NCPlenty, Inc. Member Support Survey Results

Overview

The Member Support Committee, in conjunction with the Board of Trustees, produced a survey for the purposes of gathering data and opinions relevant to increasing the circulation of the PLENTY. The survey was mailed to all current members on February 14, 2003. Out of 117 surveys distributed, 64 were returned by March 15, 2003, representing a 54.7% response rate.

Section I Results
Segment 1: Ranking Ideas

Members were asked to vote for the three ideas, out of those proposed, they felt were the most important to implement in order to increase circulation of the PLENTY. The ideas were as follows (left-most term corresponding with the abbreviation on the legends below):

Recruit-spec: Recruit specific businesses with which the member transacts.
Recruit-type: Recruit types of businesses suggested by the member.
Disburse: Disburse additional currency to all existing members.
Web Publicity: Provide increased publicity, available for all members, on the website.
Min. Acceptance: Determine and enforce a minimum per transaction rate of PLENTY acceptance.
Workshops: Provide workshops for new and existing members, focused on PLENTY use.
E-mail forum: Create an e-mail list open to all interested members, for member-to-member use.

Table I.1: Votes/Scores for Circulation Ideas

Scores were calculated using the following system of weighing member votes:
1st choice = 3 points
2nd choice = 2 points
3rd choice = 1 point

Based on this system, the membership’s top three choices to increase the circulation of the PLENTY were as follows:

1. Recruit specific non-member businesses with which the member transacts.
2. Recruit types of businesses requested by the membership.
3. Disburse more currency to existing members.

There is an additional column that shows modified percentages, ignoring “Recruit-spec” as it is so closely tied to “Recruit-type.” In this system, the third most popular idea is to provide additional publicity to members via the website.

Section I Results
Segment 2: Rating Ideas

Members were asked to evaluate strategies to increase PLENTY circulation. Each member’s score was based on how his/her particular spending and acceptance would be affected. A score of 5 indicated “Would definitely cause me to accept/spend more PLENTYs.” A score of 1 indicated “Would definitely not cause me to accept/spend more” PLENTYs.”

Table I.2: Personal Spending, Acceptance, and Overall Scores for Circulation Ideas

Ideas that received the highest scores in segment 1 received similar scores in this segment. For increasing personal spending, the order of the top four is identical. For increasing personal acceptance, members gave higher scores to disbursement and increased website publicity than to recruiting business of a certain type. The overall average of spending and acceptance shows the same top four ideas as segment 1, with “Disburse” and “Recruit-type” swapping positions.

Section II Results
Segment 1: PLENTYs spent and PLENTYs accepted

Members were asked to estimate the amount of PLENTYs they had spent and had accepted, with answers falling into one of 7 categories.

Results clearly indicate a need for increased circulation, with 33.3% of respondents having spent no PLENTYs whatsoever. Another 47.6% spent some PLENTYs of an amount less than or equal to the initial membership issuance of 5P. The remaining 19.0% spent an amount greater than 5P, including 6.34% who spent over 25P ($250 value).

In the category of PLENTYs accepted, 29.1% of respondents earned some PLENTY income. The strong majority (71.9%) took in no PLENTYs, contrasting with 4.69% who had accepted greater than 25P.

Members were also asked to provide the names of members or non-member businesses where they spent PLENTYs. There were 82 responses, with 28 unique locations represented. This included 31 responses (37.8%) for Weaver Street Market. In many cases Weaver Street Market was the only business listed on the respondent’s survey. Skylight Exchange received 5 responses (6.1%) and the Cat’s Cradle received 4 (4.9%). Five businesses (18.5%) received 3 responses each (3.7%): Balloons & Tunes, Blast, Lueg’s, Music Explorium, and Pittsboro General Store Café. Also, 3 responses indicated “Farmers’ Market” without specifying which market and/or farmers. The entire list appears below:

Table II.1.b: Locations Where Respondents Spent PLENTYs

Section II Results
Segment 2: Recruitment Requests

Members were asked to provide business types and specific businesses which they would like to see join the PLENTY network. A list of each appears below, including all types/specific businesses that garnered more than one request.

Section II Results
Segment 3: Acceptance Policies

Members were asked to indicate their current acceptance policy.

Table II.3.a: Reported Acceptance Policies

As can be seen from the above, close to half (47.5%) of respondents accept up to full payment in PLENTYs, and significant numbers of members accept 25% or 50% payment per purchase.

Members were also asked to suggest a minimum policy for all members.

Note: There was confusion in answering this question based on some responses. NCPlenty asks members to accept PLENTYs as full or partial payment as a term of membership. A member may establish their own acceptance policy to define maximum amount of PLENTYs accepted, usually on a per transaction basis. For example, one member allows no more than 2P per purchase. Another accepts 100% payment, and a third limits PLENTY payment to 25% of the transaction cost.

