what they need. The community map shows who is nearby. The events tools manage their monthly skills fairs — with ticket sales, volunteer rotas, and a booking system for one-to-one skill sessions during the fair.
The governance tools give members a formal way to propose and vote on rule changes to the LETS — who gets what starting balance, how disputes are resolved. Two proposals were passed in the first three months. The old system had no mechanism for this at all.
What changed — concretely
What this exchange runs on
A local economy, a skills directory & a real vote
The base economy — the Unity Pounds wallet — is included free in every membership. Add marketplace, the community map, events, forum, governance, volunteering and scheduling as the group needs them. Modular pricing starts from £4/month.
Other communities using ETC
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