Clubs for many things. Some clubs form around sports and hobbies, others around activities. But soccer/sewing/hiking clubs won’t save the planet. A Save the Planet Club might, but only if designed to turn talk into tangibles.
We need to go green, fast. We need to slash life expenses. We need work, and a place to live. We need to gain traction on all those problems that make life miserable, unaffordable and unfair to the point of being impossible. The key issue is connecting with others on each issue, and clubs can do that.
We have, for example, the problem of renting tools. They charge so much you might as well buy one. The hourly rate is so high you push too hard to get the job done – using a machine you barely know. You may need a printer, and they don’t rent those, and lack of money may be an issue. Maybe you want to try welding, but the cost to try it is too high. It would help if you knew a friend that could teach you a few things, then let you give it a try. Clubs solve all these problems. But they need not be formal. They could consist of friends and family pitching in to buy bulk. That’s smart economics.
One kind of club can be based around tools. Others can form around interests, learning or teaching. An Apple Tree Club and a Beekeeping Club are both knowledge-based, friendly and social. But also linked to essential life skills, healthy personal and family activities, slashing life expenses, generating summer green jobs, food security and ecosystem health, and backyard Food & Flower Gardens tended by a YouthWorks Club can support & protect seniors. These are all outcomes of a Save the Planet Club structured to convert talk to tangibles.
Converting talk to tangibles. Take a closer look at what you buy and rent. Some things you need but only use once in a while. There is the issue of storage space. And what about things you need but don’t have. Consider the example of tree care. What to do with the branches? If you had a chipper, that would help. If you had a trailer, that would help. Maybe what you need is a YardWorks Club, and it might have a rototiller too.
In the broader context, we’re all running around burning time and gas doing things that would be better done as a group. All those trees we’re cutting down, cut into chunks for firewood or disposal. You cut down a black walnut, not knowing it’s worth almost $20 a board foot. What a loss because of lack of knowledge. What a waste because each of us lacks access to a portable sawmill to cut planks on the spot. It’s the sum of all these actions that are driving planetary destruction. We don’t have enough trees left to build furniture. Now all you can buy is plastic-coated sawdust.
You don’t need much of a social structure to solve these problems. A Tree Care Club could do it. A loose collection of carpenters and tree trimmers. The key is access to tools. And it has to be simple, laid out for intuitive easy use. Designed by and for nice people desiring to work well with others. The average person should suffer under a raft of rules created to deal with rare problems or a few bad eggs. Typical problems should be solved up front as Frequently Asked Questions, with all the “what-ifs” to the back. There only if needed. Of course we know how to get along. It’s just a few people that don’t. For that, we need to clearly lay out how it works.
Some tools, like ladders and trailers, are simple, rugged and easy to use. Here, we deal with tools that are more expensive, more complicated. Consider an embroidery sewing machine, rototiller or sawmill. Depending on your aptitude, each is easy to use. Designed to be intuitive. With a little reading or instruction, or just inspecting the machine, you can give it a try to find out how it works. But like many things, it requires a little finesse to get it to work well. It’s like painting. Anyone can paint. But it’s another matter entirely to cut clean lines, get a brush to last a year, paint an entire apartment in a day without making a mess. That’s where a Club comes in. You can talk with people that know the details of how to do things well. And you can generate new ideas for uses, things you never thought of. And convert that talk to tangibles.
How does it work? You and five friends can form a loose friendly club based on a mutual need to use a trailer once in a while. You can also pitch in on a set of yard care tools, woodworking tools, a plumbing kit or a tractor. But for land, cars and trucks, things that require registration, owners’ papers, tiles and insurance, incorporation is best. Slashing life expenses, solving problems, making life fair, friendly and easy. But how to keep track of it all. What happens when someone wants out or someone wants in?
For tools and trailers, you and your friends should live near each other. You have to go there to get it, or get a friend to bring it to you. There are real expenses involved and one person may use the tool more than the others. There is also the problem of some people being not good around tools and equipment. A lot of this is solved by having a written agreement in advance. That’s what this document is for.
Instead of loosely chipping in for gas and time, it’s smarter to use a diary to record your time and costs. These things are too easy to forget. When you have the tool, you are responsible for maintenance and repairs, theft and accidents, but in that, remember that friends are more important than material objects. Keep it simple and fair to keep costs down. By working together individual expenses should be far less than renting or buying.
It’s most simple to use a notebook as a diary to record who paid what at the beginning. Manuals, warranties and purchase receipts can go in here, along with notes on hours used and expenses. The book stays with the machine, as a set of notes for the next user. When the machine goes from one friend to another, you can inspect and sign off. That’s the time to pay someone if you owe them.
