What is barter? Wikipedia says:
In the social sciences, a gift economy (or gift culture) is a society where valuable goods and services are regularly given without any explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards (i.e. no formal quid pro quo exists). Ideally, simultaneous or recurring giving serves to circulate and redistribute valuables within the community. The organization of a gift economy stands in contrast to a barter economy or a market economy. Informal custom governs exchanges, rather than an explicit exchange of goods or services for money or some other commodity.
I really like the idea of offering my services in both ways, especially in times like these.
Bartering is a medium in which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods and/or services without a common unit of exchange (without the use of money). It can be bilateral or multilateral, and usually exists parallel to monetary systems in most developed countries, though to a very limited extent. Barter usually replaces money as the method of exchange in times of monetary crisis, when the currency is unstable and devalued by hyperinflation. Bartering is still common in the present, usually used within the Internet on sites like Craigslist.
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I think more and more people will turn to bartering as the economy keeps struggling. Personally I have started bartering on http://barterquest.com it is a great site for bartering both goods and services.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Kauri. I saw an unemployment graph today and it's obvious that a very different picture is being painted. This economic "trouble" is good, however, since it's the formal industial economy that's obliterating the natural world.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the barter site tip and good luck making your way through the ongoing changes!
I barter services all of the time and it works wonderfully. People get very excited when they find out I do this.
ReplyDeleteSweet, Heidi. Rent/mortgage, utilities and modern health care are about the only things that can't be bartered at the moment. Depending on one's chosen standard of living, even these are optional. I expect rent/mortgage, utilities and modern health care to become a luxury for more and more people as collapse deepens.
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