BARTER AND INFLATION 2
A loyal minion had suggested stockpiling a shed full of bike parts as
an investment ( really, you should be madly putting all paper type money into
something tangible, just beware of buying more guns. Not the best investment past the needed
minimum, but that is the subject for another article ), and that isn’t a stupid
idea. The problem is that all the junk
bikes you encounter are multiple speed mountain bikes. I still think single speed beach cruisers in
26 inch are the best bet, even though the used market is sparse. Simplicity is best. Be that as it may, whichever way you go learn
the mechanics now. If you don’t, you
really don’t know which parts are needed or in what proportion. Next up is grain, and you can’t have enough. Seriously, I wouldn’t see why you couldn’t
have ten years of wheat for yourself, then start adding to that for
barter. You think nothing of spending
$1500 on an AR and 9mm pistol with all the mags ( ammo extra ), and that is
what two tons of grain and buckets will cost you. Grain is THE best investment of the Oil Age,
bar none. Six hundred years ago, a city
dwelling merchant or craftsmen could spend 50-70% of their wages on food, about
the proportion we spend on rent today.
Today, you spend fifty cents on three thousand calories of wheat for a
days food and at minimum wage ( less than what a merchant or craftsman made )
you’ve spent far less than 1%!!! ( okay, apples to oranges. Yet, even making half those calories meat, it
is still only 2 ½% ).
*
Next up is coffee. Comparing the
cost in the store to the growing, transporting and the metal or plastic can
value and even $7 for two pounds is an insane bargain. You can’t invest in enough coffee. Cigarette smokers will Jones hard for their
fix, but far fewer smoke than drink coffee ( do not invest in cigs past your
own use. With taxes today the cost is
silly stupid and artificial. With one
cigarette a day, just to stockpile a two and a half year supply set me back
over $200 ) so coffee WILL be in demand.
Parking your spare cash there today will be a great return ( plastic or
metal can, NOT waxed cardboard, for longevity ). Modern building materials have been hawked by
the loyal minions, and rightfully so, but one has to wonder how much will be
able to be salvaged. Will all the glass
be broke, or enough left to saturate the market? Will insulation all be moldy from lack of
maintenance, or will there be more available than we can use for quite
awhile? Modern nails are made from crap
metal, but there sure will be a lot out there waiting for us ( remember, you
will see a LOT less people around if you survive ). But with my three choices, you won’t see
competition, per se. Too few adults
bike, no one stockpiles grain, not even survivalists [ J ], and coffee is a just in time item, with at home
supplies usually only an open can.
END
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* By the by, all my writing is copyrighted. For the obtuse out there
excessive stockpiling of guns is kind of silly, but gun PARTS on the other hand.. springs, extractors, guide rods, pins, screws.. all the little parts that break and make a weapon useless... you can buy screw kits, spring kits, pin kits, etc for fairly reasonable prices... and when someone has their only handgun stop working for something as silly as a 10 cent (today) spring... it will be worth a lot more to get it running again.
ReplyDeleteIt is a great idea, but I think you under estimate the logistics nightmare. Aren't we talking THOUSANDS of items? I can see doing this for the AR, but that is about it.
DeleteA Glock has only around 36 different parts.
DeleteVery easy to store extra parts.
Idaho Homesteader
Are the different models interchangeable, or do you have 36 diff. parts for 40, 9mm, etc? I don't know, but if half the parts are unigue, then you multiple that by just ten diff. pistols, ten diff. rifles, how quick does it add up? Your own use, great. Barter, not so much
DeleteAR, but only the most-standard version. When a weapon is made of good parts that fit right (assembled correctly), everything should wear-out together. Feed good ammo from good magazines, and AR is a good rifle for a really-long-time without pallets of ammo from Uncle Sam's Helicopter Supply Service (you buy yer own ammo, or get it on your own, and learn to aim).
DeleteStandardized top-grade pistols that millions have been made for decades, like Glock 17, Beretta M9 (92-series), M1911, could be researched for wear and fail parts. Good new-ish ones I've handled work great for long time. Worn magazines and bad ammo are issues.
