Today I'm heading off to Goderich to take part in a two day workshop spread over two weeks. You'll see full reports elsewhere.
I use a "shopping list" when I'm going on a trip, so that I don't forget to pack my camera, toothbrush, and all that.
I'm taking $T512 with me (a nice number, two raised to the power nine) to exchange with other workshop members. I have a map of Goderich, and have printed out as much information about the workshop as I can. I'll travel by train to Stratford, armed with plenty of books, as usual. Scott Hamilton will collect me (I hope!) and we'll chat as we drive to Goderich.
Monday, August 20, 2007
What I learned
It is easier to give than to exchange.
It's tough to stop people and get them to swap. It's easier to stop them and give. "Would you like $1 off your drink?" Some are interested, but nine times out of ten, if it isn't an instant gift of a coupon, they don't want to know.
I trapped two LOL going into Main Squeeze. "Would you like a dollar off your purchase?". "No, we're just going to get some soup". ???!! "You can get a dollar off just by exchanging five dollars for five dollars". No, sorry. They smile and move in.
Giving can be a mistake
When you hand out $1 or $5 in an unusual currency, people treat it as worthless. They find it hard to believe that it is worth $1.
I feel the same way.
I'll hand out $T1 quite happily, but wouldn't dream of tossing a loonie in a busker's hat, and yet I enjoy the clarinet and the violin.
Giving can be a mistake
I gave $T5 to a handyman who had been busy next door for an hour. He asked what it was, I told him and suggested he refresh himself, on me. He darted back out of The Main Squeeze and grabbed a second $5 from my hand; "Gimme another; I just gave mine to my client.
I was struck dumb. I'm down ten of my dollars; he has made a good impression on his client. The Main Squeeze made $30 off him.
It's tough to stop people and get them to swap. It's easier to stop them and give. "Would you like $1 off your drink?" Some are interested, but nine times out of ten, if it isn't an instant gift of a coupon, they don't want to know.
I trapped two LOL going into Main Squeeze. "Would you like a dollar off your purchase?". "No, we're just going to get some soup". ???!! "You can get a dollar off just by exchanging five dollars for five dollars". No, sorry. They smile and move in.
Giving can be a mistake
When you hand out $1 or $5 in an unusual currency, people treat it as worthless. They find it hard to believe that it is worth $1.
I feel the same way.
I'll hand out $T1 quite happily, but wouldn't dream of tossing a loonie in a busker's hat, and yet I enjoy the clarinet and the violin.
Giving can be a mistake
I gave $T5 to a handyman who had been busy next door for an hour. He asked what it was, I told him and suggested he refresh himself, on me. He darted back out of The Main Squeeze and grabbed a second $5 from my hand; "Gimme another; I just gave mine to my client.
I was struck dumb. I'm down ten of my dollars; he has made a good impression on his client. The Main Squeeze made $30 off him.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Saturday, August 04, 2007
I Worked 90 minutes outside The Main Squeeze.
My first real foray into exchanging Toronto Dollars for Canadian Dollars.
Early Saturday morning, the district seems quiet. Tourists take their time strolling along Front Street.
Some of us are heading to The St Lawrence Market, I can tell.
Some of us are heading home from The St Lawrence Market, I can tell.
As I walk along Front Street I think to purchase whatever Toronto Dollars are held at C'est What, but they are closed until 2pm.
No problem, I tell myself, I'll buy some at the market, but the Toronto Dollars stall is unmanned and the Smoke And Gift store has none; the lady shows me the inside of an empty envelope.
My real purpose was to collect the carton of sweatshirts that were delivered to The Main Squeeze yesterday; spending time exchanging is still an experiment. What will happen?
Here I am modelling the sweat shirts in front of the ATM machine, part of Paul's service to the community.
Here I am showing what you can buy (ice creams) or rent (mail boxes) with Toronto Dollars at The Main Squeeze
I give Garth $10 in single Toronto Dollar notes and ask him to hand one to each person who spends Toronto Dollars this morning. That means I'm down $10 before I start. A slightly depressing thought.
I am unsure of my spiel. People are hurrying past me at 9:30 to get to the St Lawrence Market with their empty bundle-buggies. Don't want to miss out on the Good Stuff! Other people hurry past me heading home, their bundle buggies loaded. Want to get home before the food goes "off"!
Very few people want to stop. Young couples walk hand-in-hand, yuppies are led by their cell-phone off into the distance.
