This document is dated, and needs updating at some time.

Bargain and Barter Club.

Introduction

The Bargain and Carter Club, is both a club and under the rules of New Atlantis a special federal trust, but is operated and administered by a registrar or sub registrar,  who operates it in a geographic area. The master registrar is Maximum Coverage Ltd.

The role of this club is to find bargains or special deals for members and to operate a barter system.

The currency it uses is known as Favours.

The concept of favours.

Each country has its own currency, so the UK has the pound and the USA the dollar. Its function is to allow citizens to undertake to provide a service for each other and be rewarded for there effort. This may be physical effort as in cutting or styling hair or work in the form or materials or a product. The value of a product or material being associated with the amount of effort required to get it. Scarce items such as diamonds or gold being harder to find and therefore taking up more time, are considered to be worth more, and items anyone can pick up, like sand, is considered of no actual value beyond the cost of digging it up and transporting it.

While a primitive society can operate on a system of barter, swapping a dozen eggs for a loaf of bread for example, or a bag of potatoes for a hair cut, this is limiting as the you have to not only find someone to provide the service but also find a barter currency acceptable to them. Currency therefore serves this purpose.

There are many barter clubs around, and within Britain most are local groups with up to 500 members. There currencies have all sorts of names, and there is no conversion between groups. Most countries are happy, or put up with this and allow it to go on outside the tax system, providing that the individuals involved are undertaking it part time, rather than as a full time business.

Barter systems are beneficial as they allow people to improve the quality of there lives while at the same time being involved within there local community, and fits within the concepts of New Atlantis.

New Atlantis therefore decide to include a barter system, but has been taken two stages further becoming world wide and finding special bargains, to become a Bargain and Barter club that all New Atlantis members are members of. The club therefore not only is involved in organising and promoting the barter system, but at the same time searches out for members special bargains, such as free or nearly free hotel accommodation, and discounts from various sources.

The unit of currency within the Bargain and Barter Club is the favour and within there subscription members receive some every month. Many other products and services are also available for Favours so a member could undertake baby sitting, decorating, car servicing or whatever and use the favours to either buy other services, books, holidays or even cover the costs of a university course.

The theoretical creation of the favours comes about by each member undertaking to do a reasonable amount of work for other members in exchange for favours. The club is therefore able to create a number of new favours every month for every member in the club. The number that may be created is limited to half the value of the subscriptions plus any that are purchased. Favours may be purchased in larger numbers at a discount.

Barter system.

The concept for New Atlantis of bartering devolved from the idea that all citizens should perform favours to help other citizens. The problem of course is that some will do much performing while others will do much taking. The answer is to record the favours. This was then developed into a full barter system.

All members have a barter account that records the unit of currency, the favour. In the UK the Favour is of equal value to the UK Pound. Members use special transfer forms to move favours from there account to that of other members. With a transfer they can either move the favours directly, or use it like a check where the person undertaking the work is given the cheque which they bank into there favours account.

We had hoped originally to operate it as a credit card account with automatic overdraft facilities and cash as well as favours, but regulations and licensing problems in Britain slowed down the launch of the Bargain and Barter club for a year, and was still not complete, so the barter system was simplified to eliminate the need to register.

Within the subscription fee, the number of favours to be added to the account is set. This can be increased. Members can also purchase more favours at any point and blocks of favours at a discount. The favours account is operated by the member but  no overdrafts (yet) are allowed. Later we hope to both offer overdraft facilities with favours and expand the system, but we may need to move the administration of this to a more co-operative country.

Members are advised to base each favour on £1 value and discount services to members by 20%. It is suggested that possibly member having work carried out could purchase the materials, directly.

Favours can be used;

    To pay for goods and services from other members

    The Bargain and Barter club accepts favours as payment.

    Club memberships, and competition entries can be paid with favours

    University of life fees can be paid with favours

    More companies and businesses will take the favour as the scheme develops.

    Later there will be an Automatic Lottery with favours.

Administration

The administration of the Bargain and barter club is undertaken by special companies called registrars for a monthly fee of £2 per person or family trust registered, and can trade in favours and buy in blocks.

The first of these covering the UK and overseas areas not covered by other franchises is Maximum Coverage Ltd.

Membership cost.

The curent membership fees are detailed after the rules at the back of this section

New Atlantis members

              Membership is a fee is per family and includes 5 Favours a month added to the account of a member.

People who are not members of new Atlantis

              None Atlantis members pay a higher membership fee and  includes 10 favours per month. The membership fee covers one person, but a special extention to cover a couple is availiable.

