Livelihood & Commerce 6.3: Purchasing

One of the key lessons learned in this planning effort is how valuable it is to keep the money earned on the Island circulating within the local economy. In the simplest terms, every dollar we spend locally contributes to another resident’s financial wellbeing. As long as that dollar keeps getting spent on the island, its benefit multiplies here; once it leaves the Island, its benefit goes elsewhere. This is true not only for our purchases of consumer goods, but also for large expenditures for products like mortgages, insurance, health care, and pre-fabricated homes.

For a small Island like ours, there are clearly limits to what we can buy locally, but even in our off-island purchases, we need to explore ways we can combine our buying power to purchase those items at a lower cost. The idea is to “buy sensibly”- first: on-island, second: on-island collectively, third: off-island collectively. Creating a Vineyard buyers cooperative might allow us to influence prices on and off island.

Objective L5: Use the community’s buying power to keep more dollars circulating within the local economy.

·  Strategy L5-1: Increase community awareness of the impact of purchasing decisions and create an integrated “buy local” campaign. Establish an on-going a mechanism to keep the following inter-related issues in the minds of islanders in ways that will influence individual and institutional actions:  buying local products and services, reducing economic leakage off-island, expanding the island’s capacity to provide more and better services for the resident population.  As part of the educational effort above, develop a multi- faceted island-wide Buy Local campaign that emphasizes the community value, authenticity, and economic advantages of local production and buying.

·  Strategy L5-2: Establish an Island-based buying cooperative to provide islander discounts for products and services that must be obtained off-Island. It may never be economically feasible to support businesses selling many big-ticket items or offering specialized services with the Island’s population alone. If we could harness our collective purchasing power, however, we may be able to buy automobiles, health insurance policies, and an array of other products and services from off-island providers at wholesale rather than retail prices. The savings would generate a financial benefit and leave more money available to circulate in the local economy.  Our geographic isolation has historically translated into paying a premium for items. It may be possible to turn it around into a buying advantage.