Phone cards carry colorful pictures of tourist attractions, local festivals, monuments or sports. They also carry advertising for other companies. Debit cards drive the copiers at Kinko's, a national chain of printshops common to college towns and business parks. Unlike phone cards which are disposable, Kinko's cards can be re-incremented by inserting the card and your cash into a machine at the store. The town of Ithaca, New York, has developed its own local currency.
People there trade services in units of an hour.
The idea of denominating money in labor had been suggested by anarchists and syndicalists in previous decades. Community money is also an idea from recent history. Following the Panic of 1929, many small towns created their own local scrip. Today, during centennials or other celebrations, towns sell, and merchants redeem, tokens that are good for 50 cents or a dollar. Authors are paid 10 cents a word, plus a subscription.