[AlaskanFamily]

New prepper here. Still coming up with a list of items to include in my families BOB's. What are some good small barter items to have? Is it even recommended to carry barter items? Some things I have considered are:
Flint & steel
Batteries
Can opener
Salt packets
Sample packs of pb & jelly
Mini bottles of Vodka
Baby pacifiers
Sample packs of antibiotic cream & meds

 

[shotlady]

looks good to me. ammo is great for barter.
welcome from los angeles

 

[LunaticFringeInc]

My BOB is heavy enough as it is with just the stuff I need to get from Point A to Point B. If I want to make it heavier or take up what little precious space I still have left, I will carry more water or another loaded mag of ammo. Now once I reach my intended destination, I do have extra supplies in some cases of various items I could barter as well as some caches of stuff that I might be able to barter with. One thing I am not sure about is bartering ammunition. If I did it would have to be with someone I trusted in a very serious kind of way. The consequences of that ammunition being used against you later are just to grave to be much of a consideration. Maybe I am just too paranoid...

Once at my BOL I do have a number of options available for things I could barter. There are a lot of fruit trees so I will likely have some dried and fresh fruit to barter. I have planted several Pecan trees and might have a few pounds of nuts to barter away. After a season of growing stuff in the garden I might have some seeds I can barter way as well as some fresh or dried veggies to trade. Trading some fresh or dried herbs and spices might also be an option too. Perhaps later after getting things up and running full speed ahead I might be able to trade a rabbit or two, a Chicken or two some fresh eggs or fresh fish. It really just depends on the situation.

 

[whoppo]

Soap, shampoo, etc.
We travel a lot and have an outstanding collection of those little hotel soaps, shampoos, conditioners, lotions, mouthwash, etc.
The little snack-sized ziploc baggies work well for "single servings" of these items.

 

[shotlady]

also the colored rubber bands for wimmin types to pull thier hair back for working.

 

[WoadWarrior]

Lightweight an compact items are always good.... Pain killers, tampons, coffee packs with creamer or sugar, cigarettes, lighters, tweezers, fish hooks, fishing line, automatic reels (yo-yo's), snare wire, sewing needles, thread, emergency blankets, bandages, cordage, mosquito head nets, water filter straws, etc... it all depends on your area and what you are prepping for. Are you planning on urban, suburban, rural or wilderness for your BOL? Tweezers are everywhere in an urban through suburban area, less available in a rural area, and impossible to find in a wilderness area. Fish hooks may mean nothing in a city... but could be worth more than bullets in a wilderness area... especially if you are trying to find food in a relatively quiet manner. They even have value in a dessert to snare birds or ground squirrels.

 

[Gallo Pazzesco]

New prepper here. Still coming up with a list of items to include in my families BOB's. What are some good small barter items to have? Is it even recommended to carry barter items? Some things I have considered are:
Flint & steel
Batteries
Can opener
Salt packets
Sample packs of pb & jelly
Mini bottles of Vodka
Baby pacifiers
Sample packs of antibiotic cream & meds

Before you know what you might consider packing for bartering friend - should you not first determine who it is you might be bartering with?

I know in South Central LA they are probably not going to care about anything but crack and bath salts. Up where you are, in Alaska, they might be looking for cigarettes and booze maybe?

IMHO there will be no bartering at first, not when the shtf because there will be plenty of residual goodies laying around. By the time the bartering comes into play, waaaay down the road, then you'll be holed-up by then and probably not living out of a ruck.

Now, when the bartering does hit - then I suspect the big things to barter with will be first aid supplies. Antibiotics, creams, gels, pain killers, iodine, etc., etc., etc. Needles for suturing, triple antibiotic cream. Neosporin. Nuproxin. Ibuprofen.

 

[WoadWarrior]

IMHO there will be no bartering at first

I partially disagree. If you bug out to a remote area... along with every John, Dick and Harry with a gun and a sleeping bag.... many will come unprepared or will burn through key items. If you stay close to civilization... then, yes... things will be lying around. The next question is: How dangerous is it to go gather it up? Sometimes... it's smart just to keep your head down... or get as far from the trouble as possible as fast as you can. So... it could be as simple as being stuck on a highway with 30,000 other people trying to get away from an area. If the guy trapped in the car next to you has a screaming headache... swapping him a Motrin for something you can use or trade later may be more commonplace than you think.

 

[AlaskanFamily]

Honestly haven't decided where our BOL will be. We are located in Anchorage, lots of people, & we don't live in the best neighborhood so I'm concerned about people aggressively searching for goods. Also, we have 2 children under 2 years old, so getting out of town might be quite difficult. One road north & one south of Anchorage, so depending on situation we may have to go by foot. Also the military owns all property behind our home (to highway), which adds to complexity of where to go.

Weather is a huge concern of mine, down to negatives in winter & last winter we had over 130 inches of snow, so maybe bartering items like hats & gloves might also be good?

 

[Gallo Pazzesco]

Honestly haven't decided where our BOL will be. We are located in Anchorage, lots of people, & we don't live in the best neighborhood so I'm concerned about people aggressively searching for goods. Also, we have 2 children under 2 years old, so getting out of town might be quite difficult. One road north & one south of Anchorage, so depending on situation we may have to go by foot. Also the military owns all property behind our home (to highway), which adds to complexity of where to go.

