Posted on 03/20/2014 7:03:59 PM PDT by Kartographer
This article is about identifying, stocking, and using the post collapse equivalent of a pocket full of dollar bills. It should be enough that if someone is trading eggs or socks you can buy a pair without having to run back to the house, but not so much that if someone robs you at gunpoint, you've lost a major part of your savings. That's barter.
I define trading being qualitatively different, because it involves much higher-value items. Trading involves some psychology on both sides, similar to buying a car or a house, as opposed to daily shopping. Also, it is less likely you will know the other person or people involved. Trading is the subject of another article, because you don't want to have a reputation for doing it (or, more precisely, doing it for a living). Professional traders have always been distrusted, even by those they know. House flippers, car salesmen, and traditional horse dealers are good examples. However, if you continually trade goods (services are different and safer, because the buyer has a stake in keeping you alive and happy), you'll also have to deal with people you don't know. This is a temptation for the opportunists among them to follow you home. You might drive them off with gunfire, maybe wound a few, but the rest will still be out there, and you and yours have to leave the house eventually.
(Excerpt) Read more at survivalblog.com ...
Preppers’ PING!!
I’m not saying nothing, but I suggest that you put on your flame suit!!
Copper in pocket sized amounts, could be a coin, could be bullion, safer to have a pound of copper than an ounce of silver. Even if you buy a foot of solid copper bar and slice off your own rounds, they can function as barter tools.
If a total reset is in store then I don’t think barter will be an issue for a while. Just surviving while the locusts swarm out of their holes will be difficult enough.
AFTER the swarm has burned itself out barter may become relevant. Until then, self defense and keeping a low profile are the order of the day.
(Let’s hope it isn’t a total reset.)
I won’t need anything from anyone and I’m not bartering which I think is dangerous as hell. I have gobs of bartering items bought for that but they are useful items to me, too, so I’ll keep them until I see a safe use for them.
Why would I prepare and leave out something thinking I could barter to get it? That makes no sense.
People who would want to barter right off the bat, are not prepared, they need stuff, and they would be dangerous to be around. No, I’m staying scarce and not being seen. After all, I’m just an old lady who is afraid to leave her house and she couldn’t have anything anyone wanted anyway.
I recall a freeper a while ago mentioning whiskey as a barter item. It does have a long shelf life.
Listerine ?
The main thing is that it be of recognized valuable in and of itself, convenient to transport, and relatively cheap per unit so they're easy to trade other things for. There was always a set market for those things. The ruble was worthless, and dollars were scarce and generally illegal at least in theory. But those things always had a going market in both currencies. The speculator was the guy who knew all the day's prices.
I'd say that the best bet for tradable goods in the event we have a SHTF even is standard ammunition (I like Remington .22 lr because everybody has a .22 gun so demand will always be high and it will be pretty cheap per unit - it would become the next dollar - so everybody would accept it as currency). 9 mm is probably next best, because it's become the gun of choice for self defense. 30-06 is a standard hunting round and there are tons of 30-06 rifles out there, so that would be good, too. I would think that things like laundry detergent in standard sizes - like the $20 bottle of Tide at Walmart - and Pampers diapers, etc.
I have to say that I just can't see the kind of scenario many preppers envision. When the USSR fell apart, it wasn't like there wasn't anything at all to eat or drink. It's just that the ruble was worthless and nobody wanted it. The wheels kept turning, and there were all sorts of dislocations, but people always figured it out.
I think that if we have another 2008-type financial meltdown but maybe bigger we'll have bad dislocations, nobody will want the dollar, and so forth, but you'll still be able to buy stuff it's just that they'll only take ammo or something like that in exchange.
Whiskey would be good. I would think that getting several cases of those little hotel-room sized bottles of a widely recognized and desirable brand of any alcoholic beverage would be a great way to go. Say, 1,000 little bottles of Smirnov or Stolichnaya vodka. That would be perfect. It will last for years, is of standard intrinsic value, easily concealed, easily transported, always in demand. I would say don’t get the big bottles like five gallons of Kirkland vodka at Costco - too hard to trade. Far better to have in that situation 100 dollar bills than a single Ben Franklin. Get a whole bunch of the little ones instead. They’ll be as good as gold.
Good subject to discuss.
In a SHTF scenario certain items will be universally in demand.
Food, fuel, ammo, eventually even shoes, socks, etc.
But anytime we barter something it gives the other person information about our own supply status.
That’s something to consider.
And while it’s a no brainer to barter a can of beans with just about anyone, bartering ammo to people not well known can present problems if they turn around and use it against you.
Develop skills or know someone who has them.
Know what has value.
Never stop prepping.
During my downrange time overseas, we had no problems with ammunition. Burned through a few magazines? No worries, First Sergeant will be by shortly with the LOGPAC, and you can reload. What, Top ain't coming yet? No problem you can cross-level with Smitty.
But now this is SHTF. This is TEOTWAWKI. This is "Survivor: Ruby Ridge". There's no First Sergeant, no LOGPAC, and the neighbor next to you would just as soon shoot you and take all your ammo (and your daughters) for his later use.
Oh, you want to trade "ballistic wampum"? Sure, no problem! Hey guys, see what that doofus just traded us? What else does he got?
And at 0300, you have your former trading partner, and his boyfriends, storming your house, taking your stash of supplies (and your daughters), and laughing at you as you bleed out on the carpet.
The bullet you trade in the morning will be shot back at you in the night.
Never, EVER, barter your ammo.
I think that if the SHTF, the only way to survive will be to shoot anyone you see.
I think of “prepping” only in terms of prepping for those at my house AND my family living away from here....if I have extra tin foil or plastic wrap or extra canned veggies or aspirin, or spam or toliet paper, I’m sure it’ll go to good use within just my extended family..
interesting post thanks
OPSEC uber alles...
If someone’s passing by and all they see is a trashy abandoned-looking place that looks like it’s been picked over, they shrug and move on.
That’s where Marcella’s “Gray Woman” tactic comes in - right, darlin’?
Ive got bit coin....should be ok ....right?
:)
Couple points.
.22 ammo stored for a couple years can have a high fizzle factor.
Laundry detergent. I no longer use laundry detergent or bleach. I recently bought ($300) a Pure Wash. It’s an ozone generator that injects ozone into your cold water and cleans and disinfects your laundry. No detergent, no bleach, no hot water. Local dairy farmers have found they can hook it up to a hose and have a disinfecting wash down.
Which means it is a water disinfectant. 12 volt operation off of a plug in power converter.
Trade is what makes countries wealthy and is what will keep civilization going.
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