Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2009 09:23:27 -0400
From: Lyle Estill
Subject: Crime and Punishment
Wow. So a guy goes into get a haircut, and tries to leave a tip in PLENTYs, writes about it on the Chatlist and the culture war begins. Poor fellow.
I went to Antonella’s once, and it was a great experience. I don’t get a lot of haircuts, so I’m not really qualified to speak on the subject. I would just say Antonella’s struck me as a fine establishment.
But some of the responses to Matt’s post are kinda bizarre. Here’s my take:
To Rusty: The PLENTY is like the “company store.” Exactly. Except there is no company. And no store. Still nice to have someone hum a few bars of a great song.
To Calvin: I wish Matt still worked for Piedmont. We miss him. But I think Matt was speaking on behalf of Matt, and this flare up has nothing to do with us.
To Brad: I like your idea of free choice. And I think it would be great to stop the bullying.
To Maclyn: Good for you. I’m glad your husband took PLENTYs and was invested in the local economy. One of the problems of PLENTY 1.0 was there was a chance of getting stuck with them all. I was once stuck with a stack of them as well. The nice thing about PLENTY 2.0 is they can be exchanged with Capital Bank. Still can. Take your pile of old PLENTYs down there, and go home with cash. Or new PLENTYs. Which ever you prefer.
To Jody and Evan: It’s true that you can’t use PLENTYs in China for computer stuff. Or to pay an electric bill. I use U.S. dollars for that. And I don’t take a 10% hit. I just use PLENTYs to buy groceries and Internet service and car repairs and fuel and art and electrical work and lunches and stuff. A bunch of folks use them for rent. There is no 10% off when you use your PLENTYs to buy what you need.
To Ima: Piedmont does pay employees in PLENTYs. Those people on our project who wish to accept a portion of their pay in PLENTYs are welcome to.
To Karen: I think you are right about contractors in hair salons. And it is also true that if you have nowhere to spend your PLENTYs, you shouldn’t accept them. But if you do accept them, and you get a big stack of them, it is nice to have a way to get them back into circulation. “Offload” might have been a poor choice of words.
To Mary: I’ll be the first in line for a Buy Chatham Discount Card when you are ready to launch. Local economy, after all, is what this is all about.
And to Amy and Julia: Right on. If you can’t spend PLENTYs to meet your needs, don’t accept them. It is about choice.
Finally, there is no boycott, no “financial blackmail,” and no conspiracy. It was merely Matt’s musings on being unable to give a tip in PLENTYs. I would suggest that the bruising he is taking on the Chatlist does not suit the crime of his post.
As it says on the PLENTY note: In Each Other We Trust,
Lyle Estill
Lyle Estill
Piedmont Biofuels
www.biofuels.coop
919-321-8260
Fax: 919-321-6769