I would just keep a spares kit for rifles I own, and pistols I own, and try to keep that number of types few. Boltie, AR, 500 or 870 shotgun, and pistol. Do I have to carry them? Delete shotgun. Do I have to pay for ammo? Add air rifle.
pdxr13
There are many items you could stock for barter. A lot of lists out there are BS but I have a few ideas.
ReplyDeletePints of booze. I can get rum, vodka, whatever cheap by the case. About $3.50 a bottle. That's a discount from a friend. No need to elaborate on the value of a sealed bottle of booze post collapse.
Bicycles and parts have a lot of potential.
Guns to a certain extent but more so ammo. Yes, I know, risky to trade but at a market or a trusted person, much less risky. Less for guns because it wont take long for all the survivors to acquire a firearm but they will still need to feed it.
It may have been mentioned here before but rechargeable batteries and a way to charge them. Think flash lights and portable radios. People will be desperate to power them.
The list is endless. Fish antibiotics, fire makers like lighters and matches, even candy to give kids to make points before you trade with parents.
I'm with you on the wheat. Only have a few hundred pounds put up but have a fair amount of other long term food.
I made a score yesterday. Was given two sorry excuses for bug out bags but got two nice packs, several knives and Gerber type multi tools, 3 pairs of binoculars, first aid kits, and some other odds and ends.
Love the hair.
I like your list, but I knew I needed to par it down drastically or I'd never finish the article. I was trying for near non-substitute items.
DeleteWhen storing coffee for barter consider single pot servings like used in offices. A few of the single cup tea bags of tea and coffee would be good barter items to. Cans and bags for larger trades. And don't forget a free cup could smooth a deal at low cost . I have an advantage having friends at the company that roasters Dunkin ,Waffle house, and private label brands.
ReplyDeleteIf any one feels the need to stock cigarettes bulk tobacco is 15.00 a lb. and 4 cartons of tubes is 9.00 once you have a rolling machine for 45.00 you can make a pack for 80 cents.
ReplyDeleteHey Bison!
ReplyDeleteAnother great article... ho-hum. Regarding coffee. I keep enough ground Colombian in 3lb tins for 2 years. About as long as it keeps according to "use by" dates. Of course it keeps longer but I like coffee relatively fresh, at least before the apocalypse. It is what I drink routinely anyway and I rotate so it is always less than 2 years old. Beyond my two years of ground coffee, I have another 3 years in freeze dried coffee. The stuff will last over 25 years, so I don't bother dipping into it. Unlike freeze dried "survival food", freeze dried coffee is common, available in grocery stores, and often as cheap as plain old ground coffee. BTW - Coffee can be a great inflation investment. I'm always drinking coffee that was purchased for less than it costs in the store today. It gives me one more thing to feel smug about.
Freeze dried tastes like ass fungus, but it sure beats no coffee.
DeleteKroger has been stocking some glass-jarred instant that is 20oz (same size as national brands) and is ~$2.50 jar PSSSST! brand.
DeleteIt's made in Germany, which is where the best chemical processes come from. It's better than Nestle instant coffee packets in MRE's.
Agree with previous posters that single-serve foil-pack is highly desirable by most people. Folks trust the factory seal, so far.
I just bought the last of my local coin dealer stock of 90% US silver (junk) coins. Yesterday, I bought the last dimes. Came back and bought the last in quarters for a couple hunnert bucks total. In March 2015, he had at least 20 M2 ammo cans full and was selling at a 13.5x face value (today, 14.7x). That's a lot of silver for a local dealer to burn through. No used gold available, but plenty of new AGE (1oz at +5% over spot) and Canadian Maple Leafs (+4% over spot for 1oz). I want scuffed circulated gold-money fractionals at +3% (20 Francs, AGE, Maple Leaf, Kruggerand, Mexi-gold, whatever) because I'm so cheap.
Has anyone noticed how crazy-cheap platinum is compared to gold? It's a much-much-more-rare metal. It's a side-bet on the world not ending and greedy people still wanting super-compact metal money. Not good for buying cabbages like silver dimes.
pdxr13
I detest used silver coins, due to wear. Much prefer brand new one ounce rounds. But that is just me. Could bite me in the ass later.