Five friends dividing the purchase cost equally means you each have an equal share, 20% ownership, and your group entirely owns and controls the asset. One person can represent your group to collect money and make the purchase. Any two people can easily keep track, figure out who owes what, and arrange use. But what’s the math for five people or more when co-owners can join or leave the group at any time? Now computers are handy and the continuity Club is convenient.
In splitting costs, equality is not the same as fairness because one person may intend to use the tool once a year while another wants it once a week. One person may have a driveway and another may not. Should one person answer all the calls, unpaid, or another entirely take care of repairs? What you actually want is fair sharing allowing equal rights but variable ownership so everyone can pitch in what they can to use the tool. One person might own 10%, another 20%. This allows your group to include someone who just needs a hand up.
Five friends dividing the purchase cost fairly but unequally means that each person pitches in what they can. Agreement must be reached between amount s each person pitches in, the sum S of the money pooled, the cost C of the vehicle acquired, and the number N of people allowed in the group. The fractional share owned by an individual is s/S; the percent share is 100s/S. It’s very smart to avoid debt at the time of purchase, so the sum of money pooled equals the cost (S = C). Note that in forming a Club of friends and family, you are using your obvious and inherent free-trade rights to negotiate agreements including loans of not only cash but work, goods and services. One person in the group may have interest in mechanical repairs while another contributes organizational and communication skills to schedule vehicle use. Life ought be flexible so everyone can learn and grow while developing their diverse talents.
Just like your fractional ownership share, your fractional time-use of the vehicle is your personal use u divided by the total use U. For a car, you’d record the distance travelled by taking odometer readings when you start and finish your trip. If everyone keeps a diary (or records online), co-owners can compare notes to ensure honest accuracy and add up the monthly use. Receipts must be saved for running expenses like fuel, but you can determine how much fuel the car uses per kilometer. Your group could use a gas card or decide to always keep the tank full.
For insurance payments, or to build a Repair & Replace Fund, given that some people are better drivers than others and accidents happen regardless of skill, again we use fractional risk. Your individual risk r is divided by the total risk R of the group, r/R. If everyone is equally good, the risk ratio is 1 and risk is equally shared. If you have high risk, your ratio may be 1.1, and risk increases with time spent on the road. For the first month, when the amount of time used by each owner is unknown, it is reasonable to split the insurance bill I in proportion to your fractional ownership share s/S, so your individual payment is i = I(s/S). Later, with the car in use, whoever drives most should pay most, but including risk the insurance bill is shared by individual payments of i = I(d/D)(r/R). But if one person only drives the car once, should they pay the whole bill for everyone? No, cars are insured even if unused. Therefore, we need a splitting factor to pay fairly for use and non-use, call this x. If the insurance is split in half for use and non-use, so x = 0.5, your individual cost for operating and owning is i = xI(d/D)(r/R) + (1-x)I(s/S), and your group can change the split by changing x (from 0 to 1).
Just because an equation for sharing with flexible fairness reduces to a number, an amount owed does not give anyone the right to be harsh and hard. Real people with real lives need the flexibility of fair and reasonable negotiation. On another note, if money is involved (e.g. to build a Repair & Replace Fund), and the amount is not high, the notebook can be used as a record of what is in the envelope. The person who holds the tool is responsible for it. If the sum is a slightly larger amount, it may be smart to use a zippered bag with a small combination lock. Why? Keys can be lost. Combinations can be memorized or hidden. A damaged bag shows evidence of tampering. But whatever you do, do not put your money in a bank! They simply use it to leverage everyone into debt. And you must seriously reconsider insurance, for the same reason. And the fact they spend and do not save it.
Insurance is actually quite simple. Assessing risk (or looking up the statistical odds of an accident) is quite simple. The risk equation used for insurance is simple. Why give your money to a group that will spend it? Your group can build a Repair & Replace fund by paying in proportion to fractional use. If you decide it’s not for you, you can sell your shares to someone wanting in, another co-owner or to the group – who buys you out at a low cost per person. Remember that you got to use the tool at a ridiculously low price, far less than renting, far less than hiring someone, and in using it, it paid for itself. Friends are far more important than things! Also, the equipment is now used, and not worth what it was new. Do make serious efforts to keep things fair and reasonable, and honest and simple, to minimize conflict and keep time involvement and costs down.
Plain-language written agreements prevent problems. Remember your are working with friends helpfully and with care, respect, sensible logic and dignity. But some people are bossy. They want to control things or take over. Others are argumentative, damaging healthy social relations with gossip. You have the right to buy out consistently abusive and disrespectful group members, exerting your Constitutional Right to Freedom of Association. A Club can defend numerous Charter rights including equality, and universal rights to a healthy social and economic environment. Such social rights to a healthy life and community are obvious and intuitive in everyday dealings with family and friends, but if someone in the group is the source of serious trouble, feel free to use Canada’s top laws to deal with them.
