Time Banking: Your Time *Is* Money
We all have more time than money, yet often we find ourselves feeling like we are wasting our time trying to earn enough money. Ironically, we also have a thin layer of individuals in society who make more money in one minute than most of us make in a year. They literally have more money than time.
A time bank is a good way to address this serious contradiction in our economy because:
– Time is something we all have and can offer to each other.
– Time is finite and definite: one hour is one hour. There can never be inflation or deflation of the currency.
– Strict equality of wages: whatever the level of skill or difficulty or specialty of the work done within a span of time, one hour given out of anyone’s life is one hour of time dollars they have earned.
– Time both is a fiat currency and has use value: it is created out of thin air, but is backed by the fact that a person has given an amount of time out of their life to create the value backing the newly created time dollars.
Why use time banking?
The Eco-Just Food Network is using time banking as a way to administer, coordinate and compensate for the work of the Food Corps.
While we will still use conventional currency – the Canadian dollar – when we can (or must), time dollars are a great way for Food Corps members to earn value that they can then use on food and other products or services offered within the eco-just time bank system. It is also a way for food providers to recognize and reward the hard work of the Food Corps without having to spend Canadian dollars which they may not have in abundance.
Because the Eco-Just Food Network is directed and operated by urban and rural grassroots communities, Canadian currency is in short supply and difficult to obtain. Time banking lets us leverage what we all have: time and the willingness to help our neighbours.
How does time banking work?
Under the Food Corps program, there are two time banking systems: one belonging to the Eco-Just Food Network, and the other belonging to the participating community organization.
Farmers and other food providers post work requests with the Eco-Just Food Network. This can range from field work (e.g. weeding), to barn work (e.g. cleaning pens), to canning, etc.
As a Food Corps member, you will be in a team of 5-10 people. Your Food Corps team will travel and work together. Because of the gathering limits imposed due to COVID-19 and to increase bio-security for every work site and person, it is important that you stick with your Food Corps team for the whole season.
Together, you and your team will look at the work requests and choose which ones to fulfill, reach out to the food provider in question and make arrangements for the work to be done.
Once your team has fulfilled the request, the farm/food provider sends a work fulfillment form to the Eco-Just Food Network, confirming the work done, how many hours worked and the names of each team member.
The food network then credits your community organization one time dollar for each confirmed hour each team member has worked and will forward a copy of the work fulfillment form to your organization. Your community organization then credits you and your team members one time dollar each in its own time bank for each hour worked per person.
With your time dollars, you can purchase goods and services offered in your local community time bank.
Your community organization can use the time dollars it earns in the Eco-Just Food Network’s time bank to purchase food from participating farm and food providers and distribute it back within the community as it sees fit.