Items for trading?

[Sunshine]

Newbie question:

Any suggestions or comments on storing items for trading? If the SHTF and trading is neccessary, we don't want to trade our food, water, guns, etc.
It was suggested to me to get a case of small bottles of liquor for trading. I have plenty of storage room and liquor might go over well in my area.

What do ya'll think?
Should I concern myself with items for trading? If so, what?

Please remember I'm a newbie, so my questions might be dumb. Be nice!

[Matt In Oklahoma]

There are no dumb questions.
Liquor could be used but it has the same concerns as guns/ammo. That it might come back to harm you. If I was down and out and some cutie named sunshine gave me some liquor and I got drunk I might have bad thoughts as I didnt have anything to lose anyway and there is no real law anymore and I'm 215 lbs of pure 10ft tall chick magnet bulletproof bada.. and so on. This is just my opinion though
I don't have a real good answer because trading in countries I have seen across the pond was always sketchy regardless of the commodity. Sometimes it worked amazingly well and sometimes it caused huge uproars with lots of folks hurt/dead at the end. If you trade, have someone on "overwatch" preferably a good sniper and one or more in for close support preferably big and ugly with lots of scars. Again IMHO

[crossbow]

just trade with people you know or people from your area at first, one or two innocent looking strangers coming in might be working for spot and steal, spot it now and steal it later with the reat oif the gang..

[Urban Survivalist]

One thing that you may think about as a bartering tool can be a 3 ring binder full of survival tips. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man how to fish he will eat for a lifetime. You should make a Just-in-case book for yourself and then copy it to use for barter or to give to family in a event. Things to look up and print out. Water procurment, food storage, fire starting, protection, hunting, homemade solar ovens, how to live without power, ect.... Also stock things such as liquor, TP, hygeine products, flashlights, lighters, ect... Things other than food or ammo and guns. Think of things others may need in an event that you can trade for more food and always act hungry so that they don't come back to get food from you via barter or force.

[Bearman202]

My personal thoughts on this is "need" items more so than "want" items for barter. Keep in mind that the people you meet are going to need some things, and won't have all that much to trade. Now, having said that, for a much larger percentage of our population than I'm comfortable with, alcohol is a "need" item. If they find out you've got it, you've just painted a bullseye on your backside. Same with prescription narcotics. Better to store up food or medicines, like antibiotics, etc. than alcohol. A good stockpile of thread, needles, buttons, etc. would probably be good too. I think there's a thread on here about barter items. Do a search and you'll probably find it.

[Benn Gleck]

Great lists Jerry!

But why the big spaces between the lines?



















Not trying to be a jerk. ;)

[Jerry D Young]

Thanks. I don't know why the formatting is screwed up. My lists and stories post everywhere else okay. Just here they do one word and then drop a line, plus adding a bunch of lines between lines of text. Tried everything I know to fix it. No go. If someone could fix it, I'd sure appreciate it. Makes me look like an idiot.

[arcangel911]

Jerry- did you use a different program than word? (Sometimes, that happens to me)

Also remember- cigarettes or chewing tobacco. Now before anyone gets on me about the health and cancer issues- I do not smoke nor do I chew (occasionally a good cigar- but that is very rare). If your like me, a supply of these can go a long way, especially since I don't use them. Yes, they take up space- from other items, but a cigarette can go along way sometimes in bartering and also to show good will to a neighbor who has run out and or you need work done and you can offer something that someone finds needful. Nicotine withdrawals can make life for some very ugly and painful.

[Jerry D Young]

I use word.

[Bill Foster]

Oh well, poop happens. Just dont try to print it out unless you get your paper and ink free :-). Good list. I am beginning to store coffee for barter. I've been thinking of cigs, but they are already too expensive. I can't wait to see what price they will be in a P.A.W.

[Klayton]

this should be a sticky, imho

[Cimarron]

Don't forget clothes.
I have stored our family's clothes( some worn but still usable if you had to) for..maybe a couple years and have two fifty-five gallon barrels full. My kids range in age with two boys and one girl, but honestly in the PAW, I think most folks won't care too much what their kids are wearing as long as it's not too gender specific.
No one makes clothes any more and acquiring more would be almost impossible after a crunch.
I also have saved most shoes, that are still good that the kids just grew out of.

Another thing I have been 'collecting' is wood handles. I have an assortment of shovel, pick, rake, broom, shear/lopper etc. that will wear out and make good barter. I don't know any one that can cut a wood handle out of a tree branch anymore.

[skiamakhe]

Jerry,
Edit your post, copy it into notepad, fix it, then paste it back. That should work.

[Jerry D Young]

Couldn't edit the previous posts. Tried the wordpad thing. Better (only 4 blank lines between print lines), so I just bit the bullet and edited the list in the reply. Hopefully a moderator will delete the earlier posts.


My thoughts and opinions on barter and trade

Never show more than necessary for a given trade. Never let on like you have more.

Only trade alcohol, weapons, and ammunition to those you know will not be a problem for you later.

Try to barter skills and knowledge rather than goods. They don’t run out.

Try to barter the information in books. Don’t let the books leave your control.

Try to barter the use of tools and equipment rather than trading them away.

Try to make trades in neutral areas or at a designated barter/trade meeting. Make sure you aren’t followed back home.


Not all the items/skills listed will be of much value early into the event. It could be three to five years or more for some of the items to become valuable.

Try to have most of your equipment and several months of consumables before you stockpile trade goods, including Precious Metals.

When it comes to PMs, unless you are wealthy, start slow. A few silver dimes & quarters at a time. When you feel it is time to get gold coins, stay with the small denominations. And remember that there will be some people that won’t trust or want them.


Some of what I'm acquiring for barter (No, I don’t have all of these items. Yet.)

Scales to get agreed upon weights of items
commercial scale (

[2682nscovell]

Newbie question:

Any suggestions or comments on storing items for trading? If the SHTF and trading is neccessary, we don't want to trade our food, water, guns, etc.
It was suggested to me to get a case of small bottles of liquor for trading. I have plenty of storage room and liquor might go over well in my area.

What do ya'll think?
Should I concern myself with items for trading? If so, what?

Please remember I'm a newbie, so my questions might be dumb. Be nice!

Alcohol wouldn't be much of trade... only for someone that has a lot of prep work already and would enjoy a vodka on the rocks to enjoy as the world burns. Nothing popcorn couldn't solve.

Personally, I would think these things would be of hire value:
coffee, water, batteries, anything solar.

I would also think medical equipment would be the most valuable. People would soon realize how much infection and flu strikes and we just pass it by.