Chapter 3: Money and Calendars

~~July - Week 28 ~~

Lee decided that she needed help to sort this issue out.

She called Kyle, Philip, Sean, Gavin, Ulani and Magda to meet her in the Pixs new office. She also called Iain, who hadn’t left yet as well. It turned out Captain Clark was with Philip, so Lee told him to bring the Captain too as it probably affected him as well.

She considered these people were the best to have this council of war waged by. They set up a conference table, and Lee posed her first question to the Martyns.

Alis, Haf and their two oldest children Dye and Hatti who would be working with them were happy to answer the questions of the group. They had been busy learning and using the incredible computer system and had been converting all their writings from paper to the machines and sorting out all their trade tables into the database.

Ulani had asked them what sort of information they needed to store. She had decided a database was the best way to do what they wanted. Gwen Mc Donald, Bentley’s historical research analyst, helped Ulani set up the Trade Database. They now had it up and running, which did what the Martyns wanted.

The Martyns agreed it would make doing their job much more efficient. They were happy campers. Dye, with Gwen’s help, had already designed the standard trade agreement forms. They were now set up ready for signing and filling out the details. Dye loved the computer system and took to it like she had used one forever.

Gwen and Ulani were pleased to help. They could both see how the services provided by the Martyns would become invaluable as the town grew.

The Martyns explained to the group that everything has an assigned value. Those values were used to do the calculations. They would calculate the value in dollars and cents against the number of units for sale or purchase. Then work out what they could get in trade if actual money wasn’t to change hands, only goods or a combination of the two.

Lee asked about how inflation and supply and demand affected prices. The Martyns didn’t understand the word ‘inflation’ and Philip explained. The Martyns shook their heads. They told them that these were the issues which inflamed the war.

About fifty years after the big war, the faeries got all the peoples who were left together and got them to thrash out a value for all know items that could be traded. They fixed the price, no inflation. If you had the item to sell and that was all that was available, the price was the price. Some sellers of fresh produce sometimes added a little more, if the quality wasn’t there, but that was their choice, not the buyers.

There were only two exceptions. One was for unique items. The owner can negotiate the price, and it is up to the buyer to agree. The only other exception was for new items. The seller could ask what they wished to start with, but once the item became a common commodity, then the committee would set the price, and that would be the price.

If a producer or supplier wished the price to be higher, particularly if the costs of other items or labour used in the production meant there was less than five percent profit, then they have to send a petition to the Pricing Committee.

This Committee was made up of representatives from all the nations and major cities. The Committee met twice a year. Only if they all agree can the price be re-negotiated.

If the seller didn’t like the decision, then they have the option to stop producing or selling the item and go into something else. If the seller used a broker as many do, then one percent of the price would go to the broker, and this was factored into the original pricing system as the Martyns had told Lee when she employed them.

If the seller wished to make more money per item, then they would need to improve their production procedures. But they must not cause undue stress on their slaves or workers to do this. For example, a slave or worker can’t be forced to work more than twelve hours in a day.

Most workers worked four, eight to nine-hour days with a half-day. They must have one full day off for rest at least every sixth day. This is why we work on a six-day week, sixty weeks in a year, or five weeks in a month with twelve months.

All workers are entitled to take twenty-four paid days off each calendar year. If they are sick, they can elect to, not be paid or be paid from their leave time.

The humans were intrigued as this was very similar to current working conditions on Earth except for the six-day week. That was something they would have to discuss as a group. But they all liked the simplicity of the structure of a year. And it had been suggested before.

None of the humans could disagree with this method of pricing. It saved a lot of wheeling and dealing and kept things fair. They all agreed they liked it as inflation was a pain, and wage increases and price-fixing to push out competition were all problems back on Earth.

Sean asked them to explain the monetary system used. Haf opened a pouch onto the table and lined out the coins. The denominations each had a different shape, so if the value started with a one it was square, if it was two, it was triangular if it was five, it was round.

They explained that there were four types of alloys used to make coins, and the Committee has set the mixtures and sizes of the coins that were acceptable. Any community could make their own denominations as long as they comply with the rules.

If a community wanted to keep their precious metals as coins, that was their business. They were still worth exactly what they were, and could still only buy what they could. Not many people made the higher denominations, as they were rarely needed.

Land purchases or large goods exchange was generally conducted with the banks. A special banknote could be used to transfer large sums of money.

