Idea for a flyer:
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WAITING TO PAY
Have you ever wondered how many hours
are wasted each year in the UK by people
waiting to pay for something?
Whenever you queue, at the checkout, for
a train or cinema ticket, when you're waiting
to be served in a shop, the reason you are
waiting is because a payment is required.
Imagine, now, that all of this wasted time could be put
to good use. What if you could deduct it from the time
you need to spend at work? What if your job was no
longer needed at all and you didn't have to work?
To learn more visit:
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Give it to people in queues.
Enjoy.
I think this is a brilliant way to get things started in places where there doesnt seem to be interest. We need more ideas like these. Obviously, writting on banknotes 'zeitgeistmovie.com' is another instant form of activism. We need more ways of getting involved and out there really!
cheers Jay
The idea came while I was waiting at the checkout in the supermarket, it was VERY busy and I was looking at all the people waiting compliantly - I felt like walking out and handing £50 to the security guard on the way out, but I didn't have the balls, heh. (Actually the shopping came to £57 so I misjudged that slightly too).
The general concept is to target people with something that is relevant to their situation RIGHT NOW - so as you go about your daily life, pick up on anything that annoys people and think of a way to use that state of mind to get them thinking about what causes the problem and how we might fix it.
Other ideas...
Problem: Looking for a car-parking space, stuck in a traffic jam, navigating past parked cars on a suburban street - why do we have a car each?
Problem: Waiting for a train or bus - why don't we have personalised public transport that takes us directly to our destination at the time we want to go?
Problem: Overcrowded town centres on Friday and Saturday evenings and on Saturdays during the day - why do we all mostly work on the same days and have the same days off?
Problem: More expensive and more crowded air-travel during school holidays - why is education timeboxed this way?
If anyone feels like writing up some copy for flyers to target people in these situations, please feel free - also a safe and practical way to distribute the information at a relevant time.
Someone the other day here or another Z site suggested an idea to reduce queues at supermarkets, that is instead of having to take the stuff out of your trolly, scan it and then put it back in, is to scan it the first time as you go around the store.
This could either be done on a self service approach, or you could have a member of staff who instead of sitting at the till all day, could go around with you and a hand scanner.
Then at the checkout, it would be much faster just to pay..
> why do we have a car each?
A good question..
> why don't we have personalised public transport that takes us directly to our destination at
> the time we want to go?
Another good question, somewhat answered here:
http://www.taxibus.org.uk
Its an idea I'm going to try myself with my solar vehicles, by also using them to create a low cost taxi service.
These are solutions we can put into practice today, we don't need fliers to tell people we might have a solution in the future and one day someone might do something.
This someone already exists!
Now, if anyone wants to lend a hand...
Hey Nanos, I think I have failed to express the purpose of this. It is not to tell people about solutions to problems, it is to get them thinking about the cause of these problems in the moment that they are experiencing it, and use that connection to get them interested in learning more about TZM so that hopefully they will take the time to watch the movies and learn more.
Asking around, I see various supermarkets are either doing this, or have tested it out:
http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/offline-shopping-misc/waitrose/1419160/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/jul/14/should-we...
I particularly liked this comment:
> Waitrose is a worker-owned co-operative. There is literally nothing less middle class, bourgeois
> and smug than that. Not only should we all shop at Waitrose, the whole of society should be
> organised in the same way.