              Some special offers such as very low cost holidays may only be available to New Atlantis members.  This option will only normally appeal to a person who for patriotic reasons do not want to become a New Atlantis member.

How it works.

You and others join the club, and are immediately issued an account, this allows you to receive credits but not at this point make any expenditure. You then complete the copy of the agreement enclosed and returning this with the questionnaire and two passport sized photographs. There are machines to produce these photographs in many railway stations, post offices, supermarkets, large stores, motor way services etc.

One of these photographs forms part of the clubs records and the second becomes part of your membership card. Unlike banks our membership cards are not embossed, but encapsulated, this means that your information and photograph Are sealed inside a sheet of clear plastic. A section of the questionnaire also has a section bearing a signature which is also encapsulated.

You are also provided with transfer forms. Transfer forms are similar to checks but can be used as standing orders, deposit  slips or cheques.

Transactions between members.

Having agreed the fee, which is often part cash and part favour, so for example fixing a washing machine might be 15 favours and £10 for the parts actually purchased. The amount is up to you to agree between you, but as a guide, favours should be considered about the same value as a pound, and members given a 20% discount. There are no parts, so you are dealing in whole units only.

The member who is purchasing the item or service completes a transfer form in a similar way to they would a cheque, and presents it together with there membership card to the other member.

The receiving member checks the information on the transfer form, and checks the information against the membership card and also check's that the membership card is valid, for the person carrying it and has not been interfered with.

All they do with it is to put one of there own transfer slips on the front of the transfer form taken or batch of forms taken, ticking that it is for deposit, and send it in to a special address they are given. Favours can only be transferred to the account that they are made out to.

The favours are then transferred, within two working days of it being received.

Ordering From The Club Or A Trust.

Likewise when you want a service performed or you want to order something from the club or any section of New Atlantis, or new Atlantis Trust, you complete a transfer, and mail it in with your order, in the same way as you would a cheque. You can also instruct the club to treat any item as a standing order, by completing the special section.

You receive a statement, monthly just so that you can see what has happened and keep track of your current position.

You cannot take your account into an overdraft position so you should make sure that there is sufficient favours available at all times.

Later, you will be able to check on line (using a computer and modem) the current position on your account or on other peoples who have agreed that there information should be open.

If it goes into overdraft because a standing order has gone through this will be allowed to happen, but on receiving your statement you must at once put the matter right. If it is not put right within 14 days the club will take the same action as if you had written transfers for more favours than you have.

If you write transfers for more favours than you have, then as the account cannot go into an overdraft position, favours will be added and you will be sent an invoice for these. These are invoiced at a much higher rate than normal, known as the penalty rate. If the invoice is not settled by the due date (printed on the invoice), then membership benefits will be suspended.

You will of course get more details with your card, and  transfer forms. Pay particular attention to the conditions which relate to leaving the club, for although we hope you never will, we want you to know all the facts now.

You can get favours in a number of ways including:-

Favours can be purchased at a discount by purchasing a larger block, therefore getting all the favours that your family needs as a single order and then distributing them will mean they are cheaper. You may also like to hold a stock of favours.

Favours cannot be converted back to cash by members, as this would present then with problems from a tax or benefit viewpoint. The exception to this is local organisers ( and clubs) who can convert there personal holdings for cash at a discounted rate through the registrar that they deal with.

The tax situation perhaps we should mention, barter schemes where people in effect do occasional favours for others as part of a club is not taxable at present, but if you run it as a business then the authorities may consider that you are generated income hat is taxable. You are responsible for your own tax affairs,  and we will be issuing advice on this from time to time. There is no VAT on club subscriptions as the profits are put to the benefits of the club and its members.

Initially there will be a limited number of people who are involved in bartering locally to you, and by handing people you know, or you want to co-operate with, information on New Atlantis and the Bargain and Barter Club, you are part of the process of spreading the word. The club rewards you for this, when they register, by adding £10 worth of favours to your account. You get this by either introducing the interested person to a local organiser or giving them the information and form to allow them to join by post.. Those that want to be more involved can become local organisers, and are rewarded at a higher rate, and in there case the favours can be converted to  cash if required, at trade in rates. Targets are set for organisers, and those that reach there targets are refunded  there subscriptions. As clearly there are hundreds of people in each area who will be interested, this can be as large or small part of there life as they wish. If this interests you please ask for details.

