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Barter items to carry in BOB?

7K views 58 replies 43 participants last post by  Pawiscoming 
#1 ·
I know barter in general has been beat to death here, but what about barter items to carry in the BOB?

I'm thinking of what you might carry to barter in a situation where you are on your way to a BOL or in case you just get crapped on by the universe and become a refugee, like maybe the asteroid struck your BOL.

I'm thinking that no matter how carefully you plan, you may miss something, something you didn't think of but need badly.



They would need to be light, and small, and likely to be in demand in a SHTF situation.

Gold or silver would be obvious choices. Of course the PMs Good/Bad meme has been beat to death.

.22 shells might be good, and multipurpose. Could be used for barter, or to feed yourself or hunt for food to use as barter.

Which brings up skills as a hunter. If you have the skills to collect food, you can barter food or you are valuable to a group of people.

A 2 or 3 sheet Survival guide. Could be bartered or given to other refugees.

Knives

Space blankets.


Any other ideas?
 
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#56 ·
I have a friend who has thousands of "Feminine products" and toilet paper rolls. I thought he was nuts until he ask me the question " if your wife or daughter needed them what would you give me for a box". Thats when it dawned on me how much these items would be worth......
 
#6 ·
Gold and silver, but not coins or bars. I read a story where some people were caught in a shtf scenario and after trading gold or silver coins they were tracked down and robbed of their riches. According to him, gold necklaces and rings were better barter items because people could where them.

Also, anyone wanting to trade coins or similar were lowballed as noone could use them aside from someone with contact to the outside world. They would trade a small amount of food or whatever and then take the gold and make a killing on the outside.
 
#11 ·
I recently learned about 1 gram gold bars. A gram is basically 1 28th of an ounce. Right now the spot price for gold is roughly $60, they sell for $70 on Ebay. They come on a card the size of a credit card. Might be a useful size to carry.
 
#9 ·
I don't think I would want to carry barter items in my BOB. Now having things at the BOL, yes. Hygene products might be a good thing to have. A man might not think of these things first off, but you can bet his lady will. Especially after several weeks in the wild having to be around him.

But does it have to be an item? What about services?
Perhaps gunsmithing, or medical,,,
 
#14 ·
Barter items in pack for me are:

(3) bottles of liquor, airplane bottle size (Jack Daniel's, Vodka, Tequila)
(1) pack of Marlboro lights (This covers most of the spectrum of smokers. Menthol guys would be fine with it, and even Camel/Marlboro Red guys would be fine with it. I smoked for almost 20 years, but I keep this, because I KNOW sob's will pay ANYTHING for ONE cig. TRUST me.)
(4) 1 oz silver coins
(3) water pouches (survival water, these last a looong time)
(5) tuna pouches
(3) Bic lighters
(3) packs matches
(2) alcohol/Germ Killer small bottles
(20) wet wipes (no weight at all, practically)
(50) rounds of .22 ammo LR
(20) rounds 9mm ammo
(5) zip lock bags (you can "Sell" these to people bartering other items from you, by mentioning the "storing water" aspect of these. (UPSELLING, if you will)
(1) extra pack of water filtration tabs


These weigh practically nothing, even with the mantra of "ounces equal pounds, pounds equal pain". I have much of these duplicate items for myself, but this is designed for the purpose of BARTER.






Alot of this has been covered before, but I want to bring out the "salesmen" in some of you, by reminding you of "upselling". Salesmen do this consistently, when you BUY something, they "upsell" you into add-ons.

In other words, let's say the SHTF.
You are dealing with someone who has a "need" for a lighter. You trade a lighter for something of theirs, but you also mention, "are there other things you may need?" They may say, "yeah man uh, I actually would like some whiskey if you know where I could get that?".

A smart "barterer" would say, "I can see if I can procure that for you, from someone I know. (Perhaps not telling them YOU have them on hand is a good idea?) Give me 10 mins, I'll get some liquor if they still have some, and I need something from you if you have this. Sound good?" WIN/WIN. UPSELL.

Bartering during a SHTF situation needs to be handled in a SURVIVAL situation mindset as well, and every bit of cunning and thinking "two steps ahead" will be even more important then, than now.
 
#16 ·
Barter items in pack for me are:

(3) bottles of liquor, airplane bottle size (Jack Daniels, Vodka, Tequila)
(4) 1 oz silver coins
(3) water pouches (survival water, these last a looong time)
(5) tuna pouches
(3) Bic lighters
(2) packs matches
(2) alcohol/Germ Killer small bottles
(20) wet wipes (no weight, at all practically)
(50) rounds of .22 ammo
(20) rounds 9mm ammo
(5) zip lock bags (you can "Sell" these to people bartering other items from you, by mentioning the "storing water" aspect of these. (UPSELLING, if you will)
(1) extra pack of water filtration tabs, for this purpose.



These weigh practially nothing, even with the mantra of "ounces equal pounds, pounds equal pain".




Alot of this has been covered before, but I want to bring out the "salesmen" in some of you, by reminding you of "upselling". Salesmen do this consistently, when you BUY something, they "upsell" you into addons.

