# Bartering Items



## Auntie (Oct 4, 2014)

In the thread about precious metals people keep talking about bartering items. I know this has been discussed before, however we have new people. 

What items do you currently have that you could use for bartering other than precious metals? 
What items would you not consider using for bartering and why?


----------



## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

Pick a human vice. Acquire the thing that satiates it.
That will become more valuable than water to someone.

Alcohol
Coffee
Tobacco
Battery power banks
Toilet paper

A very strange feeling will arise in each person when they have to actually ask themselves, "Do I consume this to satisfy myself, or trade it for a necessity?"
Not really something we've had to think of when it comes to an actual currency. You can't eat your money. There's an abstraction we play with where we give money away in order to consume something in return. But in that case, the thing we trade doesn't go away. It just goes to someone else, who will turn around and trade it again.
But with alcohol, gulp gulp... and it's gone.

There are arguments against using ammunition as a trading medium. I do not hold this view. In a world in which we are bartering for survival, every single person will walk around armed. You won't be able to get away with loading up a round you received in trade, and then kill the person with whom you just traded. You'd be dead in 3 steps. The cartridge will become as easy to trade as coins are, assuming they can still be manufactured while being consumed. That's a whole different topic...
If trading full cartridges doesn't sit well with you, trade in components. Bullet tips and brass can work just as well. There will absolutely be folks out there willing to take it.

Skills will be another big trade commodity. Being service fulfilling value to your local community will ensure you always have folks to trade with.


----------



## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

Nekkid wimmen.


----------



## Folklore (Apr 6, 2021)

Auntie said:


> I know this has been discussed before, however we have new people.


There is no one-size-fits-all answer to these questions.
We need a specification of what is planned.

What kind of threats or crises are we trying to survive?
Or is it an economic crisis, gangs of marauders, natural disasters, man-made disasters?
Are you supposed to be in a combat zone?
How long do we plan to barter?
What is the exact climate zone?
Is it a city, suburb, countryside or sparsely populated area?
Who is the local population?
There are many questions.
For example, the answers will be different for the Balkans, Russia and the post-Soviet space, the Caucasus, Central Africa, Latin America and so on...
Everywhere you can find something in common, but was there a question about that?


----------



## Auntie (Oct 4, 2014)

Well I thought each person would answer for what they are prepping for, their location and the type of area they live in. For example I live in the mountains and winters get very cold. A few things I have for barter are coats, blankets and shoes. 

We all prep for what we think is most likely to happen. So let us know what your situation is and what you would barter with. Maybe we can learn from each other.


----------



## Robie (Jun 2, 2016)

After paying attention to what our society is into today, I say in all seriousness....

Cookies, any kind.
Snacks, any kind.
Carbonated beverages, any kind.
Marijuana
Opioids

If any young survive, they wouldn't know what to do with any cooking ingredients or pots and pans....flour, yeast, etc, etc...

Barter for what will get you the most in return.
Trade a bag of Doritos for a gallon of gas.


----------



## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

We live rurally. Off any main roads.
There will be no people wandering past. If there are, they will be encouraged to keep going.
With my neighbors I will "barter" knowledge, skills, and firepower if needed.

Even today, living on a dead end dirt road, our two gates fronting the road stay chained and locked shut 24/7/365 whether we are home or not.
I invite no one in for social purposes, in fact I am anti-social. So is my wife.


----------



## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Everyone in our immediate area, and that covers small parts of two states, are self sufficient types.
Especially the old timers, who were raised by those who experienced the Great Depression and then World War Two.

I first really began to notice this in the grocery stores during the Obama years. People "putting back for hard times."
Things like canning supplies. Staples like flour, sugar, salt. Canned goods by the case. Rice by the 25 pound and larger bags. My wife would make it a point to engage the women in conversation, to get an idea of the mood. Black or white, didn't make a difference about why they were buying.
I doubt if the Trump years changed anyone's habits.

As an example of our area, each of the small towns nearby only have one grocery store each - not counting Dollar Generals. That is how small the populations are, only enough to support one grocery store.
Our closest town has one stop light and two gas stations.

I fully expect my neighbors to be like us, food and supplies squared away.

Today, I do barter with several friends. When they help me, with electrical work or whatever, they always get farm fresh eggs. Most will not accept cash, but are glad for the eggs.