A Club accepting the Canadian Charter as its charter receives full legal protection under the highest law, Including the ability to add essential economic and social rights critical to life, liberty and security of the person. Including the right to completely and utterly reject any unconstitutional lower-level law used to suppress Club activities that are not only healthy but essential to life and survival. Because that’s the issue, personal and planetary life security. The lives of this generation are under direct, obvious and provable threat, in everything from climate to degraded farms, forests and fisheries. An entire generation, trapped between low wages and high prices. Clubs can be designed to deal with that. Is your life in trouble? Join the Club. Everything in this Club description is consistent with Canadian Charter rights.
Valuing the work you and others do. What happens when one person becomes the key person in taking calls and scheduling? Or another does most of the maintenance? Who pays the bills, and should the expenses be split equally even if one person rarely uses the vehicle? If all members of the group call each other equally, should each pay the other for work done? No, because there has been no net gain. People within a company do not charge each other directly for work done but instead record time and expenses. A car is an expense for purpose of making life easier, not a source of profit. You are sharing your time and a vehicle to cut costs, not to make life more complex and expensive. Some people want unusual benefit by getting others to do all the work, whereas a limited-profit company aims to make life reasonable for everyone. Anyone doing more work than others should get paid.
Owner asset sharing, incremental buying or selling, and starting ventures with friends. If you already own an asset, you can sell part of it and reduce running expenses by letting others use it. Suppose you own a sawmill, rototiller or sewing machine. You’re stuck with it. Own or sell, that’s it. Clubs offer another option. Incremental selling. Get cash in stages, and you can still use it when you need it. For ventures, the pooling of resources may be needed to get going. One person owns a rototiller. Another has a truck. Isolated, they’re unemployed. Together, they have a business. Anyone starting a business needs a lot of things. A printer, computer and software, key to making flyers. Ideas, time and others to work with, to cover all the various aspects of getting going and gaining traction. Why are entrepreneurs meetups all talk and no action? Because they don’t have a plan to turn talk into tangibles. A Club can do that, it it’s intent is set properly.
Some ventures require working trucks for moving, transport or towing, tractors for farming, earthmovers for home-building and so on. A Club can make it easy for parents to invest in their kids ventures, or for people to pool resources to get equipment a business going. We know it’s not easy to find people and fund ventures, and debt can get you sunk before you get started. What any venture really needs is time to learn and develop ideas, to work with people willing to contribute resources and expertise, and a slashed cost of living during the start-up stage.
Joining or forming a Club helps you define the options and work out problems before getting too formal. Clubs are a type of social enterprise connecting people needing combined expertise to get things done. We all need a little help sometimes. A venture is essentially a labour loan requiring risk of your time for later repayment by cash, goods or services (much like planting seeds for future harvest). Currency is a convenient tool of trade to get what you want, goods and services. Clubs are our social currency, a way for parents to invest in future generations by directly investing in their children to get them set up in life.
Here, we focus on Clubs that tackle our real problems of daily life. Our core realities of essential human needs on a finite planet, with focus on smart sharing, reuse and recycling, making long-lasting quality goods and services, smart use of energy and our time. We aim to move away from burning gas.
Your personal life security matters, and we all need planetary life security. Does each person need a car? No. But if we go that route, we will require the resources of five planets. By sharing, we cut life expenses and exhibit care for others. We require evidence of a caring culture in our actions and financial equations. We deal with conflict between members in part by preventing problems, making the ideas and rules clear in advance, and emphasizing that essential human needs can be met by healthy social structures that allowing everyone to work to the best of their abilities by access to tools that can be used to build basic life security.
We don’t need a lot of fine detail. Straight-up simplicity is best for the majority of people who know how to treat others well. We can deal with problems and complexity as it arises. We prefer reality, fact and reason over imagining worst-case scenarios that might never happen. We believe that most questions you ask can be answered yourself by asking “how do you think it should work”? You and your group have the right to shape your life your way within reasonable limits that realistically tackle practical problems of personal and planetary life security. That’s the agreement.
Clubs can be designed to solve urgent issues by economical access to people, ideas and tools that are used to do, make and build things, all of which are in the realm of cost savings. Though you may profit by selling the things you grow, bake or make, a Club is not the place to make money from tools or people. Incorporation is best to work with others using company cars & trucks, land & buildings, workshops & stores, all of which involve ownership papers, titles and licensing.
