Friday, January 23, 2009

Survival Barter Items - Part Two

With a weakening dollar, rising unemployment, and businesses going bankrupt and closing their doors in record numbers, barter may become a real part of your everyday life. Skill and knowledge in how to barter during an economic collapse could become a critical skill that everyone will need to survive.

In Part One of Survival Barter Items it was revealed that the best of all possible situations is to be able to barter from a superior position rather than an inferior one. Being able to get the most value possible for those items you trade is essential for your survival and the survival of your family.

Finding yourself in an inferior bargaining position is not a very good place to be. You need something and yet you may not have anything tangible to barter with that will give you the advantage. This is where intangibles assets will come into play as a valuable barter item. Your survival skills and knowledge may prove to be the winning factor. Your skills may be your biggest asset when it comes down to being able to barter successfully during an economic collapse or a breakdown of normal society. The knowledge and skills you have now could become the only truly valuable thing you could trade with if caught in an inferior bargaining position.

Learn the areas where your skills may be lacking. Know where your skills are the strongest. Learn their true value and know when and where they will be needed most. Realize that the ability to make or repair a needed item or provide a needed service may ultimately have the greatest value in a barter situation.

Staying above the water line!

Riverwalker

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi RW,
Great article! A skill can never be taken away,and is alway's a need in a crisis. You got me thinking after the last article about what we can barter with,use ourselve's,so on. One thing that kept popping up was canning supplie's. Jar's,lid's, so on. If we use them ourselve's, we can re use them as needed, or trade canning jar's for our canning service's,for a portion of they're food. If they have a garden and no way to store the item's,we'd all win. I plan to get some flux core wire for my welder,for use after the gas bottle go's empty, so I'll still be able to do some welding. Fixing all the broken stuff will be the best barter item ever! Rope,tarp's, clothesline.. Maybe nail's,screw's, nuts and bolt's will be hard to find too. I'd be willing to trade lot's of those today just to clean my garage! Yes,I'm a packrat! Maybe my wife will be wrong about all my crap someday!
Glad you got the pepper's! I need to go thru and find more for you! Got a few mild frost's the past week or so,time to pick them.
Dean

riverwalker said...

To: Dean

Thanks again for the peppers. Skills are hard to lose if you don't forget to use them once in a while.

RW

HermitJim said...

I have to agree that knowledge is a good thing and something that can't be taken away or taxed!

Learning all we can about everyting we can is a wise move!

Good post!

scoutinlife said...

I just did sone bartering and trading this past Mon scored a Rossi Matched pair 22/410 and a Mossburg Plinkster 22 for the girfriend kids for some old play station games and a 150 cash! Gotta get the future woods walkers a few preps as well so next will be a couple good fixed blade knives for them.....I priced these guns at the local Wally's saved 140 bucks buying used an in excellent condition vs New. Besides the look on there faces was worth 10 fold of what I spent..... Great Post River

The word verification was failloan! The Goverment should see that one.........

Anonymous said...

I guess I need to hone up on some skills. Other than playing guitar and running a computer business, I don;t have many. I should probably dust off my old Boy Scout handbooks (I was an Eagle Scout after all).

riverwalker said...

To: HermitJim

Being an plder guy I learned a long time ago that there are a great many things you can do if you just apply yourself to the task. Thanks.

RW

BTW, Good Luck on your upcoming move. Hope evrything goes well!

riverwalker said...

To: scoutinlife

You sure got a good deal there. Next time call me when you find a good deal like that...I could use a deal like that! You must have some ol' horsetrader in your blood!

RW

riverwalker said...

To: taw99

Brushing up on your scout skills is a good place to start. Thanks.

RW

Anonymous said...

Taw:
It really isn't a skill..it's more of a "what will I need that I can't get easy" mentality. We all don't have a semi truck to haul 500 pound's of wheat,rice,bean's, whatever. If you can can,preserve,even clean a deer,that's a skill! I'd pay to have a deer cleaned and smoked,or a boar,whatever. Maybe I'll rebuild your carburetor for cleaning my deer,canning my bean's.. need a part for your generator, I'll make it or fix it! Just keep thinking about what you can never have enough of,and get more! I'd avoid gadget's and widget's,just think of the basic stuff. A hand crank meat grinder.. A cheese shredder.. thing's we alway's overlook at the last minute. And if you have a skill that will be needed no matter what,stock up on those thing's.Welding rod's,wire,gas, drill bit's. Canning jar's and lid's. Look beyond the gun's and ammo stuff the other site's promote. Like Red Green say's.."We're all in this together".
Az Dean

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