November 7th, 2009 :: AOCS Update

1. Director’s Update
2. The Ag Trading Post is open!
3. AOCS Holiday Party – you’re invited!
4. We now have copper! – order now, shipping this week
5. New Initiatives – Barter before Building
6. What can you do to help?
7. The Barter Hour Radio Show
8. Main Street Marketing Merchant Feedback

1. Director’s Update: As the year wears on, not much in the political or economic landscape has changed. But since you have Silver, very little of that matters for you. In fact, the dollar value of silver is up nearly 75% over the last year. Not only that, but the economic and financial crunch is encouraging both individuals and businesses to get back to barter!

The human spirit will always crave freedom. We will always want to create and innovate. Even when the deck is stacked against us, we will find a way to survive. The most basic evidence of this are the 33,000 community currencies that circulated in towns across America during the Great Depression. Humans will find a way to survive, thrive, and be happy, regardless of what barriers or legislation may stand between us and our freedom.

Unfortunately, we’re also creatures of habit. We’ll tend to do something a certain way, simply because that’s how it’s always been done. If you’ve ever tried to stop smoking, stick to a diet, not pick your nose, or chew with your mouth shut, you know first-hand just how difficult it can be to try breaking a habit, regardless of how bad the habit may be.

Change, whether it’s breaking a bad habit, shopping locally, or trading Silver, usually follows a certain level of pain. And our neighbors are going through quite a bit of it these days. We’re working harder, having less time to relax, taking pay cuts, and watching our savings continue to wither. On one side of the coin, this is very discouraging, especially as it’s hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel. On the flip side, however, this pain is encouraging Americans to re-think the way we think, work, shop and interact with other people and systems. So, the struggles of today may just be the Silver Lining of tomorrow: people are waking up and becoming more conscious of the consequences of ignorance.

For us, our glass is so much more than just half-full.

2. The Ag Trading Post is open! As you may have seen in the short video created by New Hampshire Free-Stater Dave Ridley of the Ridley Report, the Ag Trading Post is open and ready for business. Since the website is under development and not yet completely online, I will share a few key details as to why the Ag Trading Post will succeed:

- There are 2 central themes for the store: first, Ag exists to encourage folks to “think outside of the box”…the big-box retailers, that is, and instead to begin considering local vendors. Second, the store entices patrons to invest in better quality products. Look for both of these themes to be explained in detail on the Ag Trading Post website, where you can sign up for the newsletter to know when it’s live!

- Ag focuses on quality, not quantity: instead of rushing to fill up the shelves with cheap imported junk , Ag is taking the time to develop relationships with producers and manufacturers. If we wouldn’t want it in our own homes, you won’t find it at the store. If you know someone that takes pride in their creations and would like to establish a new retail distribution outlet, send them to Jarrod! The list of products grows slowly but surely as top-quality items of interest are identified.

- Ag accepts ALL silver: in fact, the exchange rate is simple: generic .999 bullion is accepted at “spot” +5 per ounce, .999 coins (eagles, for example) are accepted at “spot” +10 per ounce, AOCS Silver is accepted at face value (fifty per ounce), and junk coins are accepted at FIFTEEN TIMES face value! When you consider the Ag exchange rate, and that the items in the store are priced at OR BELOW what you would expect to pay at other fine retailers, you may quickly come to realize that the Ag Trading Post makes real money go much further!

The Ag Trading Post is doing what has never been done, and so it’s hard to know what to expect. I can say that the positive feedback for the project is stunning, and many refer to it as a “breath of fresh air”. It’s great to see folks excited again. Feel free to join us and celebrate our Grand Opening Saturday, December 12th from 6pm to 9pm. Email Jarrod to RSVP! In the meantime, feel free to stop by Monday through Friday, 10am to 6pm Central.

3. AOCS Holiday Party: Speaking of December 12th, the American Open Currency Standard invites you to join us at our first Holiday Party, celebrated in conjunction with the Ag Trading Post grand opening in Farmer’s Branch, Texas. If you can make it to Dallas, this is a great opportunity to see our Silver barter system in ACTION! We’ll have plenty of Merchants from the group showing off their wares, as well as food, fun and entertainment for the whole family. Planning to come in from out of town? GREAT! We’ll put you in touch with a Trade Coordinator that can get you booked at a nearby hotel; and yes, of course they accept Silver! Mark your calendar for Saturday, December 12th from 6pm to….whenever! RSVP today!