The alloys values and sizes commonly used are as below:

The lowest values of coins were made of Bronze. As these were the easiest metals to find and produce, they had the values: 1, 2, 5 and 10 cents. The bronze coins had diameters or side measurements of 20mm and a thickness of 1mm except for the one cent, which was only 15mm a side.

The lower middle coins were made of Brass and worth: 20 cents 50 cents and one dollar. The Brass coins were 24mm to a side and 1.5mm thick.

The upper-middle Silver coins (nickel, copper and silver) were worth 2, 5 and 10 dollars. The Silver coins were 22.5mm to a side and 1.2mm thick.

The Gold coins (gold and copper) were used for the highest value coins and were worth 20 dollars and 50 dollars. The gold coins were 18mm to a side and 1.8mm thick.

The humans were fascinated. Sean called Berny Rubble and asked him to join them. While they discussed what the Martyns believed were appropriate prices for some of the materials and items they currently made or produced.

The Martyns said there were many items and products that there was no current price for. However, they had provided a list of what they believed the Communities would consider acceptable for those they had seen so far.

They also explained about new item pricing. If the general communities accept the price, before a new item came to the attention of the Pricing Committee, it often stayed at that price.

Berny Rubble joined them. He was intrigued by the coins. Philip asked him if he could get them analysed and make dies to cast one of each in his own design. They must be the correct denomination size, alloy mixture and weight.

He was to give the coins and dies to Kyle so that he could scan them into the replicator. The coins were only to be produced by the Community Leader upon request of the Council, in this case, Philip and them.

Berny asked what designs he could use? The group said they would go with whatever he wished as none of them particularly cared what was on them, as long as it wasn’t pictures of them.

Lee had worked out an exchange rate of about one-dollar Utopian to fifty dollars on Earth as to the value of coins compared to what that coin would buy, back on Earth when they left. The Martyns said they would keep that in mind if they ever got to deal with trade with Earth.

They then discussed paying people and found the prices fixed as a set value per hour for free workers at 60 cents/hr or $24.00 for a standard 40-hour week. The Martyns explained that slaves often got paid $2.40 a week for living expenses and sundries outside what an owner is expected to provide, such as essential clothing, accommodation and food. They also worked a nine-hour day.

Lee said their community was slave-free and they wouldn’t abide by the enslavement of people. They came here as free or not at all. The other humans all agreed that they wouldn’t harbour runaway slaves unless they could prove abuse or maltreatment. They would abide by the rules of another community otherwise. As Pix people were traditionally slaves, this made the Martyns very happy.

So now they had to work out how they were going to set up paying the humans and what sort of banking system should be used. In theory, the crew collected wages back home. They were already being paid. However, those not going back were not going to be able to use that money.

The Captain suggested the crew be paid dollar for dollar when they cashed in their chips and went home with him. They could be paid in gold bullion at Earth value when they left on the ship for Earth.

They had a healthy stock of gold in storage thanks to Gavin and DT, and since most of it and the silver and other minerals belonged to the Community of Futura, it could be stored back down here, now the Big Recycler was up and going.

Magda suggested they could set up a debit card system. They could use an online banking app for the locals and coins for traders and general use. Regular traders could also apply for an online account to make trading here easier, rather than carrying a lot of coins around.

Everyone agreed this was an excellent suggestion. Ulani thought she and Gwen could set up the database with Kyles help. They would discuss bank loans later, and no one wanted credit cards.

Philip had been doing some calculations on his tablet and suggested the community at the going rate could pay the humans and any of the locals who took community jobs the 60 cents an hour. They would get three meals a day, accommodation and access to regular clothing and toiletries that are currently in the normal replicators. The community would provide these items for their use for six dollars a week.

Any visitors could rent a room and as long as they paid the six dollars a week, or a dollar a day, and they could use the facilities as well. If multiple people were sharing a room, the rate could drop by twenty cents per person, with kids under sixteen at half price.

The Martyns agreed this was more than fair even very generous by other standards. As a new community, they had to right to set up the systems how they wished. The other humans, Sparky, Ross and Iain also thought this was a fair system.

Sean suggested all trade deals for minerals and produce currently owed by the Community would go into the coffers to support the community and pay the wages. That way they didn’t to worry about taxes.

If people wished to set up cottage industries, they could buy their supplies from traders or the community unless they went and gathered them themselves from the surrounding areas. They could not farm or mine without permission or the appropriate lease.