[rwwff]

Could be Neopeasant, but I did kinda posit in there that Bob would probably let Joe borrow them anyway...

If Bob and Joe were more stranger than friend or family, you could work out something different, Joe lets Bob graze his cows on the back ten in exchange for letting him use the mules to till his two acre front garden. Something like that.

Actually, its not uncommon to rent out work like tilling a field, especially these oversized "gardens" that farmer keep for themselves. Joe may have no other use for a tractor or big tiller, so in the current environment, he's paying Bob $50 for him to drive over at his convenience and till his garden; or they may split mown hay, or whatever. Maybe Joe has several acres of good trees and trades firewood for use of the mules.

All kinds of ways that could work out.

The point was that someone questioned whether or not alchohol might be a useful trade item, and I posted a possible situation.

[spear]

alcohol is money.currency.
if you have booze in a time when there is more demand than there is supply,you can trade it for anything.

[NeoPeasant]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('spear', 'a')lcohol is money.currency.
if you have booze in a time when there is more demand than there is supply,you can trade it for anything.

[spear]

Agreed,but it aint Jack Daniels,Southern Comfort,and it certainly wont be Metaxa 7 Star.
Sure,one can do as you suggest to forget their sorrows,but I seriously doubt the dentist or the doctor will accept it as payment.
The good booze is for special stuff.

[NeoPeasant]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('spear', 'A')greed,but it aint Jack Daniels,Southern Comfort,and it certainly wont be Metaxa 7 Star.
Sure,one can do as you suggest to forget their sorrows,but I seriously doubt the dentist or the doctor will accept it as payment.
The good booze is for special stuff.

[spear]

Neither am I,but if I need access to that x-y axis locator at the hospital to locate a round in my thigh,rather than have some butcher go into it with a scalpel and start looking left and right and turn my leg into hamburger in their efforts to locate it and risk losing a limb,my odds will be a little better with a pair of bottles of thirty year old Scotch .
Good booze is valuable today,so it will be valuable tomorow.And probably MORE valuable tommorow.

[NeoPeasant]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('spear', 'N')either am I,but if I need access to that x-y axis locator at the hospital to locate a round in my thigh,rather than have some butcher go into it with a scalpel and start looking left and right and turn my leg into hamburger in their efforts to locate it and risk losing a limb,my odds will be a little better with a pair of bottles of thirty year old Scotch .

[topcat]

For the family types, I don't think I have seen birth control pills mentioned yet. Condoms are not 100% foolproof.

[NiKfUrY69]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MaterialExcess', 'T')he best barter item is a market in which to trade your wares.

[NiKfUrY69]

Ok, I'm not crazy (no comments Ludi ), here's a similar support for local markets in anticipation of Post PO.

http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2006/05/29.html#a1541

See Item #9.

Later - NiK

[SinisterBlueCat]

Before the introduction of anaesthesia, surgeons used alcohol in an attempt to dull pain.

[mikeh433]

I experienced my first shortage: I ran totally out of plastic bags - like plastic grocery bags and bread bags, etc.

Hopefully there is recycling plastic bags at grocery next time I go for a small item. These are useful and I'm spoiled into using them. When you stop shopping the equation of plastic bags goes from

+1 to -1 as you use them for putting fish, bread, veges and assorted other uses and don't get new ones from grocery shopping.

Plastic garbage or waste bags too big. Never happened to me before. I always dropped off or had too many plastic bags around.

[Aimrehtopyh]

A rugged and trustworthy scale or set of balances would be essential for a small-time agricultural market.

A small solar powered scale for weighing metals, coins, and "medicinal herbs".

And a larger versionfor weighing spuds, corn, or baskets of scalps for the baby boomer bounty.

[gampy]

Antibiotics.

Penicillin and anything with a long shelf life. Gold...baby. GOLD!

Don't throw out your old prescriptions. Even after the shelf life is over, they are still useful in an emergency. Just make sure to store them safely.

Another medication that would be useful to keep in a decent amount is
morphine or any opiate derived painkiller. I imagine they would be very useful in a blackmarket/barter situation.

I guess any kind of medical/first aid supply and intruments would be very valuable in a postoil, chaotic environment.

[AgentR]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Aimrehtopyh', 'A') rugged and trustworthy scale or set of balances would be essential for a small-time agricultural market.

[bobaloo]

Here's an item that's incredibly cheap to buy in bulk, necessary for life, stores forever and hardly anyone has any real stock of it...salt.

25 pounds can be had for $4. It's used for preservation as well as seasoning. For preservation buy the non-iodized, for eating the iodized is better for you.

We keep about 500 pounds on hand, if things go south will stock up on all I can find.

Another idea is salt licks for critters. In my part of the world the soil is low in selenium, it's good to supplement their diet with mineral blocks. Hopefully after using them for years our pasture is now much richer in selenium (yes I know it's toxic at high levels, but necessary for life, especially reproduction at low levels), but still keep quite a few spares.

[WildRose]

I was thinking that toys might be good barter items, for times when people don't have a lot of cash for extra things or when toys are actually difficult to get hold of. Simple, classic things like dolls, building blocks (& Lego), balls, cars and trucks, board games. Things like transformers would be a real luxury.

[Loki]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('WildRose', 'I') was thinking that toys might be good barter items, for times when people don't have a lot of cash for extra things or when toys are actually difficult to get hold of. Simple, classic things like dolls, building blocks (& Lego), balls, cars and trucks, board games. Things like transformers would be a real luxury.

[morph]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('WildRose', 'I') was thinking that toys might be good barter items, for times when people don't have a lot of cash for extra things or when toys are actually difficult to get hold of. Simple, classic things like dolls, building blocks (& Lego), balls, cars and trucks, board games. Things like transformers would be a real luxury.

[Peakprepper]

Aaaaaargh!

I've just sold all my childhood toys (except for the favourites) to raise cash to buy rope and wire.