A Local Exchange Trading System (LETS) is simply an arrangement by which a group of people make their time or skills available to each other for their mutual benefit.
We do this already, of course, in an impersonal way, by working in an ordinary job for regular payment and buying goods and services from others with the cash we’ve earned.
Nothing wrong with that, but many of us have skills and enthusiasm that don’t fit easily into the ordinary commercial world - like gardening, DIY for example, or walking a dog, or making a birthday cake. And the things that you might want help with - perhaps bicycle repair, house painting or pruning an apple tree - may be someone else’s expertise.
In the past, these skills might have been found amongst uncles and aunts, cousins and grandmothers - and their availability taken for granted - so LETS is like an extended family.
And there is no pressure to keep to any level of trading; some people will use the scheme frequently, others for only a few Kents per year.
Anyone who is willing to contribute their time, with or without special skills or abilities, will find a place in the Kendal LETS.