----------



## Folklore (Apr 6, 2021)

Well then here's the general picture with some problems (not all items in the order of importance).

In Russia and in the post-Soviet space, the danger represent economic crises, violation of logistics, coups and struggle for power, which develop into local wars.
In such a chaos, control of potentially dangerous objects weakens.
Therefore, special types of dangers and demand for special goods are possible.
The constant component of threats to life is a climate that does not allow to do without warm shoes and clothing.

Heated houses and shelters are needed.
It is necessary to know and understand how to handle underwear and clothing with a lack of detergents and warm water.
In places of cluster of people, camps temporarily displaced persons, the appearance of lice becomes the problem in the combat zone.
This requires special containers for heat treatment of underwear and outerwear.

Footwear is difficult to make and it is priceless.
High-quality and warm shoes and demi-season shoes of common sizes is always a good exchange fund.
Need shoes with lacing, high waterproof boots, footwraps (fabric strips from fleece, flannel, cotton) for high waterproof boots.
For shoes, footwraps, socks and underwear some are ready to sell the soul.

Tactical belts and unloading vests in the combat zone becomes currency on which you can exchange a lot of valuable.

We need fairly cheap water filtration, folding containers, buckets, hoses, manual pumps.

Cheap respiratory protection tools, disposable chemically resistant poncho hooded, safety glasses.

About ethanol 95% (food or medical) I have already spoke somewhere.
It is necessary as an antiseptic, for easy disinfection of suspicious water, as a fuel for an alcohol stove, as a light pain reliever with light surgical operations, well, for those who want to drink it to dilute water to taste.

The reserves of medicines that are in demand and is crammed for a long time.
Bandages, sterile gauze napkins, dressings (very much).
When a man carries a backpack and walks a lot in shoes, then skin blasting occur. Need baby powder or talc.

Razors, blades, scissors, tweezers, scalpels, syringes.

Sticky tape (very much), plastic bags of all sizes, rubber gloves (sterile and ordinary), ropes, fishing bags, construction bags, wire, plastic screeds of different sizes.

Lighters will be needed (disposable and reusable with accessories), matches and cigarettes.

Spare flasks for kerosene lamps.

Chargers, adapters, accumulators of popular sizes.

It will be necessary to high-calorie food that does not require cooking.


----------



## inceptor (Nov 19, 2012)

I don't care who you are or where you live. It's not humanly possible to cover every need. There will be a need for barter. 

One can barter skills for skills or items for items, or any combination there of. Bartering will become a way of life when things settle down. Just don't think you won't need it because you will. Something will break, you'll say damn, why didn't I remember that or why didn't I think of that. Something will come up that you never would have considered before. 

As to human addiction items like alcohol, you'll only be inviting trouble unless you brew/distill/make your own. Even then the addicts can run out of barter items and still demand what you have. I intend to avoid that one.


----------



## Histati (Mar 19, 2021)

Having some extra preps set aside for bartering is a smart thing to do. I have a collection of small liquor bottles, tobacco vape liquid, lighters, salt and sugar. I also have a garden that can produce veggies and fruit. This is my first year gardening so I’m just figuring out how to make things grow let alone have a surplus to trade.

I try to look at prepping as going back in time, right now I’m tuned into how people lived in the 20’s

The problem with bartering is that you have something I need but I don’t have something you want or vice versa. 

The idea of a local currency looks appealing. One of the problems with this is that someone prints off funny money with no value to back it up. My thought experiment is that you have a note backed up by copper and aluminum.


----------



## inceptor (Nov 19, 2012)

Histati said:


> Having some extra preps set aside for bartering is a smart thing to do. I have a collection of small liquor bottles, tobacco vape liquid, lighters, salt and sugar. I also have a garden that can produce veggies and fruit. This is my first year gardening so I’m just figuring out how to make things grow let alone have a surplus to trade.
> 
> I try to look at prepping as going back in time, right now I’m tuned into how people lived in the 20’s
> 
> ...


At some point there will be a new currency. A number of states have taken steps to create their own, JIC. 

If a person is reasonable then things can be worked out. By the time we hit that point, I'm betting most of the unreasonable will be gone.


----------



## Auntie (Oct 4, 2014)

I believe that setting up bartering now will be helpful. I currently barter with people for fruit, veggies I don't grow, services such as electrical work. I exchange my canned goods, breads I bake, honey and home made brown sugar.


