SHTF Bartering: A necessity following societal collapse, mass distribution failure, and fall conventional financial mechanisms. Here are 8 tips to consider when bartering for survival in a SHTF scenario.
1. Assess your possessions and value. Understand the new found value of ordinary items such as toilet paper, honey, gasoline, etc. What items are not necessary for survival or sustainment?
2. Determine your #supplygaps. What do you need? How easy is it to scavenge or manufacture? If the difficulty in resourcing the gaps outweighs the ease in reading for it, then it's time to #barter.
3. Communicate with groups, passerbys, via radio, community message board, etc. Learn who may have the supplies you need.
4. Do research, scout out the potential party you may want to barter with. Learn their susceptibilities, weaknesses. Make contact with potential persons/groups that have the items you need. Schedule a meetup in a public and safe area. Don't meet at your bugout location or theirs.
5. Set rules of engagement and expectations for the meetup. Such as meeting one-on-one with other members holding back 500 ft, or having a 3rd party present, or agreeing to trade guidelines in advance.
6. Goal should be to trade items you don't need for items you do need. For example if you know how to make hand soap but lack ammo; then it would be wise to offer bars of soap for ammunition. The idea is to look for longterm solutions, not immediate relief. Use other's weakness and lack of preparedness to your advantage. Trade cigarettes, chocolate, or batteries for duct tape, sugar, and candles.
7. Don't be a afraid to walk away from a deal that doesnt benefit you. Don't burn bridges as you may have to deal with them again. Don't insult, be respectful. Don't reveal all your cards. Use deadlines or scarcity to pressure the deal. Bluff or lie with caution as they may have gained knowledge on you prior to the meet.
8. Make the deal, allow for review of the items traded to assure quantity and quality so there is no false claims after the fact. Built rapport, setup a means of communications for in future trade opportunities.
Here are a few of the top items to consider during bartering post-SHTF.
toilet paper, sewing kits, old clothes, footwear, duct tape, heirloom seeds, matches, alcohol, water, coffee, solar lights, tampons, livestock (for breeding purposes), motor oil, manual gardening tools, natural pesticides, firewood, knives, honey, vitamins, soap, gas cans, baby diapers, batteries, cigarettes, zip lock bags, canning supplies, cast iron cookware, canteens, razor bladespots, first aid supplies, antibiotics, painkillers, toothpaste, canned food, salt, flour.