Some thought this question suggested a policy requiring members to net a certain number of PLENTYs during a given time period in order to maintain their membership. NCPlenty feels such a policy would unfairly target smaller businesses and service providers.

Out of 45 responses, 84.4% were in favor of some minimum policy for members, but with wide-ranging amounts. The plurality (28.9%) favored 25% payment in PLENTYs. However, the next greatest number expressed opposition to the idea. As noted above, misunderstanding may have had some influence on the seven opposition votes and on non-responses, but there were opposed responses with explanations showing the term was apprehended correctly. Per the section I results, enforcing a minimum acceptance policy has a low priority amongst respondents, although again this could have been influenced by an incorrect conception of the term. A follow-up survey question would be required to derive more accurate data on this matter, and future surveys will clarify the term when it is used. It should be noted that responses explicitly indicating a misunderstanding were not included in the 45 listed, and the policies suggested seem more likely to be per transaction than related to total PLENTY income.

Table II.3.b: Suggested Minimum Policies

Section II Results
Segment 4: Cities/Counties Where Members Conduct Business

Members were asked to indicate the city and/or county where most of their business is conducted. Where a city was indicated, the implied county was also tallied. Many members indicated a county only, which is a valid response (for example, their business may mostly take place outside city limits). This is the reason for results that may appear inconsistent on the surface, such as the fact that more respondents indicated Durham as compared to Pittsboro in the city category, but more respondents indicated Chatham as compared to Durham in the county category.

Results show a preponderance of member business occurs in the Carrboro/Chapel Hill area, but significant numbers of respondents also indicated Durham and Pittsboro.

Section II Results
Segment 5: Currency Taken Out of Circulation

Members were asked to specify if they had removed any PLENTY bills from circulation. If this was the case, the member was also asked to specify the value of the bills and the reason for removal.

Table II.5: PLENTYs Removed from Circulation

The results clearly indicate this is not a significant factor. Total disbursement to 64 members equals 320P, and only 3P (0.94%) was removed.

Conclusions

• Increased circulation of the PLENTY with increased economic activity benefits our local Piedmont economy. However, introducing a new currency presents obstacles. There is still significant inertia to be overcome in circulating the PLENTY, based on the large number of respondents who spent no PLENTYs, and the majority who accepted no PLENTYs. The latter is likely due to a lack of clients wishing to spend the currency, not restrictive acceptance policies, given the strong majority of respondents have policies of 25% or greater.
• Members strongly indicate that increasing the number and types of places where PLENTYs can be spent would be most effective in ramping up circulation, as the top two choices both deal with targeted recruitment.
  • Requests tend towards goods more than services and storefronts more than individuals, with Restaurants, Hardware Stores, and Grocery Stores comprising the top three categories. In fact, one grocery store, WSM, was by far the most commonly mentioned member for the question asking where PLENTYs had been spent. There were also eight other categories that received six or more requests, which were Automotive Repair/Parts, Garden/Nursery Stores, Book Stores, Clothing Stores, Gas Stations/Convenience Stores, Medical Care, Movie Theatres, and Video Rental.
  • The top three requested businesses are Southern States, Fitch Lumber, and Al’s Garage. VisArt, Carrburritos, School Kids Records, and the Spotted Dog also garnered three requests each.
• Members indicate that disbursing more currency and increasing publicity on the website could also be beneficial in strengthening circulation.
• The number of PLENTYs removed from circulation is not a significant factor in the lack of flow.

Recent Developments

• Weaver Street Market has undertaken several steps to spend more PLENTYs, including offering them to interested employees as a portion of their paychecks, and offering them to vendors. As WSM was and likely remains the largest single acceptor, creative spending solutions can have a wide-ranging positive impact to the currency’s flow. In addition, WSM’s long-held policy of giving change in PLENTYs if requested provides non-members access to the currency and members an opportunity to garner additional PLENTYs.
• The website and web practices of NCPlenty have been modified to afford greater publicity to members, both amongst the membership and the public at large, since the time the survey was conducted. For example, the Membership Newsletter and Members in the News section of the website are now given prominence. Additionally, recent enhancements to the online directory allow members to list specials and for visitors to the site to search for goods/services from NCPlenty members in a number of ways. Hopefully these changes will help to increase transactions in PLENTYs.
• The Board of Trustees is in the final planning stages of a campaign that will aim to increase circulation of the PLENTY dramatically. One of the central goals is that every issued PLENTY bill be spent twice (on average) during the time frame from last year’s Annual Meeting through the next Annual Meeting. This survey provided much of the impetus for the campaign, and data culled from it has been instrumental in determining which goals and strategies should be given the highest priority. For example, recruiting members is valued in and of itself for any membership organization, but member responses also clearly indicated it has a potential exponential function in increasing circulation. This is especially true as particular focus is placed on recruiting the businesses and types of businesses most requested.