Advantages of accepting Madison Hours

1. Hours INCREASE YOUR SALES.
People who accept Hours will go out of their way to patronize businesses where they can spend Hours. This generates new and repeat customers for you.

2. Hours SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESSES LIKE YOURS.
Madison Hours stay in the local economy because they are only accepted in the greater Madison area. When you accept Hours, you are participating in a network that supports local businesses over national chains.

3. Hours ARE EASY TO HANDLE.
No special accounting is needed. Since Hours are a cash equivalent, you treat them just as you would cash. The one HOUR notes go in the $10 compartment in your register, the half-HOUR notes in the $5 compartment, and the quarter-HOUR notes wherever you have space for them.

4. PROMOTION
We will help promote your involvement in local currency as long as you participate. Through our website, newspaper, events, press releases, etc. we will make sure that the community knows that use Hours.

Business to Business letter explaining the Hours system

Copy and paste this sample letter into a text editor and then EDIT AS NEEDED, print and email, mail or fax.


---- BEGIN ----

Dear Business Associate,

I am writing today to let you know about a program that our businesss has been involved in ask for your participation. Madison Hours is a local currency that was launched in Madison to help stimulate local trade. We have used the currency since [ FILL IN TIME ] and feel that it has had a positive impact on our business.

Using a local currency causes that money to stay here continuing to circulate. There is a built in incentive for people to patronize locally-owned and operated businesses. We have also found that by accepting Madison Hours, we gain and retain customers who are amongst our most loyal.

We have spent Hours for payroll, landscaping, promotional help, data entry, computer support, printing, carpentry, etc. We are able to find people in the community who do work for Hours by using the online member directory at MadisonHours.org, the Madison Hours website.

We are currently contacting our vendors to expand our ability to accept and use Madison Hours. I will followup shortly to discuss Madison Hours. If you would like more information please feel free to call me at [ YOUR PHONE NUMBER ].

Thanks,

YOUR NAME
ADDRESS
ETC.

---- END ----

How to get your business involved

Anyone can participate! You dont have to be a member of the Madison Hours Cooperative to accept or spend Hours. However, there are many advantages to joining the cooperative:

• It only costs $5 to $10 (sliding scale) to join.
• You get three free Hours just for signing up.
• Your membership includes four free listings in the HOUR Community newspaper directory and our website for goods and services.
• Most important of all, your membership entitles you to free support and consulting from a Madison Hours volunteer on how to make Hours work for you.

HOW TO JOIN... 1. Call Madison Hours at 259-9050 to set up a consultation. 2. With help from your Madison Hours consultant, evaluate your needs and design an acceptance policy. 3. Pay your dues, and receive three Hours to get started. 4. Submit up to four free listings for the HOUR Community newspaper listings. ANY QUESTIONS? Contact Madison Hours at: 1202 Williamson St. Madison, WI 53703 or at 259-9050

Setting A Madison Hours Acceptance Policy

Business owners have complete control over how many Hours they accept, and can change their acceptance policies to meet their needs. The number of Hours accepted varies from business to business, and each owner sets his or her own policy.

We recommend that you begin with a conservative acceptance policy, and increase your acceptance rate as you develop outlets for spending the Hours you take in. Here are a few of the many ways participating businesses have structured their acceptance policies:

1. As straight percentage of each purchase.

• We'll take up to 20% of your bill in Hours, and the rest in dollars.
  
  

2. As percentage with conditions.

• We accept 15% Hours on purchases over $10, or
  
• We accept 15% Hours on purchases made on weekdays.
  
  

3. As flat limit on Hours per purchase.

• We take up to 1/2 HOUR per purchase.
  
  

4. As flat limit with conditions.

• We accept up to 1/2 HOUR on purchases over $15, or
  
• We accept up to 1/2 HOUR on purchases before noon.
  
  

5. As daily limit on Hours.

• We accept a total of up to 3 Hours per day.
  
  

6. As a pricing mechanism for specials.

• All red-tag items are 1/2 HOUR each.
  
  

Ways Businesses Use Madison Hours

artwork,
advertisements,
attorneys, auto repair,
bank statement reconciliation,
business cards, calligraphy, carpentry,
catering, cleaning, computer repair and training,
construction, desktop publishing, editing, electrical repair,
errands, furniture repair, garden help, graphic design, landscaping,
lawn care, lumber, mediation, organizing help, painting, paper products,
photography, plants, recording consulting, research, resumes, rubber stamps,
snow removal, stress reduction, translation, typing, video production, woodwork...
THESE ARE JUST A FEW OF
THE GOODS AND SERVICES
YOU CAN PURCHASE WITH
YOUR MADISON Hours.

Webhosting

Current Webhosting customers log in here

Madison Hours Coop offers webhosting to Madison Hours members and users. Our goal is to provide a low-cost service that can be obtained using local currency. This is a good way for Madison businesses to use our currency. Our service is basic but has all the features needed for the average business website.

We offer three basic plans. Each requires a one year contract and payment needs to be at least 50% in Madison Hours.

	Basic - $60/year	Middle - $120/year	Best - $250/year
Web Space	50 MB	125 MB	350 MB
Data Transfer	2500 MB / month	5000 MB / month	15000 MB / month
Pop Email	5 accts	10 accts	unlimited
Subdomains	5	10	25
Mail groups
Mail lists
Email Autoresponders / redirects
SSL
Apache ASP
SSI
PHP
CGI
Perl
Web statistics
Custom Error Documents