In other words. Let's say the SHTF. You are dealing with someone who has a "need" for a lighter. You trade a lighter for something of theirs, but you also mention, "are there other things you need?" They may say, "yeah, I actually would like some a shot of whiskey".
A smart "barterer" would say, "I can see if I can procure that for you, from someone I know. (Perhaps not telling them YOU have them on hand is a good idea?) Give me 10 mins, I'll get some liquor, and I need something from you if you have this. Sound good?"

Bartering during a SHTF situation needs to be handled in a SURVIVAL situation mindset as well, and every bit of cunning and thinking two steps ahead will be more important then than now.
This is a good list with some good tips on trade. I plan to bring cigarettes to trade. Lightweight and sure to be missed by many people.
 
#19 ·
Don't have this in mine but it got me thinking

even better than cigarrettes, i would suggest nicotine patches.
*very good cost to nicotine ratio
*individually sealed patches
*super duper light weight
*itty bitty tiny bulk
*way more nicotine (21 mg per strongest patch as opposed to the 2 mg or so per cig)
*one patch is like a whole day of smoking

Not only for barter, but also in the odd event you are somehow around (for better or for worse, planned or unplanned) a person going through withdrawls. They would have serious mood swings and it would not be pleasant. Addictions can be debilitating and cause physical symptoms during withdrawl to render a person ineffective (depression, splitting headaches, shakes, etc)

Could be worth its weight in gold
 
#20 ·
Here's an angle if you have money to burn: lithium AA or AAA batteries. They are light and last 10 years in storage, but they are expensive. If you don't have so much money to burn, the pre-charged rechargeable batteries last a long time.

One barter angle that I am considering for long-term situations is to sell/barter someone a set of rechargeable batteries, then have some solar panels and a charger and sell/barter recharging services to them, over and over. This isn't really portable, but I thought I'd throw that out there as a potential barter item. This was developed by Gillette for marketing razor blades. Guarantees a customer stream over a long period of time.
 
#21 ·
12 hour heat packs!!!!! ( you know the little packets you put in your mitts and boots in winter?)

You laugh now but I buy those suckers in bulk and even in day to day life have bartered with other mothers on the schoolyard in -30 or in the hockey arena at 5am... Pretty damn good items! I got a whole mini bottle of baileys (750ml) for one once... woman forgot mitts and her hands were nearly freezing off!
 
#22 ·
Some one got me thinking about this in another thread... I would have the main bulk for myself, but maybe some small packets would work & be light as well.

Seeds.


SHTF and you know there are going to be people wanting to be able to grow their own, and will give up about anything. Specially if they are Heirloom, and they would be able to get more seeds each harvest.


Just a thought...
 
#25 ·
i'm thinking light wt. for barting if need be. Lantern wicks, sm. amt. of silver, I've also rolled up tp and the extra napkins that fast food places give out into the used roller. great for starting fires or using during morning duties. sm packets of salt and pepper along with some of my own dried herbs. basil, mint and oregano. I have all this in a separate side pocket of my BOB. .22's I'm planning on keeping for my own use.
 
#26 ·
I never even considered barter until I was in San Fransisco this last year when the power went completely out.

The gas light came on the gas tank and we pulled over at a gas station that couldn't pump us gas because the power was out.

People were on their cell phones calling friends and neighbors to come pick them up. We were on vacation from Oregon, so this wasn't an option for us.

One guy had a family come with a 5 gallon gas tank, and I went over to offer him $40 for a gallon of gas, as a gallon of gas would've gotten us outside of the downed power grid, or so our telephone connection to the outside world told us. He flatly refused, so I waited a few more minutes for someone else with a gas can to come up, and asked her. She refused, too. I politely pressed the issue, and she started getting irate.

Anyways, this experience taught me the value of barter, so I think this is a good post. It also taught me that I need to get my ass to a concealed carry class, because you never know when **** is going to hit the fan, and, when it does, people get real desperate REAL quick. :thumb:
 
#30 ·
If SHTF, avoidance will be your buddy. I can't imagine trading(giving) someone bullets, that would like nothing better than to kill you and take your stuff. But, they also know if they wait to kill you, they will know your BOL and where your family/group is. Items to trade?

No, I expect a very different world. We spend a lot of time preparing for changes in availability of food, water, and other necessities... are we also preparing for the change in mentality that will likely accompany any failure in the fabric of society? I would expect anything used for barter would be best used in a last ditch effort trying to survive a confrontation with other people in a SHTF society.

peace
 
#34 ·
I've been watching this thread and finally can't resist:


If you kept all the items listed above in your BOB for barter, you'd probably not have any room for BOB items. This means you'd have to prioritize your "barter" items and hope, just hope, that when you ran across someone with whom you'd like to barter, you have the right items. That's why barter is so difficult and, the more universally-recognized an item is as having value, the better it's likely to be.

IMO, there are very few things worth bringing along as barter. Liquor? The weight cost is too high. Baby Formula? Unless powder, the weight cost is too high. Ammo? That idea has been beaten to death, plus there is the weight cost.


If you're bound and determined to pack barter items, they should be items with the greatest tradeability (i.e., potential demand) and lightest weight. That's why things like silver coins, maybe tobacco or nicotine patches, make the most sense to me.


And as far as someone tracking you down for what you have, well, that could be the case for anything you have: baby formula, cigarettes, liquor, whatever.
 
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