4. We now have copper! I’m proud to announce the addition of 1 AV ounce copper medallions to our line-up. Each medallion has a barter value of “two”, and features one of two great new designs: we minted 20,000 “Faith : Family : Freedom” medallions as a new Community Dollar, as well as 60,000 “D’Anconia Copper” medallions. The D’Anconia copper piece is the second AOCS Approved round paying tribute to Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” novel, a story about a man who sets out to stop the motor that runs the world…and does. Francisco D’Anconia, a fictional character in the story, is most well know for his copper mines and playboy attitude. D’Anconia delivers a speech that stuns the crowd as he helps reframe money as “The root of all good”. I’ll like to send a big ‘thank-you’ to our friends at JohnGaltGifts.com for their creative contribution for the design.

Copper is minting RIGHT NOW, and ships this week from the mint to you. YOU CAN STILL reserve a bag of 500 copper medallions! Simply visit the AOCSmint.com website where you can find both the D’Anconia and Community Dollar medallions in bags of 500 for only $375!

5. Expanding? Renovating? Remodeling? Barter before Building! Another great initiative launched in our home town of Dallas is Barter before Building. Since we have an amazing list of contractors and servicemen, it only makes sense that we spend some time finding them new work. And since our tradesmen accept Silver, a business owner that needs contract work can easily trade for services they would normally pay for with cash! And that completes the barter equation: accept a limited use Silver currency, save the cash for the rent and electric bill, and use trade to finance projects where you’d normally spend cash. So if you know anyone in Dallas or across the country that needs a good contractor to complete a project, let Steve know!

If you have an eye for this sort of thing, we’re looking for Trade Coordinators to jump-start the trade economies in our core markets: Chicago, LA, San Fran, NYC and Atlanta. Contact Robert King, AOCS Channel Director, to be brought up to speed.

6. By the way, what can YOU do to help? First, you should know that the AOCS does not accept donations. We despise the free lunch. Whenever presented with a gift, we counter-offer value in return. It’s just how we work. But we’re constantly asked: “Can I help?!” The answer? Yes, there are a lot of things you can do to help, but no, you won’t do it for nothing. Our Community Trade Coordinator role is an excellent opportunity to educate local business in your neck of the woods on the benefits of sound money while creating a profit for yourself. It’s OK to make a profit while you’re working on something you believe in. In fact, the two go hand in hand! After all, if you can’t do something profitably, your ability to act and effect change is severely limited. So here’s a short list of how you can get involved:

- Become a Community Trade Coordinator – if you’ve got some time on your hands, getting started as a CTC will cost you nothing. A CTC is our extension to the local community, and helps establish the marketplace while assisting people in their conversion from paper to Silver.

- Start a Silver Savings Club – talk to your circle and encourage them to set aside a few dollars each month to buy AOCS Silver. As your groups volume increases, the cost of the Silver decreases. This can even turn in to a fun social event for outreach as well.

- Think Silver first! – need a plumber? Transmission quit in the car? Traveling out of town? Take a look at our vendor list before spending cash. Chances are we have an eager Patriot that would love to earn your business and keep the money in the community. Once you figure out how easy it is to double your purchasing power by spending Silver, your whole world changes.

7. The Barter Hour Radio Show! Beginning November 16th at 11am Central time, we will host a 2 hour radio show, accessible through the Ag Trading Post website. Tune in to learn about the dedicated producers that are creating the new economy and be the first to get great deals on products and services made available first to those that tune in to the radio show!

8. We love Feedback! It’s incredibly important that we hear back from you. Positive feedback makes us feel great about what we do; negative feedback lets us know what we can do different in the future to get better results. So whatever the case may be, we want to hear about your results. This is a quick excerpt from an email to the Dallas Trade Coordinator regarding their first Silver barter client.

“…Accepting silver has just had a positive impact on my bottom line for the foreseeable future.

I’ve done a lot of barter with my business, and pretty much without exception, I have always come out better for it than by passing on the additional business. In addition to my own private trading that I do with a few clients, I do ITEX, MerchanTrade, and now AOCS Silver. All of those options have been a net positive for me, but I gotta say, there’s just something really cool about trading with silver. I like the fact that I am getting paid in something that has real value, as opposed to being paid with a computer credit that I have to pay a fee to spend.

I know this letter is poorly written, but suffice it to say that I am very happy for having decided to accept silver in addition to our other barter options. I sincerely hope that this deal is just the first of many using AOCS.

Thanks again,
Chris Beavers
Main Street Marketing
(817) 819-7655″

Keep us in the loop of your trading experiences, and what we can do to continue bringing you value. And I hope to speak directly with you on the radio in just a few weeks!

Thanks again for your support!

Rob Gray
Executive Director

Rob Gray | American Open Currency Standard
rgray@opencurrency.com | 972.872.5499