Unique Trade Goods

[backandbeyond]

I think it might be time to look at this topic again, and perhaps try and move past all the echo chamber thinking about .22 cartridges, silver coins and seeds. While these fill a genuine future need I am thinking that we could add a few other items to the list. What are your thoughts?

I'll kick it off with the humble automatic wrist watch. These devices were hard won technology, literally hundreds of years in the making and final perfecting. And while out of favor now compared to mobile phones, digital clocks in cars and electronic wrist watches, they are bulletproof, that is to say, EMP proof, shock proof, and in many cases water-proof to hundreds of meters.

Certainly they will not be the items of everyday trade in a disorganized and dark future, but they would none the less be in demand as timepieces and could easily be traded In the right circumstances. We take timekeeping for granted today, there are clocks in every electronic device, but many of these have inherently short lifespans, and as mentioned above, will not survive many of the events we plan for.

Some people might think that maintenance would be an issue but in reality they rarely if ever need it. The maintenance performed on such watches today is generally bologna maintenance conducted by watch sellers to maintain profits. It involves adjustments to keep them within an accuracy of a couple of seconds a month, hardly an issue when all you want to do is have a rough idea what hour of the night or day it is.

 

[Amish Heart]

I started a thread on bartering months ago. It got going pretty well till Helen Back wrecked it.

 

[Oddcaliber]

Any functional time piece is of value. Clocks though not as portable as a watch still keep time. I find a lot of those Big Ben alarm clocks at flea markets yard sales and the like.

 

[Proud Prepper]

Non electric Hand tools

 

[Illini Warrior]

#1 thought in regard to bartering >>> Are you totally prepped yourself?

if not - don't even think about spending any of your resources of time & $$$ on trade/barter >>> doesn't make any sense - there's no way your barter goods will trade equal to the prepping you never bothered to finish out - and that is assuming you'll be able to even find that kind of prime prepper type goods ...

then comes the question of who you'd be trading with and for what >>> you're a well prepped prepared household - trading with the sheeple with little of any SHTF needed goods?? - every trade exposing yourself to potential problem people???

very true there'll be something you'll be finding need for or possible need to replace something - maybe a tech service best done by a pro like a doctor >>>Think the trade goods you are proposing will be buying uber prime goods/service in a SHTF marketplace? - I'd advise expanding areas of your stockpile to include a margin for those situations ....

 

[GaRp58]

I think Illini is on the right track. If you have enough to "barter" with, you probably have "too" much in some peoples eyes... Gray man, clothe dirty, walk slow, ask for food, hide your stuff and deny everything...
If someone is around and trying to barter, is that not just like someone testing your prepardness and checking your perimeter? Just trying to get a foot in the door to get a look around and see if you have enough people or guns to be worth the attack and the risk of being caught with your pants down...JMO: Gary

 

[Amish Heart]

It's all about production. What do you personally produce too much of that you can barter? I wouldn't buy a barter item. Barter with only people you know in your community that have too much of something they produce. I produce too many chicks, eggs, tomatoes, squash, and vegetable plant starts. I barter for wheat bread, sweet corn, and raw milk. That was last week. And barter for tractor work since I don't have one.

 

[MNwr786]

I think it might be time to look at this topic again, and perhaps try and move past all the echo chamber thinking about .22 cartridges, silver coins and seeds. While these fill a genuine future need I am thinking that we could add a few other items to the list. What are your thoughts?

I'll kick it off with the humble automatic wrist watch. These devices were hard won technology, literally hundreds of years in the making and final perfecting. And while out of favor now compared to mobile phones, digital clocks in cars and electronic wrist watches, they are bulletproof, that is to say, EMP proof, shock proof, and in many cases water-proof to hundreds of meters.

Certainly they will not be the items of everyday trade in a disorganized and dark future, but they would none the less be in demand as timepieces and could easily be traded In the right circumstances. We take timekeeping for granted today, there are clocks in every electronic device, but many of these have inherently short lifespans, and as mentioned above, will not survive many of the events we plan for.

Some people might think that maintenance would be an issue but in reality they rarely if ever need it. The maintenance performed on such watches today is generally bologna maintenance conducted by watch sellers to maintain profits. It involves adjustments to keep them within an accuracy of a couple of seconds a month, hardly an issue when all you want to do is have a rough idea what hour of the night or day it is.

Quarts crystal wrist watches are more reliable than phones for sure. Since the body is always at a constant temperature, a watch on the wrist is 5x more stable than the same watch sitting on the table. A phone, getting hot and cold, depends solely on the internet to keep accurate time. My old phone, which has had no service for a while, has been powered on but offline for 3 days and is off by 4 minutes already. Luckily, as long as the world doesn't totally collapse, we will have WWV (Colorado) and WWVH (Hawaii) on 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25MHz. They also transmit other information at specific times (see wiki) like marine storms, national defense messages (if they exist), propagation conditions and solar activity.

