From AshevilleLETS

By Jim Morrill on 02/22/2009

Excerpted from The Charlotte Observer

More than 260 people belong to Asheville's LETS network. They trade credits called LETS (for Local Exchange Trading System) which, unlike other such credits, aren't pegged to dollars.

Members generally charge five LETS per hour. For work they find unappealing, they charge more. For work they like, they charge less.

"We like to say that it has the flexibility of a currency but the values of a community favor exchange," says co-founder Kila Donovan, 34.

When Asheville therapist Carlyle Stewart needed a ride to his mechanic's garage 30 miles away, he got one by cashing in some LETS. Stewart, 41, accumulated his not through counseling sessions but more mundane tasks such as raking leaves and washing windows.

"It may not sound all that exciting but actually all of that was very satisfying," he says.

Organizers say new sign-ups have tripled in recent months.

"When we first started out we had to explain that it can be a lifeboat in times of economic uncertainty or instability," Donovan says. "But we don't have to explain that anymore."