Some people say that they already have Toronto Dollars. After a while, desperate for some interaction of any kind, I offer them a one dollar note. Anything to feel that I have promoted Toronto Dollars.
On lady stops to ask what I'm doing. I tell her that I'm exchanging Toronto Dollars for Canadian Dollars, and that she can get a Toronto Dollar back when she spends Toronto Dollars this morning at The Main Squeeze. She smiles, tells me she is homeless, and move son. Toronto Dollars isn't supposed to be 'charity' or 'for the homeless", but I am so tempted to give her $5 and ask her to buy herself some soup at The main Squeeze. She looked dressed too neatly to be truly homeless.
Garth has to run out to get waxed paper; that means he'd have to close the store. That would mean I had nowhere to drive people, so I may as well go get the widest roll of waxed paper they have. I leave my bag and set off to Dominion. They have only one size roll, twelve inches, and I know it is way too narrow, but I buy it anyway. The Market Square Shoe Repair takes Toronto Dollars, but they are closed so I can't drop off my wallet to be stitched.
I've had no breakfast, so duck into the north market for a pastry. The first stall I come to sells meat pies. At eleven o'clock, they would do as well. I get a surprise when the stall-holder greets me by name. Who is he? Where have I met him? I don't recognize his face at all! After a while he points to the name tag I am wearing around my neck. Duh!
On the way out of the market, the guy holding the door greets me by name. Smarty!
I realize that just by wearing my Toronto Dollars sweat shirt I am an ambassador, a walking billboard for Toronto Dollars.
Back at The Main Squeeze I play around with my pitch. One that starts "Would you like to get a free dollar …" picks up some interest, and I find that introducing a one-second pause after the word "dollar" grabs people's attention.
It is as if the mind needs a pause to assimilate the fact that a stranger is offering a dollar, but when I run it all together "Would you like to get a free dollar off any purchase at The Main Squeeze this morning", no one pays any attention. I spend the rest of the morning with "Would you like to get a free dollar (pause) off any purchase at The Main Squeeze this morning" and get some conversations going.
Two ladies stop by and tell me that they use them all the time. They ask if they can buy some, and I sell them $20 each. Hardly a conversion. I'm not achieving my goal of getting coloured paper into the hands of first-time consumers.
The blind man with the stick comes back, and once again I tell him that I'm there, and that I'm moving out of his way. He comes back after a while with a blind lady with a Labrador, and they ask what I'm doing. I tell them. They ask why, what are the benefits, and I tell them that the local community benefits. I am glad of a chance to discuss Toronto Dollars.
I've been watching the handyman. His scene is a cross between the bug-killer van in Men In Black and Murray from LSUC. His work completed, he watches me, and I approach him. I have decided to give him five Toronto Dollars as a treat for doing, presumably, good work. What is it? I tell him, and he darts into The Main Squeeze. I feel good.
Sixty seconds later he darts out and says "Gimme another one", and takes a Five Toronto Dollars note from my hand. "They are not free!", I tell him. I know, he says, but I gave mine to my customer.
I feel bad.
Now I am funding Les's promotional schemes. He tells me he has Les Bucks, but when I ask to see one (not to have one), he says he has run out of them.
Ho hum!
Later, from Garth, I learn that he did $30 of business at The Main Squeeze, so my investment of, it turns out, $10 generated $30 of business. That's not good, but it is a start.
Who knows when, or whether, Les's customer will use her Toronto Dollars, or indeed if she will throw them away.
I started the day with $T82. I ended the day with $T24, so I passed on $T58; ten to Garth. I don't know whether he handed them out, or whether they went straight into the till; forty to the two ladies; ten to Les.
What did I learn?
My first real foray into exchanging Toronto Dollars for Canadian Dollars.
Early Saturday morning, the district seems quiet. Tourists take their time strolling along Front Street.
Some of us are heading to The St Lawrence Market, I can tell.
Some of us are heading home from The St Lawrence Market, I can tell.
As I walk along Front Street I think to purchase whatever Toronto Dollars are held at C'est What, but they are closed until 2pm.
No problem, I tell myself, I'll buy some at the market, but the Toronto Dollars stall is unmanned and the Smoke And Gift store has none; the lady shows me the inside of an empty envelope.
My real purpose was to collect the carton of sweatshirts that were delivered to The Main Squeeze yesterday; spending time exchanging is still an experiment. What will happen?