DeleteA full ounce of silver is a lot of money if you are just walking around. That should be a good dinner for 2, with wine. What if you just want a hot dog? You won't want to give big silver and get a wad of $100T FRN's signed by SecTreas Gono as change, because the notes depreciate 20% an hour. You want to pay a worn silver dime for an all-beef dog with sourkraut and pickels, no change, and smiling vendor.
DeleteYou could find a Moneychanger and pay them 10% (or more) for small coins for your big oz rounds, or cut the rounds into pieces of 8 for change (more loss of value compared to whole coin).
In the bad old days, you could get junk 90% US coin silver content below spot price of CrimeEx silver, sometimes, even after premium/commission. Silver was only silver when .999, not with 10% copper contamination, when industry was the primary user and wanted it pure. Now, circulated coins fetch a premium to the silver content, even with wear. They should, because it costs money to make coins from bullion.
APMEX claims an average 715 oz T in each $1000 face of mixed pre-1965 US dimes/quarters/halfs. Worn dimes are the worst at wearing since they have the most surface per dollar, 40% half dollars seem unwearable coins (silver almost exactly equal to 2 silver 90% dimes, 1965-1969).
pdxr13
I can't see a future level of peace, allowing for the transactions you describe, where the divisable units of silver are that big a deal. Mainly, silver/gold is going to be a multi-generational store of value, until the fighting/die-off stops.
DeleteSomething else to consider: before the invention of electricity, aluminum was more precious than gold. And some people think that the "magic" of the sword Excalibur was that it was made of stainless steel, of which the only source at the time was meteorites. While I wouldn't recommend stocking up on pallet of ingots, items made of these materials will likely be irreplaceable.
ReplyDeleteI understand processing aluminum from ores is energy intensive, but can you re-smelt pure aluminum on a small scale? If so, it seems a pile of aluminum cans is more valuable as a stockpile than as a now recyclable.
DeleteYes, getting AL from bauxite ore is very energy intensive. TG for all those BPA dams done by WWII to crank out the magic lightweight metal for aircraft. Recycle is campfire low-tech. Keeping cans is a PITA due to size (even crushed), but you can melt to ingots easily. Same kind of recycle tech is used for copper, zinc, lead, tin. U-Toob, backyard foundry. Iron, steel, SS is way bigger deal.
Deletepdxr13
Loyal Minion bicycling Portland Oregon full-time since 11 June 2012.
Cars parked and tarped storage sheds. No gas, no maintenance, no insurance, but keeping the DL current. No longer chubby and slow.
Makes you wonder on the northwest dams built prior to war. Claimed they were for agriculture, yet the Depression was in part from ag surplus among other things, so were the dams, in remote unsettled areas, actually a long term plan for us to enter war? I know that seems strange, yet the leadership then wasn't so butt stupid as they are today.
DeleteIf your car is undrivable, you WILL get in great shape, despite yourself. #1 rule of the zombie apocalypse-cardio.
I had bike and cars for a long time, but insurance was paid and gas in the tank. It was just easier to drive everywhere and get fat.
DeleteFDR knew there would be another war, and we would need an energy base to win it. Hydroelectric is expensive up front (paid for with cheap oil and depression labor), then pays off for a century of cheap power. Silt is the enemy. The liars promised "Electricity at-cost, forever" to the PNW States and Canada to get the project accepted and the canyons flooded. BPA is a huge cash-cow to Congress now.
I didn't think you even got a hundred years because of silt. Three Gorges in China will probably be much worse.
Delete> so were the dams, in remote unsettled areas, actually a long term plan for us to enter war?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, but it isn't even a secret, that was the plan from the start. It's in US military books. Large-scale industry and standardization were the only things US Americans were good at.
The US industry back then didn't invest in R&D as much as Europeans did, because the plan was to cherry-pick their best designs and features and mass-manufacture them. (PBY, P-51 Mustang...)
