Slow Money Club

Slow And Valuable

It is my continuing observation that the world suffers from a surfeit of convenience. We do so many things because they are cheap and easy.

I won't get into it at length here, and I understand the value of convenience -- but I can't help but see how cheap the world is getting.

This certainly happens in the way we deal with food, music, writing, letters, communication. We do take in more information, we communicate with more people -- but all the information and communication is shallow.

This ALSO happens in the way we deal with commerce.

Slow Money

Many of us don't buy on credit, and yet we still use credit cards all the time. Why? Because it's so very convenient. No need to carry cash. No need to carry a checkbook. And basically, it costs us nothing. Cheap and easy.

I've noticed, though, that when we stand at the cash register, we look at a screen, not at our cashier's eyes or hands. The cashier, too, when we pay, looks at a screen. We pay without ever "handing" anything over. There is so little contact. I really do hate the fact that we've all prioritized convenience over human connection.

I would rather have slow money, and more humanity.

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I will tell you something I've discovered, from my vantage point as a business owner.

I use the Stripe online banking system. This system has a chart that shows me how much money the business took in -- and how much actually goes into my bank account, after credit card fees.

Each week, the difference is over $100, sometimes up to $150.

Each month, the difference is about $500.

This means that, because it is cheap and easy for us all to use credit for online shopping, about $6000 of my income goes to the banks. Not to you. Not to me. We're just paying $6000 for the convenience.

I want to minimize this as much as possible.

Nobody really wants to be paying that money to the credit card companies, instead of to the retail and service businesses. We just have gotten in the habit.

So, I think about the money I spend for my own household. Suppose I spend $3000 a month, outside of regular loans that come directly out of my bank. That means I'm giving $90 every month to the credit card company, instead of to these businesses. I'm paying OVER A THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR for the convenience of using a credit card.

As a shopper, I don't feel it -- the money doesn't come out of MY pocket. But it comes out of someone's...

And as a business owner -- I DO feel it.

The Slow Money Club

As I wish to do with so many other things, I want to make our society LESS convenient and MORE valuable..

I'm not joking about this. I think this is one of the many steps away from the brink of becoming the Eloi, from The Time Machine.

Join me in the Slow Money Club.

I'm going to take out a good chunk of my next paycheck as cash, and deal with commerce that way. Both for the human connection, and also so that my money goes to the people I'm dealing with, and NOT the credit card companies.

For dealing with me, The Produce Peddler, here's how it can work.

1) Tell me you want to pay monthly by check, instead of by credit card.

2) I will look at your usual expenditure, and email you to suggest a monthly amount.

3) I will add that amount to your account as store credit, and you will leave me a check for the monthly amount at your next pickup.

4) The next month, I'll send an email to follow up. We can either do it again, increase the monthly amount, or skip a monthly payment if you're accumulating too much credit.

If 20 of you do this, it will save me about $80/month.

It will save me about $1000 over the course of the year!

That's TWO MONTHS worth of grocery bills for my family -- at the cost of writing a few checks, and communicating with a few more emails.

So: Will You Do it?

It really does mean something.