----------



## Folklore (Apr 6, 2021)

You can add eternal values to the list like toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs for women.
Sometimes in pharmacies are sold ready-made cheap glasses with already inserted glasses and different diopters. 
Do I need to say that it will be very necessary for some?
Kevlar (aramid) shoelaces (different lengths) for boots.
Many replaceable neckscarfs or tissue for undercollars for hygiene and to protect the neck from scuffs with a debt wearing overalls.
You can have fabric reserves that you use and can be exchanged if necessary.
Goods who sold merchants 150-200 years ago begin to be in demand again during crises and wars.


----------



## Megamom134 (Jan 30, 2021)

I have some brand new denim pants, booze, seeds, different herbal remedies and medical knowledge.


----------



## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

Wifey says save the last bullet. Once life gets so bad that we have to barter socks just shoot me.


----------



## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

Kauboy said:


> There are arguments against using ammunition as a trading medium. I do not hold this view. In a world in which we are bartering for survival, every single person will walk around armed.


My Thoughts also. 

if somebody has x and I need it.. i will gladly give them an amount of ammo that i think is fair for it

chances are great that a drunk would try to steal from you before a person getting ammo.


----------



## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

I take a different tact. I have purchased ammo and stored it specifically for barter. It's all common calibers, _but not anything I shoot._


----------



## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

Back Pack Hack said:


> I take a different tact. I have purchased ammo and stored it specifically for barter. It's all common calibers, _but not anything I shoot._


We don't often get along, so I want to preface this question by stating I hold no pre-text concerning your statement.
This isn't a trick. I come with honest curiosity. I have a suspicion that your reasoning is something I've never considered.

Why do you choose bartering ammo which you cannot shoot?


----------



## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

Kauboy said:


> .....Why do you choose bartering ammo which you cannot shoot?


It has no other purpose for me. I don't own anything that shoots those calibers. So it's not like I'm loosing any ability to take game, defend something/someone etc.

Every once in a while (at least up until 2020), I'd see a good deal on some caliber I don't use, but it's too good of a deal. Like 380. I don't have anything chambered in 380, but it's a common size. So I spent the money solely to use it as barter. This way, I'm not using MY ammo for barter.

Some might say I could barter something for a boomstick that _would_ take those calibers. But I'm sufficiently armed that after SHTF, I don't see myself acquiring any more toys. The only way I foresee myself adding to my collection is taking them off the bodies.


----------



## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

*Pick a human vice. Acquire the thing that satiates it.*

I agree with *Kauboy*. A seventeen year old folder, criminally shipped from Sicily and missing one security rivet might be the exact missing element to one of our member's collection. Who knows. Heck, there might even be a "rivet collector" in this forum!

BTW, *Kauboy*, I'm still selling knives, granted, not like the old days. The art of "the sale" is probably part of the hobby, and the thrill over the money might be measured in nickels and dimes. Sometimes the thrill of a missing "hobby component" might seem like gold bullion to a fan-boy checking out every sales booth.

For example, I discovered a real "find" by accident three days ago. I do not like stamps and letter on knives. If you have to print "automatic knife" on the walnut grips you put on your product, well, perhaps you should find a smarter clientele. 

I stumbled onto an A.G. Russell folder, (*flawless stainless and white ivory grips*) and the only nomenclature on the entire folder was Russell's stamp on the ricasso--not a shred of phony advertising or a single letter stamp of any kind!. You might even miss that ricasso on the knife being only folded half-way open to see.

Friends usually show off their knives. Even these diehards are going to flip the folder right and left trying to find the cutlers' mark...


----------



## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

Great reading. Written by those who have been there and done that.









SHTF: Survival Tips and Stories from Bosnian War Survivors


Read real-life survival stories and tips from people who survived the Bosnian War and Siege of Sarajevo.




www.primalsurvivor.net













One Year In Hell…Surviving a Full SHTF Collapse in Bosnia






www.silverdoctors.com


----------



## Elvis (Jun 22, 2018)

Bought 200 BIC lighters years ago at a great price which I could use for barter but generally I'd prefer to trade with renewable items such as honey and mead from my hives and my extensive knowledge on how to make electricity using wind, hydro, and solar along with other useful skills. 
Because of where and how we live we may also produce excess food such as corn, eggs, and meat. But the neighbors also may produce excess food so maybe not the best trade items around here.


