?Cheboygan Bucks are a great way to have dollars stay local.

Cheboygan Bucks are a great way to have dollars stay local.
So, do you have your Christmas shopping done yet?  Yeah, I don’t either.  At this time of year, and with only 20 more shopping days until Christmas it is easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season and just order something quickly on line.  Sure it might seem easy, but is that really the message that you want to send?  “Merry Christmas Honey, you mean so much to me that I took the lazy way out and bought you something that I found by randomly clicking on a blinking ad on line.”  I am very proud to say that I did 100% of my Christmas shopping last year, right here in Cheboygan!  And I’m doing the same thing again this year.  I hope you have that same sense of pride when you shop in Cheboygan.  I have a great example of someone who showed that pride and had some fun while doing it. 
Last week, there was a lady (we’ll call her Mrs. Smith) that came into the Chamber Office who said she wanted to by some Cheboygan Bucks for her grandkids.  For those of you that do not know what Cheboygan Bucks are, they are a form of cash that can only be used when buying things from Cheboygan Area Chamber of Commerce Members.  I’ll tell you a little bit more about that in a minute but for now, back to our story.  As we were getting Mrs. Smith’s Cheboygan Bucks put into envelopes for each of her grandkids, I asked her whether the kids lived in the area or somewhere else.  She said that they all lived elsewhere, but she uses Cheboygan Bucks to get them each to come up to Cheboygan to spend some time with her.  She told me that she loved the program because, if she gave them a gift certificate to something on line they would spend it all on line and she would probably never get a chance to enjoy her gift with them.  But, if she gave them Cheboygan Bucks, then they had to come to Cheboygan and stay with her to go shopping for something together.  “And besides”, she said, they always spend more than I give them, so they are helping to bring some of their parents money from downstate into Cheboygan.”   As she was telling me this story she had a fun mischievous glint in her eye.  This was my kind of Grandma!
Buying local is so important.  And using Cheboygan Bucks can be a great way to do that.  Using Cheboygan Bucks is very easy.  Step 1:  Go into the Chamber Office at 124 Main Street in Downtown Cheboygan and purchase as many Cheboygan Bucks as you want.  Ten dollars of real money equals ten dollars of Cheboygan Bucks and we have them in fives, tens, and twenties.  Step 2:  While you are in the Chamber Office, grab a copy of Cheboygan Today Magazine.  Cheboygan Bucks can be used at any of the 340 Cheboygan Area Chamber of Commerce Members.  Cheboygan Today has a full list of those members.  You can also go on line to www.cheboygan.com for a list of members.  Step 3:  Give the Cheboygan Bucks away as a present or go shopping.  That last step is up to you.  Step 4:  Feel good about helping the economy of the Cheboygan Area and be proud that you are supporting the families that either own or work at those businesses.
Now for a sneak peek behind the scenes.  What happens to the Cheboygan Bucks after you spend them?  How does the business get real US currency back to pay their bills?  It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3 again.  Step 1:  The Chamber Member Business that accepts your Cheboygan Bucks will treat them just like regular cash.  They will give you change back for your $17 item that you paid for with a Cheboygan Buck twenty and they will count them out at the end of the night just like the other cash in their drawer.  Step 2:  The Business brings in the Cheboygan Bucks to the Chamber Office, probably at the same time that they are doing their deposit at the bank or credit union.  They turn the Bucks into us and we give them a receipt for how much their amount was.  Step 3:  On our next check run, usually within the next week, we write a check to the Chamber Member Business for the full amount of Cheboygan Bucks that they turned in and they get all their money back to use to pay their employees, or rent, or utilities or stock their shelves for the next time that someone comes in with Cheboygan Bucks.
Pretty easy program right?  Helps keep dollars local. It supports Cheboygan Area Businesses that are Chamber Members and helps build our local economy and serves as a source of pride for our community.  What’s not to love?
So the next time you drive by the Chamber Office.  Stop in and get some Cheboygan Bucks and get out there shopping in Cheboygan!  Oh, and Merry Christmas!  Now what did my wife say was on her list again…..?