This is Mr. Hours’ Jolly Good Time Banking Company. Time is very important as personal resource to Blendini City citizens. Some people and buildings I talk to unfortunately have jobs that they don’t truly want, but they do for the money. And that makes sense. But they are losing time that they can’t get back even if they are making some money. So a time bank is a good way to provide some economic relief and recenter how people and buildings exchange goods and services.

Time Banking is a concept that has been around for a long time and stands strong in Blendini City.

The premise of time banking is this: you go and trade your time in for someone else’s time. Time becomes a local currency that is exchanged. Mr. Hours manages customers’ time and how they exchange it. For example, someone contributes their time by giving 10 hours worth of banjo lessons, so someone then owes them 10 hours of their time for something they need, such as gardening perhaps.

This is something that can work in smaller-scale, local-first economies like Blendini City. Mr. Hours himself IS a jolly good time bank to work with! He’s a great mediator for the whole enterprise and is great at keeping track of everyone’s hours. 

I’m still amazed by how many people can exchange skills with one another without involving money in the equation at all. Time is a currency that we all need to be more aware of. It’s possible to make money, but you’ll never get your time back. I’ve been in the time banking business for 60 years now. I’m starting to question if I want to do something else with my own time, but that isn’t because I haven’t gotten a lot out of being a time bank. I surely have. I may make a run for City Council soon as there’s an election coming up. That might be worth my time, we’ll see.

Mr. Hours, owner of the Jolly Good Time Banking Company