barter town 5

BARTER TOWN 5

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note: don't have a Wal-Mart nearby?  You can still get the buckets of wheat, through Amazon.  You need to be a Prime member, but it pays for itself quick.  Here is the page with the wheat buckets: http://amzn.to/2qW2cdX  and if you want to join Prime here is that link: http://amzn.to/2qneoIa
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note: I'll be trying out BBB no.1 on Kindle Unlimited, see how things work out.  Be advised.
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PRACTICAL FINANCES

Let’s take another track here and talk about how much barter is going to cost.  Nobody thinks about that.  It is just assumed that you pick up a little of this and a little of that and call it good.  But if we are going to assume most preppers are the actual survivors ( a flawed premise as most preppers are entrenched in the big cities firmer than a tick up a bulldogs ass, but it is an equally flawed supposition that luck alone will determine your chances.  Probably equal measures, but as records of civilization collapses are sparse we can sometimes only WAG ) then perhaps not as many people as you think are going to want your barter supplies.  You can either stock the heck out of everything, a wet spaghetti noodle to the wall approach, hoping you adequately covered stuff most folks missed, or you can throw money at the problem like so many survivalist gurus assume you are able to and buy the big ticket items most are not able to cover.  Either way, this stuff adds up quick.  If you didn’t spend all that much, it isn’t barter, it is personal supplies.

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Let’s say you went the high dollar amount.  Few folks will stock seeds, nor locations be conducive, for tobacco growing.  It is usually a safe bet, outside of places like North Carolina, that cigarettes will be in high demand.  So you stock the cheapest tobacco you can, the roll your own stuff.  Your local village, those who can trade, has let’s say a hundred people.  Twenty are smokers, and smokers don’t handle stress well without smoking and an apocalypse is going to be stressful for anyone.  But they all can only manage to barter a pack a week, rather than their preferred carton or two.  That is two cartons a week you need.  A pound of pipe tobacco and three cartons of empty filtered tubes is about $20.  Do you have a thousand bucks you can invest in tobacco, just to keep less than two dozen customers in a pack a week demand for a year?  Of course it is more than that as you should Mason jar your tobacco as the plastic envelopes fail after a time, but we assume you can resell the jars so no big deal ( other than from the point of view of up front investment ).

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That is one item.  Sure, you could just invest the $20 and stop, but why are you limiting yourself?  If you are only stocking barter items for emergencies, like when you need an emergency dentist, what if someone else cornered that market by investing the grand?  Could you get enough credit out of a limited item?  If you assume you’ll need to barter more than once, a safe assumption it seems to me, $20 is worthless.  You need hundreds to thousands of dollars.  If you are the only one who bought a grand in tobacco rather than just the $20, you’ll set the price much higher after the first month or two.  By stocking Onesies, you are almost asking to get low balled.  Only bulk buys a better price since you must outlast the hobby barterists by you becoming a professional.  And pro’s stock DEEP.  So, you spend the grand.  But that only helps you out for a year, and what if someone else did the same?  You stock more or you stock different, plus more of different.  It is a bit of a snowballing demand here.

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Now let’s say that you just went with the Many Items strategy.  I went with a random sites “top forty” list.  We’ll pick the cheapest way and eliminate the easily duplicated items ( booze is too easy to make, no need to stock bottles ).  And just say a half dozen of each.

Water filters $120

Metal garden tools from garage sales $100

Sewing supplies from the $ store $70

Baking soda $5

Mylar blankets $6

Matches $20

Tampons $10

Disposable razors $12

Fish hooks $6

Cheapest fixed blade knives $12

Spices $36

Paperback books, garage sale ( boxes full ) $60

Coffee, generic $30

Rechargeable batteries, in pairs $10

Battery chargers $120 ( alternative, garden LED solar lights )

Pencils, back to school sale $6

Paper, same $2

Reading glasses $ store $6

Para cord $20

Playing cards, name brand $20

Trash bags $12

Zip-Locks, generic $ store $6

Seeds $36

Flashlights $12

Plastic sheeting, heavy mil $60

Duct tape, Gorilla brand, small rolls $30

Soap, four pack $6

Toothpaste, brushes, toothpicks $15

Condoms $10

Disposable gloves $12

Hard candy $12

Knitting yarn $60

Knit needles $12

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There you go, almost a thousand bucks for variety, all the really good items, yet that is ONLY a half a dozen of each.  There aren’t really vice items or life saving items.  No bulk toilet paper, very few items over $10 each.  Most are items that get used up quickly ( matches, toothpaste ), or broken easily ( reading glasses ).  Really, all of the above is less than what you personally should have on hand for your own use.  You’ll need a can of coffee a month for two, for instance.  And that isn’t drinking but four cups a day each.   So why don’t you figure on that list being at least double on most items, just for you.  NOW add more multiples for barter.  Do you see the difficulty in embracing the barter system now?

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Of course, that is just illustrative of how the cost can exceed what you envisioned.  You can easily cherry pick.  Eliminate the high cost items like tobacco, and eliminate most of the list and just go with a lot of a few items.  Sewing needles probably shouldn’t be one, as a few go a long way and last a long time.  Matches are a great bet but are bulky and need to be moisture proof.  Sanitary napkins can be sold by repurposing baby cloth diapers, but perhaps the practice will become just using any old clothing that isn’t mendable.  Then your investment is only good for actual babies.  Just beware at a buck a diaper, and the average baby needing dozens on hand, and the lack of birth control ( although countered by high birth mortality ) to get you a lot of babies might mean this becomes a LOT of money to invest if done right ( you also need replacements eventually, pins, plastic outerwear, etc ).  Beware items being TOO common.  I think it might be awhile before paperback books become scarce ( after being read many times, then used as TP ).

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My recommendations based on consumption, cost of purchase,  lack of substitutions and demand would be:

Playing cards ( $2 each brand name bulk at Amazon )

Flashlights, batteries and chargers

Reading glasses

Spices

Baking soda and toothbrushes

END SERIES

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