And they even didn't get that right, for instance with their tanks. People are still making fun of the Sherman 70 years later, except for the UK-conceived Firelfly variant that pretty much (marginally) saved the whole design.
Good products come from R&D investment and nowhere else. Looking at the way Bantam was raped by Ford on its Jeep R&D, one understands why nobody in the US wanted to invest in R&D. "Tucker, a man and his dream" ought to be compulsory school material.
Mothing changed from these days, the US is still either amking horrible designs of their own (Humvees, Osprey, M2 Bradley etc etc) or rebranding foreign hardware (FMTV trucks from Austria, Stryker from Switzerland...)
I wonder how many years prior to Pearl Harbor the Crippled Cunt was planning on us to enter. I know about the Garand and draft a year or so prior, but now with the dams it goes back even further.
Deletewaiting on a book called 'hidden history' by two scotsmen [one named cameron?]
Deletetells how a couple of high class brits planned the 1st world war because they wanted to take down germany. spread lies about the germans.
the world is full of evil doers, we just don't know who they are until decades after their deaths , if we ever find out.
we are all being manipulated all of the time one way or another.
It looked like an interesting book-I've encountered it before while compiling the Wish List-except the price was too steep. With that genre of books, there is a LOT of crap out there and one must beware.
DeleteJim, I bought a .22 re-loader kit. Apparently during the first depression it was a common thing to reload .22. This kit is designed with survivalists in mind including two different sizes of boolits that you cast yourself. One of which works using just match heads for propellant. The basic idea is to use pyrodex for propellant which is still pretty cheap to acquire. They don't work with semi autos, but I have a revolver and a boltie that love them. 75 bucks for the current kit. Well worth the money in my experience. Look it up on the interwebs. Cheers-SemperFido
ReplyDeleteThe priming compound is going to be your problem. The only thing I've come across is match heads. Another way?
DeleteOriginally primers were fulminate of mercury. Easy enough to do if you have a source of mercury, but just as easy to screw up and poison or blow yourself up, so really not worth it if you can have some one else (factory) do it. bulk purchases of primers for your selected caliber is a good idea after you have the basic reload kit.
Deletematch heads or toy gun caps. I use matches
Delete"The priming compound is going to be your problem."
DeleteRecall my previous posting of this process James. Of course it is not without risk, but worth having the process detailed in the event that such materials cease to exist in the future.
Here it is again, copy and paste:
Dick's encyclopedia of formulas and processes 1872
2134, Fulminating' Mercury. Disolve by a gentle heat 100 parts, by weight, of mercury in 100 parts nitric acid of specific gravity 1.4; and when the solution has aquired a temperature of 130° Fahr., slowly pour it through a glass funnel tube into 830 parts alcohol of specific gravity .830. As soon as the effervescence is over and white cease to rise, filter it through double paper, wash with cold water, and dry by steam (not hotter than 212°) or hot water. This is the formula of Dr. Ure, and said to be the cheapest and safest. If parts by measure be adopted, the above porportions will be, for 100 parts, by measure, of mercury, 740 parts, nitric acid, and 830 parts alcohol.
9138. Priming for Percussion Caps.
To make this compound 100 grains of fulminating mercury are triturated with a wooden muller on marble, with 30 grains of water and 60 grains of gunpowder. This is sufficient for 400 caps. Dr. Ure recommends a solution of gum mastich in turpentine as a medium for attaching the fulminate to the cap.
2139. Percussion Pellets. Mix equal parts of chlorate of potassa and sulphuret of antimony with liquid gum, so as to form a Paste. When dry it may be formed into pellets, and used as percussion powder for guns. This composition, placed on the ends of splints dipped in sulphur, produces friction matches. This mixture may also be employed for percussion caps, only without the gum; the two substances, mixed together dry, are forced into the caps, and a drop of varnish deposited on the inside surface of each. A mixture of the fulminate of mercury, chlorate of potassa, and sulphur, however, is more commonly used for lining percussxon caps.
