Ever heard of a Detroit Cheer? A BerkShare? A PLENTY? Each is a form of local currency in different parts of the country, and if you’re from Pittsboro, N.C., you might be using PLENTies instead of dollars soon.

No, the town isn’t seceding from the Union, it’s just at the forefront of a community effort to implement a local currency that can only be used within the community.

“PLENTY” stands for Piedmont Local Economy Tender, and it’s a completely legal way to trade for goods.

It works like this: People go to a participating bank and trade their dollars for PLENTies. Exchange rates will be nine dollars to 10 PLENTies. Once PLENTies are in hand, they can be spent just like dollars at participating businesses.

Melissa Frey, the executive director of the PLENTY Currency Cooperative, the organization that is promoting the PLENTY, said the goal behind starting up a local currency is to keep spending within the community.

“Last I heard they didn’t accept PLENTies in Malaysia,” she said.

The only difference between a dollar and a PLENTY is where it can be spent. And that is exactly its appeal.

When spending is kept within a small community between residents and independent business owners, it fosters economic growth for the area, according to Frey. Instead of sending dollars to Wal-Mart, PLENTies go to a local store. The money finds a new home within the community–not in a remotely located CEO’s pocket.

In addition to keeping the money at home, using a local currency also promotes more environmentally friendly living, Frey said.

“When you’re stimulating the local economy you aren’t bringing things in from far away and using fossil fuels,” she said, adding that buying local also inspires the use of local materials and promotes recycling.

The organization doesn’t have a set time line for the PLENTY’s release, but it does have partners. The Pittsboro branch of Capital Bank is on board to exchange PLENTies for dollars and several business are already dealing in them.

Frey said the Cooperative’s goal is to cement the PLENTY in Pittsboro before involving surrounding towns and counties as well.

Wake county, including the City of Raleigh, is on that list of communities in which the PLENTY might one day circulate.

Trading the trusty dollar for a no-name piece of paper seems senseless to Ashley Jones, a junior in fashion and textile management.

“I think it kind of makes everything more confusing,” she said.

Alan Lovette, owner of Melvin’s Hamburgers, was a bit more positive and called the idea a “feasible” one.

He likened the PLENTY to a bartering system.

“I’ve been bartering for years,” Lovette said. “I might trade rental property for dental work.”

Although he wouldn’t say for sure, if the currency was to invade the Captial City, Lovette said it may be something he’d adopt.

“I’d consider it,” he said. “But I’d have to think it through.

Ningyo Pearl Bubble Tea House owner Nathan Phillips was equally cautious about the PLENTY, at first saying it was unnecessary since so many Hillsborough business owners already barter among themselves anyway.

As for his clientele? Phillips said business has been slow and changing currency wouldn’t be a fix-all.

“Whether they get their dollar in Charlotte or their PLENTY in Raleigh, it doesn’t matter if they don’t come,” he said.

Despite his customer concerns, Phillips said he would be “inclined to give it a try.”

That’s all Frey and the other Cooperative members are asking for — community support.

“It’s all about the community, which isn’t easy to put your finger on,” she said. “When you support your neighbor instead of buying online, you become closer. It creates a better lifestyle for everybody.”