Found an interesting article on watch stability, the author compares 4 watches. (PDF) The Accuracy and Stability of Quartz Watches

As for a rough idea, sun and stars, although I wouldn't mind getting an astrolabe, then I have a calendar too.

 

[Helen Back]

Two words. Duct Tape. Lots of it.

 

[Helen Back]

I started a thread on bartering months ago. It got going pretty well till Helen Back wrecked it.

Where is your awesome thread about bartering that I wrecked?

 

[backandbeyond]

If someone is around and trying to barter, is that not just like someone testing your prepardness and checking your perimeter?

Well that's a pretty paranoid statement. But I like paranoid, and I certainly think that could be the case, but I wouldn't trade with someone at the door. Hell I wouldn't even OPEN the door to a stranger, I don't now unless I have some sense of what they want. I know a lot of preppers discard the idea of trading, but that doesn't mean they wont be at some future point does it? I can think of a dozen things I might need to trade for, dental work being top of the list typically lol. But trade is generally conducted at markets and in troubled times they spring up like weeds.

If I was to say I kept 5000 rounds of pistol ammo no one here would bat an eye, but what that really implies is that I expect to have to kill 2500 people, allowing for misses. Now that's ridiculous of course but many will buy the ammo regardless, probably for comforting psychological reasons more than anything. I feel the same way about trade stuff. I may never trade it but it will be here if I need to. As to how and when, well that would vary greatly depending on your circumstances wouldn't it.

 

[backandbeyond]

Non electric Hand tools

Definitely! And perhaps some nails and SS screws etc?

 

[lonewolf]

there wont be enough survivors over here to trade with and those that are left will be well spread out.
instead of taking up valuable space storing goods to trade for something you need why not store that item yourself.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I dont keep anything just for barter. But I do buy excess of most everything I need. Example, if I need 1 screw or nail for a project I buy a whole box or case.
Recently I traded a beef for our firewood. I'm sure we'd be be doing more trades after SHTF.

 

[lonewolf]

sorry, I dont think trading will be safe or even possible post SHTF, not for many decades down the line.
anyone who thinks that is how to survive is in for one big shock, at least over here they will.

 

[BillMasen]

Booze, we are making Gin , air rifle pellets in 177 /22/25 /30 cals, 38 cal steel balls for slingshots, arrow making gear, fishing nets, fishing line, weights and hooks, charcoal , magifying lenses, salt, tyre plugs and tube patches, heritage seeds. Needles and thread, surgical thread, dental repair kits, Bowstring line, knife sharpening gear, honey, wax discs for sealing preserve jars, reference books, etc.

 

[DrHenley]

sorry, I dont think trading will be safe or even possible post SHTF, not for many decades down the line.

Human history disagrees with you. It is terribly inefficient for everyone to be self sufficient in everything. There will be divisions in labor and trade is how the product of various people's labor get distributed.

 

[lonewolf]

Human history disagrees with you. It is terribly inefficient for everyone to be self sufficient in everything. There will be divisions in labor and trade is how the product of various people's labor get distributed.

that depends on the survival rate, if the survival rate is low there wont be the numbers or the skills to divide the labour.
I'm not assuming there will be anyone else left in this low population area, like I said any survivors are likely to be well spread out even in a country like Britain.

 

[Illini Warrior]

It's all about production. What do you personally produce too much of that you can barter? I wouldn't buy a barter item. Barter with only people you know in your community that have too much of something they produce. I produce too many chicks, eggs, tomatoes, squash, and vegetable plant starts. I barter for wheat bread, sweet corn, and raw milk. That was last week. And barter for tractor work since I don't have one.

one aspect of bartering I could conceivably see working would be a co-op of locals with each having something to offer up regular - have a well armed group of middlemen handling the bartering - the bee guy trading with the egg guy - the town mechanic chipping in with repairs & builds - The Doc doing his thing - ect ect

what I don't see working is BarterTown - try to have a parking lot flea market affair and if the violence didn't break out there - the tradesman would get followed home or ambushed heading home ....

anything involved with this kind of action is going to involve relationships - how well you are integrated into the community will make the difference - the depth of those relationships and above all how the people that matter perceive you .....

 

[DrHenley]

that depends on the survival rate, if the survival rate is low there wont be the numbers or the skills to divide the labour.
I'm not assuming there will be anyone else left in this low population area, like I said any survivors are likely to be well spread out even in a country like Britain.