Weather is a huge concern of mine, down to negatives in winter & last winter we had over 130 inches of snow, so maybe bartering items like hats & gloves might also be good?

Wow ... that's a tough one. If I were you and I had the money I'd sure be looking for a BOL right now and trying to stock-it a little.

There should be plenty of dead bodies laying around, to take, (gloves, hats and etc.), from if it really does get bad enough that you would have to bug-out. I'm not sure I can envision it getting that bad, especially for Alaskans, especially in the dead of winter.

I am somewhat familiar with the Anchorage area and I guess, at least imho, neither north or south would be my choice ... I'd probably head straight in the Chugach. I'd start training my kids now though. I'd have snow machines, lots of gas, some sleds to put behind them with my stuff ...

The Seward used to be a pretty rough stretch of road for a lot of different reasons. And The Glenn goes north - I'm not going north in the winter if I can help it, especially with infant children.

The military will help civilians up there - I honestly believe if the shtf Alaska would not be as negatively affected as the lower 48 and Hawaii.

 

[yzingerr]

What lunatic said is spot on.
I would never barter ammo! You don't want it used against you.

 

[bennettvm]

If I'm going to barter then id trade huggie diapers and small bottles of alcohol. Those cheap brand vodka and run are a bargain. 10 oz bottle for 2 to 3 dollars. I keep several bottles with my food and first aid supplies.

 

[LunaticFringeInc]

While being able to barter will factor heavily into my game plan, its unlikely that I will be willing to barter anything I can produce more of myself. I mean why give up stuff you cant make that you will eventually need to use that may not be available for any price?

 

[Alpha-17]

I keep a little bit of sliver and cash with my BOB for bartering/purchasing. For actual barter, I don't see a need to carry extra crap just to barter with. If I need to barter, I should have enough random supplies, be they batteries, bandages, or bullets, in my BOB to act as barter material.

 

[GraywolfSurvival]

Don't carry ammo for barter unless you use the same caliber and have extra room. Ammo is very heavy. If you're stocking a bugout location - maybe.

Tobacco and alcohol would be good for bartering, but alcohol is a liquid so it weighs a lot if you're carrying it.

Batteries are heavy too but power is something to consider. If you had a solar charger and rechargable battery, that would be even better. I carry a small solar panel and USB battery with me here in Afgh.

Not sure if there'd be a huge commodities market on salt. It's not too hard to come up with for as much as you need but spices have always been good for trade, which is why Europe expanded so quickly in the past.

Baby pacifiers are also probably not something I would focus on. You won't probably run into too many babies on the road if SHTF because they'd be sheltered as much as possible and babies will suck on anything like even a stick if you give it to them.

Medications are awesome for barter, especially if you have things you can use. You should always try to double duty anything you carry.

Some way to filter water might be useful because you could just filter their water and then keep your filter.

Skills are the best thing to start working on for barter cause skills don't weigh nuthin.

Now I'm gonna have to sit down and make a post about what you should and shouldn't carry, specifically for barter. ((runs off to the lab))

 

[bennettvm]

Something I picked up at the dollar store - generic 5 pack of diapers for $1. I don't have a baby, but they can be bartered to someone who does, and they can be used for a bunch of other purposes.

I also have about 50 of those mini Hershey bars in my bob. The sell a 6 pack for $1 at the dollar store. I would be willing to bet that those would be a huge hit for barter.

 

[Leon]

four pints of honey moonshine. Worth almost as much as an ounce of silver each.

 

[Fuzzee]

I don't pack to barter items. Room and weight is too precious in the BOB. I might trade with someone food for food though. Like a MRE pound cake for a fresh piece of meat if I was without for a while. I'm not bartering ammo even in the non bugout situation to anyone but the most trusted, and only for food or very important items like medicine. It's a extremely valuable commodity that's too easy to have turned against you. I might barter for some in trade with someone else, but I'm not planning on trading my own unless it's someone close who needs it bad. Sadly most of my family and friends aren't prepping at all so it may be a possibility in the non-bugout scenario.

 

[Ripon]

Wouldn't an ounce of silver be lighter, smaller?

I carry pre 64 quarters in my BOB (I think there are 10 or 12 of them), and two 1/10th ounce gold coins. There
is also a small package of brocoli, lettuce and raddish seeds (they are tiny and a little tiny bit is a lot of seed).
The seeds are also packaged in plastic bags for easy trade. Otherwise the BOB is just to get me from home to
the bug out property.

four pints of honey moonshine. Worth almost as much as an ounce of silver each.

 

[Leon]

Wouldn't an ounce of silver be lighter, smaller?

I carry pre 64 quarters in my BOB (I think there are 10 or 12 of them), and two 1/10th ounce gold coins. There
is also a small package of brocoli, lettuce and raddish seeds (they are tiny and a little tiny bit is a lot of seed).
The seeds are also packaged in plastic bags for easy trade. Otherwise the BOB is just to get me from home to
the bug out property.

An ounce of silver is smaller but silver won't get you drunk