by Big John, Survival Blog:
Along with all of the other items that a seasoned Prepper has, barter items are critical. You undoubtedly will need items that you forgot to stockpile during the good times. This area of prepping needs to be approached with the same meticulous logical order as all of your other prepping gear.
Your trading partner, the one with those critical items that you need to survive must be satisfied. You’ve gotta have stuff that he really needs, not just stuff that fit into the category of general prepping items. He may have no need for ammo but desperately needs antibiotics. So antibiotics are what you want to have on hand in excess…in that particular situation.
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So how do you know exactly what this random stranger will be wanting? The answer is, you don’t. So you must diversify in your acquisition of trade items. Obviously, having cartridges, salt, antibiotics, and gasoline is better than just one of them.
So, diversification is one key element of building your trading cache.
Secondly, consider the cost. Right now, gold and silver are sky high. But ammo is relatively cheap as is salt, medicine, tools, and knives. In fact, it could be said that right now these items are available at bargain basement prices. Just walk into Walmart and fill your basket with ammo, nuts, jerky, knives, etc.
But even though silver is sky high, your trader may only take silver for some reason. So you gotta have at least a little of it.
So diversity is one of the very key principles of trading.
And Silver at $6 for a dime may be the good old days, someday. Certainly, ammo at today’s prices is the good old days. One day, I believe a Glock 19 with several boxes of cartridges could be traded for a like-new Cadillac.
Booze. Touted as a key trading item, it has drawbacks. Your trading person may get drunk and return for the rest of your booze or your entire hoard. And members of your tribe may get into it and either drink it all, or worse. So liquor must be locked up or hidden and not disclosed.
Tobacco. Few of the drawbacks of booze and yet people crave it. What about tobacco seeds if you live in the south? Especially good for later on in the collapse.
Medicine. Antibiotics are said to be the most valuable trading item of all. When your kid is hurt, you need them. It is life or death. But they go bad. So they will be good for the initial phases of the collapse, but not later on. Jase Medical sells an assortment for around $250. But they will expire and hence can be considered frivolous. Getting them from a pharmacy in Mexico is another alternative, but will they have fentanyl in them? Then there is Fish Mox, available at pet stores and online. Then we have animal antibiotics from the feed store, but my RN friend says that because they are sold in bulk, people show up at the Emergency Room overdosing on them. But if you have a doctor or RN around to guide you, I suppose that they might work and be available inexpensively.
Ammo. You can’t go wrong with .22 LR and 12 gauge as these guns are in many closets. The problem, is having the right caliber for the trader’s guns. It is kinda like stocking a shoe store at this point. But the bigger problem is that you may be arming a person, who once they are armed might come back and get your cache. Think long and hard about this one.
Having said that, once the dollar becomes worthless, it may be that .22 rimfire ammo becomes the new barter currency. Just as cigarettes are presently used, in prison. Society needs money of some sort even if it is seashells on some island. Pre-1965 silver coins just are not plentiful enough to work as money, but ammo is. Starting with 1965 mint dates, the U.S. Mint eliminated the silver in most U.S. coins to just silver plating over copper slugs. This is called “clad” coinage.