Another recipe for the fulminate of mercury:
The techno-chemical receipt book 1896
Fulminate of mercury is used for filling percussion caps. It is prepared on a large scale by disolving 1 part of mercury in 12 of pure nitric acid of 1:36 specific gravity, and adding 12 of spirit of wine, when a violent reaction takes place, which is kept in check by adding gradually more alcohol. First the liquid becomes black by the separation of of metallic mercury, which, however, soon disappears. When the liquid becomes cool the fulminate of mercury separates as a crystaline powder. It is nearly insoluble in cold water: from a boiling solution, it is obtained in white prismatic crystals. When kindled in the open air it burns away like gunpowder, but by percussion it is decomposed with a violent detonation. The explosion of the fulminate is so violent and rapid that it is necessary to moderate it for percussion caps. For this purpose it is mixed with potassium nitrate or chlorate. For gun caps potassium chlorate is generally mixed with the fulminate , and powdered glass is sometimes added to increase the sensibility of the mixture to explosion by percussion. After a little of the composition has been introduced into the cap, it is made to adhere by a drop of solution of shellac in a spirit of wine, which renders it also water-proof.
I forget what I've written in my own articles, let alone the comments posted, so it is always a good thing to get reruns posted.
DeletePS- I just ordered my own copy of Dicks, while you are reminding me-so I thank you!
DeleteLooks like I got the title off slightly James. Officially, it's
Delete"Dicks Encyclopedia of practical receipts and processes, 1872". I'm sure that it came up for you in either case, but just in case there was any question on the title? From the reviews, it appears that it's getting harder and harder by the year to find a copy.
Below is the link for the free download. I downloaded the PDF successfully, but there were some letters missing. You can pretty much figure out which ones, and substitute.
https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpr00dickrich
It came up searching Amazon with just "dicks encyclopedia". Yep, a $12 used paperback, but I figure this should be invaluable the first time you need to use it.
DeleteI buy green coffee in 5 lb bags. Easily last a decade. The clock really doesn't start running until it's roasted. Sure I've got one of those fancy electric roasters, but once the weather turns cold again I'll be roasting in a deep covered cast iron skillet on the woodstove.
ReplyDeleteUsually I buy coffee in 30 - 35 pound orders as the shipping cost is only a bit more than a single 5 pound bag.
I would probably have to roast and grind the beans myself (quality hand grinder) as not too many people know what to do with green beans.
Are you doing beans in fabric verses grind in cans as a taste issue or as a frugal issue?
Deletetobacco
ReplyDelete1] grow your own
2]learn to hang it and where
3]learn what 'casing weather' is
4] store and process
do it the old fashioned way
i don't smoke but have cigs in the freezer for earaches
get a straw and place in patient's ear.]
take a strong puff of tobacco smoke into your mouth--not your lungs
release gently into patient's ear a couple of times
put a bit of cotton fluff into the ear.
patient will have less pain
Not the same thing as coffee James, but probably a suitable alternative. Type into your search engine “purchase ephedra seeds”, and a few sites will come up. This is the plant that sometimes is referred to as Mormon Tea”, and it grows wild in your zone. It might already be present on your property? But in either event, it is easy to grow.
ReplyDeleteTry not to let the fact that it's ephedra scare anyone from its use. The stuff that was in the diet pills, and that was outlawed from being used in such supplements, was a highly concentrated form of this plant. Also a good consideration for asthmatics, since this is the basis of the ephedrine that's used in the inhalers.
That's what sucks about the Apocalypse. Not the depopulation. Not the smiting of ones enemies. No, the need to drink friggin inhaler medicine when the real coffee runs out!
Delete“That's what sucks about the Apocalypse. Not the depopulation. Not the smiting of ones enemies. No, the need to drink friggin inhaler medicine when the real coffee runs out!”
DeleteI believe that it actually has more kick than coffee James? I just ordered some seeds yesterday, so it will be a while. But Hopefully within a month or so from now (I don't actually know how fast it takes to grow as of this writing?) I will be providing an update. Another name for the variety of ephedra that I ordered is “Ma Huang”.
In all seriousness, please do keep us advised.
Delete