TRADE GOODS
After several articles explaining very patiently to you how we are all doomed and shall be shortly engulfed in a fiery death, I get to feeling a tiny bit guilty and try to figure out an article of a 'how to' natural so that you can actual do something to put forth the worthless and feeble effort at postponing said painful demise. So, today we shall cover cheap trade goods. I don't think I've exposed you to this topic for several hundred articles, so it was about time I dredged up another oldy and moldy.
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It is all very well and good to give out lists. Bug out bag lists, medical kit lists, must own guns lists, 'Alpha Strategy' lists. But I hate lists. I think they are overwhelming. If you see a hundred items that are needed, your brain shuts down at the cost or complexity and nothing gets done. So, I tend to simplify. Instead of recommending cold weather gear, or tobacco or alcohol I have simply selected a few 'near a buck' trade goods. I think cold weather gear is a great stockpile item. If you buy from www.sportmansguide.com you can get very cheap quality surplus cold weather gear. I just got a bundle of long john tops for $4 each after shipping. Same with my mittens. But I can't recommend it for trade because the costs, although cheaper per item than anywhere else, add up too quick. I stockpile just for myself. If I have five replacements, I can have peace of mind many winters in advance. Same with tobacco. If you have an Indian Res nearby, see if their smoke shop sells 'roll your own'. It is thirty percent cheaper than mail order. I can buy my own makings for eighty cents a pack ( with filter ). But, I stock up for my own use, not eventual trade. It would add up too quick. As for alcohol, refer to my previous idea I stole from 'Possum Living', trash can wine. Not much need to stock up at all.
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As to the following trade good list, I know you will have plenty of ideas on your own. I give you mine here, knowing it is not perfect. But I've used the criteria that most are items not stockpiled, hence having extra value in the future. You can buy a twenty pack of sewing needles in the dollar store. So is everyone else, future barter wise. I picked what I thought might be scarce. Number one is two liter sodas. I know you think that's crazy. There will be millions of empty pop bottlers waiting for scavs to dig up out of the landfills. It's not like they will ever decompose. But here is why I think they have merit. The soda inside. After a short period of time, every candy bar, bag of sugar and can of soda will be used up. Since our major sweetener is corn syrup, in the future sugar will become much more valuable. After a time, we won't be growing corn for sweetening or livestock feed or for ethanol. It will all go to the starving hoards. Anything with sweetener will become worth a lot more, barter or trade wise. Hold on to your unopened pop bottles. You can sell the soda for a 'sweet' profit and keep the bottle for your water storage/hauling use ( very few plastics will then be made ).
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Next up is wooden matches. I know a lot of you own wax covered matched in your BOB kit. But the average unprepared citizen, if he owns any fire starter at all, has a disposable lighter. Let me just tell you, from previous experience these last few months, when it is butt cold, lighters don't work. Your hands are too numb to use it and it takes many more strikes to light. We still have dozens of lighters stashed, but day to day for lighting the stove, we use wooden matches. To light the propane heater we use a dollar BBQ lighter. It doesn't flame, but it does spark. That way I save the built in sparker for emergencies. When you do store matches, don't buy the big multi-hundred count box. The side strips for striking the match wear out pretty quick. Stay with the small box ( 32 per ? ) multi-pack.
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22 ammo. Wait, I know that has always been a recommended trade item. But what I'm thinking is that with the price increases, and with Obammy's coming ban ( or the perception thereof ), supplies will suffer. Less, not more, will be stockpiled. So it will become much more valuable. And, if I'm wrong, you can never have enough for yourself anyway. I leave the advisability of arming your enemies for another discussion. Another one is penetrating oil. I forgot to oil my bike one week ( okay, it might have been two ) and with the wet weather I had rust all over my new chain. And the pedals, wheel bolts, kickstand, etc. At first I panicked, then I found a can of penetrating oil in the tool box ( the tool box is a five gallon poly bucket that will punish the careless with its various discarded sharp objects ). I sprayed the crap out of everything, then a few hours later coating with 3 in 1 oil ( anyone? anyone? What's a cheaper alternative to that, at three bucks a small bottle? ) and I was good to go. The alternative would have been to unhook the chain ( on a cold 18 degree day ) and soak it in kerosene or something else I didn't have to take care of the rust. Penetrating oil is available at the dollar store, and it is now on my must stockpile list.
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Also at the dollar store are LED lights. One time I got lucky and found white light flashlights, the rest of the time it has been red light bike flashers. Regardless, they are a high tech, non replaceable, cheap trade item. There is a very small danger of 2012 cosmic storm event or an EMP attack that will fry them, but at a buck each, who cares? Just make sure to stock up on candles for your own use. Also, dollar packs of disposable batteries. Obviously, this is limited. You can only stockpile enough that can be rotated. But it will be the one item that will disappear first and be somewhat valuable. Overstock at your own risk, however. Last up is used, thrift store belts. Not the crappy vinyl ones only good as fashion accessories but real leather ones. Everyone is going to be losing weight pretty soon. Since we are a nation of fat asses that donate our old smaller clothes to the thrift store ( who in turn sell them to paper manufactures ) once the guts shrink, belts will be needed. Besides a length of rope some will use, belts will be in demand. Hope this is all food for thought.
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Original: http://bisonsurvivalblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/trade-goods.html
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