Barter System

It would be a good idea to have goods at hand to barter, and a striker in some cases could get you a boat.

Offered by Mike.

You raise a phenomenally important point. Barter! Your specific point is accurate. However there is a larger point: How do we prepare for a barter economy?

Offered by Stephen.

Any member here knows that survivability is based upon the 3 basic needs; food, clothing, and shelter. Barter will be an absolute necessity to assure a higher probability of sustaining a more comfortable and protected life style, (if it can be called that) meager as it will be. First, consumables will disappear, namely food, and I don't have an answer to that dilemma other than what has already suggested on tt-forum; aquaculture, worm beds, seeds, etc. Food is life; get a dehydrator now and prepare as much as your budget can handle. You'll be able to trade for anything with food. When the dehydrated meat is nearly exhausted use the last of it to trade for a good rifle to kill game which can be butchered and prepared as jerky. How do you prepare jerky? Trade your extra knife for a 55 gallon drum and convert it to a smoker. Next, clothing begins to wear, (have some needles and thread ready to trade for a whet stone) and waterproof boots will leak, (have some mink oil ready to trade for a piece of cloth to patch the holes in your jacket).

As has been said here before, "the mother of genius is need". There is no end to the list of items that can be used as barter. How about Bayer aspirin, the simplest and most effective of medicine cabinet medications (you can stash them by the hundreds). The most practical items for trade will most likely be those which are small, and easy to hide or carry. Really important, however, will be tools used to repair, replace, or maintenance what we already have in the camp, in the settlement, or on your back. A file, for example, to sharpen the ax that you lost will get you another one. Fish hooks are a great trade item along with the smarter end of that related equipment and a supply of durable string will make a fish net.

Eventually, many survivors will find their way into groups and camps where organizational processes will already be moving in the direction of some form of government (if that word remains extant) where elected or appointed individuals, or small groups will handle the business and needs of the day. Trade with other groups will be no less important as that with the individual surviving out in the wilds. Eventually, we'll deplete our supply of trade goods, but by then looms will be in use, old vehicles will be pirated, building kilns and forging metals will have been learned and developed, and we'll just move right along in the barter system as if nothing ever happened.

Offered by Mike.

If the same mix of personalities post shift as prior to the shift remain on Earth, and the infrastructure is destroyed it's survival of the fittest. Dog eat dog, something like now. One person being an expert in all areas of surviving post shift very limited since it's a new experience for most. Should be plenty of opportunity for scavengers, plunderers, and nomads. Bartering requires first of all a degree of safety and trust afforded by a group, tribe, or gang. Overcoming the fear of death, and a victim mentality with an understanding there is no safe place while it's more like who you are as opposed to where you are that might be helpful.

Offered by Bobby.