How to use your

New Atlantis - Bargain and Barter Club Transfer form

You should remember that the purpose behind the favours accounts is to facilitate and encourage bartering, and helping each other, and not to provide a service as a competitor to banks. The system therefore has a bias towards these objectives.

This form allows you to do just about anything you need to including;-

    Purchasing products or services from other members, in Favours

    Making purchases from the club or any New Atlantis trust.

    Setting up standing orders.

    Making deposits.

    Moving favours between accounts

    Moving currency to favours.

    Making donations.

NEW ATLANTIS - Bargain And Barter Club - Account Transfer Form

Your Account                              To Account                                                         Amount           Words

1001 123 412 021    1001123412021

Versions of the form

      There are two versions of the form, a blank version, which can be used by anyone, and the personal version that already has your name and address and account details both entered on the form and coded along the bottom. Wherever possible please try to use the personal version, but the other version is provided so that if the purchaser of the service, approaches you, you can barter as long as they have there membership card with them.

The form explained.

      At first sight the form may appear complicated, but as you are only using some parts at a time it is really quite simple to use, and very flexible.

      In this section we are first going to explain some of the spaces and concepts and then look at how the form is used.

      The box under 'from account' refers to you and 'To account' holds the relevant information on the account of the member or new Atlantis Trust that is to receive the favours. Please make sure that the account number is clearly written.

      Favours  is the currency  for all bartering operations. It is a whole unit there are no fractions. If you enter a fraction it will be rounded up to the next whole number.

      The box favours now, is the area to use if you are writing the equivalent to a cheque, you enter the amount in numbers and words. If they differ by a little the numbers will be used, but if there is a lot of difference we will contact one or both parties to determine what the number should be.

      The next three lines are for use when setting up a standing order and are explained in detail under that use below.

      The following two lines, purchase favours and cash enclosed allows you to purchase favours or pay an outstanding invoice, by cash. By cash we mean a currency other than favours; cash, postal order or cheque.

      Deposit batch total is used when sending in forms you have received from other people for processing.

      Forms left can be completed and is used to correct our records of the number of transfer forms you still have. The system keeps track of how many you had, and how many have been returned and monthly with your statement you will get more to top up the quantity, or sometimes in between if you are very low. We do not know how many you have made mistakes on and thrown away, or where you have produced your own, which is allowed as long as they are of the same size and contain the same information in the same layout. Please don't build up large number of forms, as you can get them if needed very fast.

      Authorisation code. This is a code provided by the accounting centre in response to a telephone enquiry, essential if excepting a large payment from someone you do not know for a physical item.

      For. This is an optional slot into which to write the reason or use. You can also enter an item you want to purchase, so that no separate letter or order is necessary

      Ref: This is the equivalent of a cheque number or any other simple reference. Keep it simple. It is shown on statements. If used to pay club memberships we suggest you put your club reference membership number here if it differs from your New Atlantis or Bargain and barter membership number.

      You should not write on the blank area below the boxes as this space is used during processing.

      All forms must be dated and signed.

So how do we use it:-

Purchasing products or services from other members, in Favours

      Complete the form by adding the information on the member to be paid in the section marked To account, and your information in the section marked From Account, if not already printed. In the top box on the right mark the number of favours and next to it the number in words and put a line through all the other boxes below. It is signed and dated

      You can enter a description and reference if you wish, but  don't forget to both sigh and date it.

       Present it to the other member, and show them your membership card, as identity.

When you receive a completed transfer from another member.

      You should check all the information, and check it is dated and signed. You will be shown there membership card which will allow you to check both the signature and photograph.

      Getting authorisation is optional, only available at set times and should only be done for larger amounts, where physical property is changing hands. Once authorisation has been given the transaction is recorded, and cash from the outgoing account allocated. The authorisation code is then written on the form.

      You mail the transfer forms you have received either individually or in batches to  the processing centre, and put one of your transfer forms on the front as a deposit slip completing only the batch balance. this is the total of all the transfers in the batch. You don't need to list them anywhere. You can also purchase favours and or pay invoices on the same slip by adding the details and enclosing your cheque. Once we receive it, the processing takes place usually the same day, but by the day after at the latest.

Making purchases from the club.

      Making a purchase from any club or New Atlantis  trust involves you in completing the form as above. You can also set up a standing order, details of which you will see below.

Making deposits.

     This is detailed above, and involves sending in either the batch of transfer slips you have received from other members or a cheque or similar together with a form made out stating the amount of favours you want or the batch total or both.

Making donations.