But bigpaul, most people aren't that stupid, they know they can't do everything by themselves. It's the ones who are stupid enough to think they can that will perish first.

 

[lonewolf]

depends if there is any community left post SHTF to integrate with, maybe okay if you live in a farming/ranching community in the US, but in Britain not many of the community are employed in agriculture or have those sorts of skills.

 

[lonewolf]

But bigpaul, most people aren't that stupid, they know they can't do everything by themselves. It's the ones who are stupid enough to think they can that will perish first.

is that aimed at me?? because I am not going to rely on anyone else who knows less than I do and who probably wont survive anyway.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Farming, ranching and growing and raising your own food can be very fragile. Example, this spring we had a cold snap with snow in May. It wiped out most of the blossoms on our fruit trees and we'll get very little fruit. The wasps wiped out most of our berry crop this year. A couple years ago the yellow jackets killed 2 of our bee hives. This year we have no grass for the cattle. After SHTF trading will become very important, actually it will be critical for survival.

 

[lonewolf]

Farming, ranching and growing and raising your own food can be very fragile. Example, this spring we had a cold snap with snow in May. It wiped out most of the blossoms on our fruit trees and we'll get very little fruit. The wasps wiped out most of our berry crop this year. A couple years ago the yellow jackets killed 2 of our bee hives. This year we have no grass for the cattle. After SHTF trading will become very important, actually it will be critical for survival.

like I said before, good reason to live in a mild climate, moderation in everything.
my lifestyle post SHTF will be similar to the one I had when I lived off grid, thats why I know it is possible to live this way, I will NOT rely on other people for my survival especially in a post SHTF world without ROL.
other people are neither reliable or trustworthy and most do not have the basic skills to enable them to survive this way and it will be too late to learn them.
I am a realist and I know people are no good, the bad ones outnumber the good ones especially after a major catastrophe and given sod's/murphy's law I know which ones I'd end up with if I tried (so I wont).

 

[DrHenley]

is that aimed at me?? because I am not going to rely on anyone else who knows less than I do and who probably wont survive anyway.

Let me rephrase that...
The people who don't know anything about what it takes to survive, but are stupid enough to think they can do everything for themselves will be the first to perish.
There, that is not aimed in your direction now because I assume you know what it takes.

 

[GaRp58]

Ignorance can kill just as easily as disease or a bullet.
Recognise that bigpaul? No matter how much you know, how much you prep, how much you are self-dependent...there is always the unknown factor which fulfills Murphys Law and we know that this is the factor of ignorance in only one little thing....be it water purification, food preparation, medicine, building or just going for a walk with the wrong shoes or clothing and getting surprised by a bad storm...not ignorance (lack of intelligence) but ignorance (lack of being able to see the future of things) and being kicked in the butt by Mr. Murphy himself...

 

[Mountain trapper]

Nobody is capable of having everything necessary for life after SHTF. Eventually trade will become necessary for long term survival. I'm talking about after our personal stores run low in 3, 5, 10 years after SHTF. Most everyone here can get by just fine for a year or two, but not for long term. Eventually shoes wear out, socks and clothing will rot away tools wear out or break, a couple years of bad crops and seeds will run low, hygiene products and medicines run out or go bad. The list is endless. No question about it, trade will be vital.

 

[GaRp58]

Ditto, PERIOD!! The wanna-be survivalists will really be able to test their skills on surviving the cold/hot, water search, scavaging for food and fighting the wild animals without ammo only a spear or blow-gun...make a pair of moccasins or a pair of breaches from doe-skin...yeah, impress me...make a lasso from some stinging nettles and a David sling from your belt. Our worst nightmares will become reality if the S does not HTF...only the electricity goes out for half a year...lots will go absolutely ape-**** crazy without their beloved internet and Farcebook or Twitcher crap...I'm with bigpaul on the off-grid thing. I get up with the sun and go to bed with it too sometimes. Don't need my candles, batteries, petroleum lamps and solar lighting except in winter maybe.

 

[Dracos]

The only thing I will really need to barter, if you can call it that, is mates for my grandchildren. If people are few and far between my grandkids are going to have to make choices. They need to have as many choices as possible. So as not to have inbreeding.
.

 

[Dracos]

Farming, ranching and growing and raising your own food can be very fragile. Example, this spring we had a cold snap with snow in May. It wiped out most of the blossoms on our fruit trees and we'll get very little fruit. The wasps wiped out most of our berry crop this year. A couple years ago the yellow jackets killed 2 of our bee hives. This year we have no grass for the cattle. After SHTF trading will become very important, actually it will be critical for survival.

I hate yellow jackets about the same as I hate grasshoppers.