What would you offer me?

Oh yeah, what would I offer you. I can type at 50 words per minute so if you needed something long typed. My husband can make wooden chairs and custom-sized rolling pins. No crops up yet, but if there were probably chives, garlic, oregano, and marjarum. Hopefully we will have raspberries, blackberries, apples, or grapes as time goes on. My husband used to know how to keep an old tractor going. Probably still does.

If weeds are up where you are and are similar to here, maybe get a wild food lunch for you and your partner.

Those are some fabulous ideas. You're obviously not new or scared of the idea of barter. When I've mentioned the idea to some people in real life they've been embarrassed to suggest anything, and have ended up offering cash instead! Everyone has something to offer, whether it be skills or goods. If you were local and we were really going to trade I would enjoy sharing the picking of a wild food lunch in order to expand my own knowledge. We'd share it afterwards of course, because I'm convinced that part of bartering is the greater possibilities for personal interaction it presents. And if your husband can keep an old tractor going, he might be able to take a look at my truck. It certainly sounds like a tractor

no, that is worse. If I had to argue over the price of food , I would fast. If I had to argue over meds, I would rather die. Over here in the States the prices are set , if it is too high at one place , you walk out and buy it somewhere else. Once the seller sees he/she is losing customers, Then the prices get down. As for food, my supermarket has sales each week. Plus with my card , I even get cents off regualr priced items automatically, no need to argue or cheat a seller by buying something that has a price that is too low!

I see your point about negotiating a lower price, which is common in some cultures but not in ours. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about paying the seller a fair price, but in something other than money. In some cases, what you are able to offer me may be worth more to me than money. If you were a seamstress for instance, then doing my minor clothes alterations would take you no time at all but would be worth a lot to me as I have no sewing skills at all. So I don't think of barter for goods as being any sort of cheat or argument. It's something that can benefit both parties. Some of the things that we have been offered have been skills (building and translation work have been some of the offers we've been interested in), home grown veggies, home made jams and preserves, second hand clothes and toys for the kids and home made knives. I was thrilled with all those offers, and very happy to accept them instead of money.

Green then I would feel like a wh@re! If I can help you out , I'll do it. There is no need to pay me. Whatever task I do it isn't my profession. That is what friend do , help out Without thinking what is in it for me! And if it is a stranger, then I would pay cash. I don't want to steal away Any of their goods.

It's something I'd love to do more of, but many people are scared to start. Of course, it's not always easy to settle on something that I've got and you want or vice versa, which is why we have money. With the home grown veggies, it makes such a lot of sense for neighbours to work together. I concentrate on potatoes, onions and cucumbers for instance, while you grow peppers, sweetcorn and carrots. Then we share out the goodies.

The difficulty is always finding someone who has what you want and wants what you have of course, which is why we have money! As your father discovered, foodstuffs are great to barter.

I also considered LETS where I used to live, but the local group was very full of natural therapists and not very much else. Any barter scheme is only worthwhile if you can find someone who wants what you've got, and has what you want. What working people have told me over and over again is that they would appreciate someone who would walk the dogs, babysit or even just wait in to accept a delivery. Basic stuff, but helpful and pretty much anyone could do it.

Using barter, a lack of interest in money would be of little importance. You want something? Then what's it worth to you? That might change from day to day, and from person to person. Using examples that I've used earlier in the discussion, I would put little value on the skills of a typist as I can type myself but a non typist with a thesis deadline looming would value them highly. Today I don't need a mechanic so that skill is worthless to me, but if my truck breaks down later I'd be willing to pay (and boy do I pay for this particular skill!).

People often think that they have nothing to offer, but everyone has skills. Back when I was working full time, just having someone to be at my house to accept a delivery so that I didn't have to take time out would have been astonishingly helpful. The difficulty with any barter situation is of course finding someone who wants what you have and also has something that you want. That, of course, is why communities created money!

Casandrina, it only works if the dentist really likes to read or had kids who need the books. This dentist couple were doing well at the time and were homeschooling their children, so they did need children's books. But that only continued for the first two years. After that we had to pay cash.

A clear agreement in advance is obviously key, as you discovered. Using money does make that easier of course. I hope they were at least CDs you enjoyed?!

Of course what you can offer will be of use to some people, but not to others. Typing skills won't be particularly attractive to me for instance, as I can type pretty fast myself. But if you could fix my truck that would be worth a lot to me. I'm not sure that barter is any less useful to materialistic people than those who are not. Because the value of a skill or given item would vary from person to person. Everyone wants the best exchange for themselves, but as the example above shows, typing would be of pretty value to me. Someone who does not type themselves and has a thesis and a deadline may well place a very high value on that skills so instead of being able to barter with me for something low value you'd be able to barter with them for something high value. Of course, what constitutes low or high value depends on what you want or need at that moment! The difficulty with any barter scheme is finding someone who wants what you have, and has what you want to offer. That's why we created money of course! But there are many barter schemes and alternative currency schemes already in existence, both for individuals and for businesses. Their success depends on them having a range of skills and services available to users.