----------



## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

Couldnt read all this thread but Toronto Girl convinced me Vodka ..cigarettes and toliet paper were highly prized trading materials when the USSR imploded. Maybe also work for when Creepy Joe implodes the economy. All i have is enough tobacco and tubes to last quite a while making cigarettes..just for me. She said gold was close to worthless.


----------



## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

*I have some brand new denim pants.*

My assumption is that you have all kinds of "evidence" in your old jeans that might appeal to local constables. Well, I hate to admit this, but I do something similar.

A few days ago I bought a stainless folder with no nomenclature on the knife proper, just "A.G. Russell" on the ricasso. Between the white bone handle and the flawless stainless steel, I could wipe down this bad-boy in a speeding car while being chased. Yikes, even the edge was nondescript from tip to choil.

Ya' know, come to think of this, it's too bad we often have to smuggle our hobbies from county to county, or in some cases from country to country. To that, my wife just made me a perfect cup of coffee. I took one sip and realized that this brew was never grown in the USA.


----------



## Folklore (Apr 6, 2021)

bigwheel said:


> Toronto Girl convinced me Vodka ..cigarettes and toliet paper were highly prized trading materials when the USSR imploded


She said true.


bigwheel said:


> She said gold was close to worthless.


It's just that it is difficult to work with gold when bartering. 
Before the crisis, you pay a lot for gold. After the onset of the crisis, it will be taken from you much cheaper.
It is difficult to verify the authenticity of gold items at flea markets, and it is easy to be deceived by fraudsters.
Gold will not be superfluous, but you need to know how to work with it.
For me personally, a set of tools made of quality steel is more valuable than a gold bar.


----------



## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

The Tourist said:


> *I have some brand new denim pants.*
> 
> My assumption is that you have all kinds of "evidence" in your old jeans that might appeal to local constables. Well, I hate to admit this, but I do something similar.
> 
> ...


You tend to find every opportunity to take tangents in just about every thread you respond to.
Try to stick to the topics. This one concerns items sought after for bartering after a collapse.
For instance, I can imagine your sharpening skills would become quite handy for the local community when their various implements become dull.

Also, if you want to reply to someone, and they receive a notification about it, highlight the sentence you want to reply to in their post and click "Reply" in the little menu that appears under it.


----------



## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

Folklore said:


> She said true.
> 
> It's just that it is difficult to work with gold when bartering.
> Before the crisis, you pay a lot for gold. After the onset of the crisis, it will be taken from you much cheaper.
> ...


Gold used to be the trading currency when it was easy to determine real from fake. With modern technology and understanding, it's not so.
That confines gold to being something used for wealth holding, which will carry its value between times of excess, but not during times of struggle.

What do I mean by this?
If you have an ounce of gold today, it is worth $1,850.66. (I just checked)
That ounce of gold is only worth that much because others think it is worth that much.
During a crisis, others won't think it is worth very much while they're struggling to just feed their families. How would one even "make change" from such a valuable item? Are we going to carry shavings of the stuff? Not likely.
So, gold will be relegated to vaults and hidden caches until such a time when people are better off and a means of large wealth transfer is required again.
Converting your assets into gold before a crisis is wise, assuming you expect the crisis to eventually end. It won't be worth much of anything during the crisis, but it is a reasonably durable and stable material that will keep well for a very long time, and then again be valuable in the future.
It allows you to transfer your wealth from one time of plenty to the next. It's why you often see gold surge when the stock market tanks. Same principle. Dump liquidity for real metal while the liquid markets are falling. Convert back after stability has returned.

Gold will be a poor bartering item wherever bellies are empty.


----------



## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

I got a shock after hearing something from a client. He opined that "knife sharpeners" will be making some 'big money.' He claimed that jacketed bullets and commercial gunpowder will be "wasted" during that first year. The idea here is that not everyone who owns a gun knows how to reload with one. Yikes, I was casting bullets years ago--and I swear my buddies could 'smell' freshly made bullets, claiming they just wanted "maybe a handful."


----------



## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

*Gold will be a poor bartering item wherever bellies are empty.*

_Yes, I believe this will happen. But I also believe that marauders will be making knives out of any strip of metal they can find.

For me, the worst cases will be husbands who will steal or rob anyone with food so these men can feed their families. We cannot take them all in for every meal, and that's the sorrow we will feel as we dine and they do not..._


----------