Here I am modelling the sweat shirts in front of the ATM machine, part of Paul's service to the community.
Here I am showing what you can buy (ice creams) or rent (mail boxes) with Toronto Dollars at The Main Squeeze
I give Garth $10 in single Toronto Dollar notes and ask him to hand one to each person who spends Toronto Dollars this morning. That means I'm down $10 before I start. A slightly depressing thought.
I am unsure of my spiel. People are hurrying past me at 9:30 to get to the St Lawrence Market with their empty bundle-buggies. Don't want to miss out on the Good Stuff! Other people hurry past me heading home, their bundle buggies loaded. Want to get home before the food goes "off"!
Very few people want to stop. Young couples walk hand-in-hand, yuppies are led by their cell-phone off into the distance.
Some people say that they already have Toronto Dollars. After a while, desperate for some interaction of any kind, I offer them a one dollar note. Anything to feel that I have promoted Toronto Dollars.
On lady stops to ask what I'm doing. I tell her that I'm exchanging Toronto Dollars for Canadian Dollars, and that she can get a Toronto Dollar back when she spends Toronto Dollars this morning at The Main Squeeze. She smiles, tells me she is homeless, and move son. Toronto Dollars isn't supposed to be 'charity' or 'for the homeless", but I am so tempted to give her $5 and ask her to buy herself some soup at The main Squeeze. She looked dressed too neatly to be truly homeless.
Garth has to run out to get waxed paper; that means he'd have to close the store. That would mean I had nowhere to drive people, so I may as well go get the widest roll of waxed paper they have. I leave my bag and set off to Dominion. They have only one size roll, twelve inches, and I know it is way too narrow, but I buy it anyway. The Market Square Shoe Repair takes Toronto Dollars, but they are closed so I can't drop off my wallet to be stitched.
I've had no breakfast, so duck into the north market for a pastry. The first stall I come to sells meat pies. At eleven o'clock, they would do as well. I get a surprise when the stall-holder greets me by name. Who is he? Where have I met him? I don't recognize his face at all! After a while he points to the name tag I am wearing around my neck. Duh!
On the way out of the market, the guy holding the door greets me by name. Smarty!
I realize that just by wearing my Toronto Dollars sweat shirt I am an ambassador, a walking billboard for Toronto Dollars.
Back at The Main Squeeze I play around with my pitch. One that starts "Would you like to get a free dollar …" picks up some interest, and I find that introducing a one-second pause after the word "dollar" grabs people's attention.
It is as if the mind needs a pause to assimilate the fact that a stranger is offering a dollar, but when I run it all together "Would you like to get a free dollar off any purchase at The Main Squeeze this morning", no one pays any attention. I spend the rest of the morning with "Would you like to get a free dollar (pause) off any purchase at The Main Squeeze this morning" and get some conversations going.
Two ladies stop by and tell me that they use them all the time. They ask if they can buy some, and I sell them $20 each. Hardly a conversion. I'm not achieving my goal of getting coloured paper into the hands of first-time consumers.
The blind man with the stick comes back, and once again I tell him that I'm there, and that I'm moving out of his way. He comes back after a while with a blind lady with a Labrador, and they ask what I'm doing. I tell them. They ask why, what are the benefits, and I tell them that the local community benefits. I am glad of a chance to discuss Toronto Dollars.
I've been watching the handyman. His scene is a cross between the bug-killer van in Men In Black and Murray from LSUC. His work completed, he watches me, and I approach him. I have decided to give him five Toronto Dollars as a treat for doing, presumably, good work. What is it? I tell him, and he darts into The Main Squeeze. I feel good.
Sixty seconds later he darts out and says "Gimme another one", and takes a Five Toronto Dollars note from my hand. "They are not free!", I tell him. I know, he says, but I gave mine to my customer.
I feel bad.
Now I am funding Les's promotional schemes. He tells me he has Les Bucks, but when I ask to see one (not to have one), he says he has run out of them.
Ho hum!
Later, from Garth, I learn that he did $30 of business at The Main Squeeze, so my investment of, it turns out, $10 generated $30 of business. That's not good, but it is a start.
Who knows when, or whether, Les's customer will use her Toronto Dollars, or indeed if she will throw them away.
I started the day with $T82. I ended the day with $T24, so I passed on $T58; ten to Garth. I don't know whether he handed them out, or whether they went straight into the till; forty to the two ladies; ten to Les.
What did I learn?
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