David Greenberg: Before paying cash, consider ‘Common Good’

The Gazette Editorial of Sept. 12 (“Before you charge that muffin, consider paying cash”) rightly points out that all of those credit card processing fees, which are considerable, leave the Valley and do nothing for us. I completely agree with Gerald Epstein (as quoted in the editorial) that “many people in our community, if they are aware of these social issues, would be more likely to do something … to help out local businesses and the local community more broadly.”

And they can, by joining Common Good and paying with their Common Good card. Instead of using the usual credit card for your purchases, with the associated fees charged to the vendor, use the Common Good card and keep the dollars circulating in the local community. By joining Common Good, individuals and businesses can take advantage of the fact that there is a pool of money that continually circulates around the Valley. An example is the one cited in the editorial: “Cushman gets its bread from Woodstar; Small Oven maintains strong relationships with local farms, often bartering or buying products with cash.”

Common Good allows the community at large to circulate Common Good credit instead of dollars. The dollars sit in a dollar pool that, as more and more people begin using the Common Good card, gets larger and larger to the point where we can safely spend some of it on projects that benefit our community: Common Good Greenfield made grants and investments of $10,000 last year and will double that amount this year. In fact, we are currently accepting grant applications right now.

David Greenberg
Colrain