Barter After The Collapse- Items to Keep on Hand for Trading After it Hits the Fan

The inevitable death of the dollar will bring chaos and shortages of many items we take for granted right now. Today’s post will take a look at what are some good barter items and even what are some bad ideas for  barter.

One of the biggest challenges for keeping barter items is space. Large bulky barter items are going to be hard to store in significant amounts. A few small items that will be as good as gold after the collapse include  pain relievers, hard candy, playing cards, soap, shampoo, and medical supplies. If we experience a major collapse that makes it difficult to be seen by a doctor, antibiotics will be in high demand. Fish antibiotics that are sold online require no prescription and are the same types of antibiotics as prescribed by doctors. They are not regulated to the extent that prescription antibiotics are , so don’t start going to the pet store instead of the doctor. In a collapse scenario, I will take fish antibiotics before I die or lose an arm or leg to gangrene.

Precious Metals

Precious metals are a great means of preserving your wealth. Gold and silver have been considered money since Genesis 13. In a complete grid down scenario, practical items may have more value than gold and silver until society begins to rebuild. Once that happens, gold and silver will once again have purchasing power. In a barter situation, silver will be more practical than gold for smaller transactions. A one once silver coin in currently worth about $25. A one ounce gold coin is worth about $1400. It might be a little hard to get change for a $1400 bill. I still recommend diversifying between gold and silver, but I personally think it is worth the higher premium to purchase fractional gold coins to have the smaller denomination. Gold coins are available in 1/2, 1/4, and 1/10 ounce sizes. I use JM Bullion as they offer the lowest price over spot. If you decide to go with JM Billion to purchase metals, use coupon code PR5 to get $5 off your order of$300 or more.

Ammunition

We saw ammunition shortages sparked by the Sandy Hook tragedy last year that depleted supplies for nearly 6 months. With the addition of government ammunition hoarding, prices skyrocketed and producers were unable to keep up. It doesn’t take much imagination to envision a world where ammunition is used a tradable commodity. If silver represents large bills after the collapse, we might expect ammunition to play the role of $10, $5, and $1 dollar bills.

Alcohol and Tobacco

I often hear peppers who don’t drink or smoke talk about hoarding alcohol and tobacco for barter items. I think this is a bad idea. In a situation where resource scarcity has driven people to a barter economy, people who are expending their limited resources on alcohol and tobacco are addicts. By bartering with them, you are bringing people around you that have made vices their priority. When they expend all of their resources to get a bottle and a pack of smokes, where do you think they will look to attack when they get hungry? Because they have been trading with you, they will have a pretty good idea about how well you are set. It is a potential for trouble you don’t need. If you are addicted to alcohol, tobacco or drugs, now is the time to get free of those chains. It will be much harder with the added stress of the apocalypse.

The odds of a currency collapse.

The odds of a complete currency collapse are 100%. There has never been a fiat money system that did not return to its intrinsic value which is nothing. This is not tin foil hat conspiracy theory, it is history. If the odds of your house burning down were 100%, would you buy fire insurance?

Happy Prepping!

MDG