Healthy Money Healthy Planet - library.uniteddiversity.coop

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A significant innovation in New Zealand has been the introduction of EFTPOS for
members’ exchanges. E­commerce is also being introduced and there is an online
auction at www.bartercard.co.nz.
In an interview in March 2000, the then Managing Director of Bartercard New
Zealand, Ian Jones, said that the operation carried out more trade per member than
any other country. 17 In December 2003, Bartercard New Zealand member companies
turned over NZ$21 million at an average of NZ$3864 per member. The biggest
interest­free loan Jones could recall was NZ$300,000, part of a NZ$1 million
property development project. ‘We grow every month, and in recessionary months
we probably do better because members want to conserve cash,’ said Jones.
The businesses Bartercard New Zealand typically accept as members are those
with a turnover of at least NZ$200,000 a year. Some 95 per cent of the exchange’s
members are small­ to medium­sized businesses, employing fewer than 20 staff.
Roy Netzer, who succeeded Ian Jones as Managing Director of Bartercard New
Zealand, said in an interview in 2000[?],
‘By circulating the money around these businesses, we will make them all healthier
and protect them from the biting economy outside.’ 18
Members can use Bartercard in other countries where the system is in place,
although the practice is not common – Bartercard New Zealand, for example, has
just a few deals with Australia and Hong Kong. The major international trade that
does take place is in tourism, because members can easily use their Bartercard for
accommodation and meals.
The vast majority of members accept that paying commission is a necessity
because without it they wouldn’t have the administrative infrastructure and staff to
support them.
Wellington Bartercard enthusiast Alvin Ralph, an importer of a wide variety of
Oriental goods, says that you can’t enter the scheme half­heartedly. In 2000 he did
up to a third of his business on Bartercard, and in an interview said, ‘It gives us
extra business from people who wouldn’t normally buy from us. All we have to do
is to find ways of spending it. Everything we do we think whether we can do it on
Bartercard. If I get too much in debit the staff helps me find new sales. It’s
tremendous.’ 19