How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It - James Wesley Rawles [107]
Practice bartering on a very small scale at first to sharpen your eye for value and your ability to dicker in a manner that will result in a fair trade that is mutually agreeable and mutually beneficial. The occasional transaction in which you end up slighted is hardly cause for concern, but unless you develop the proper bartering skills, you’ll end up on the weaker side of bargains again and again, and you’ll fritter away your tangible working capital. The attributes that will put you in a superior bartering position include specific knowledge about what is being traded, knowledge about who’s sitting on the other side of the table, and good old-fashioned horse sense.
Barter Knowledge and References
The more you know about the goods being exchanged, the better you’ll be able to dicker. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be able to honestly yet persuasively talk up the virtues of your own goods, while politely talking down the defects of your trading partner’s goods. Hence, the greater your technical knowledge of the goods, the better. Take the time to study and develop an appraiser’s eye for the condition of used merchandise, the relative value of goods from one maker versus another, and knowledge of the overall market. With that knowledge you can articulate the scarcity of any particular item in your barter stock. After all, as with any other free-market transaction, the key factor in determining value is the supply/demand ratio. If you are trading for a collectible item, then knowing how scarce it is can put you at a tremendous advantage in negotiation. You need to authoritatively know which maker, model, variation, grade, year of production, etc., to look for.
Similarly, knowing exactly how to gauge properly the condition of a used item is quite important. For example, with firearms, the percentage of original bluing remaining, cracks or wear to a gun’s stock, bore condition, chamber condition, bolt-face erosion, action tightness, headspace, and so forth all make a huge difference in the value of a used gun.
Detailed knowledge is also crucial when determining the value of a rare coin. For most of us, that knowledge is too specialized to be of much use. It can take many years to develop coin-grading skills, so a novice can get in over his or her head very easily. The difference between an MS-66 coin and an MS-68 is very subtle, yet that difference can mean thousands of dollars’ difference in a coin’s price. I therefore recommend that novices trade only professionally graded coins that have been graded and sealed (or “slabbed”) by either Professional Coin Grading Service or Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. A coin dealer Bluesheet (snipurl.com/hn5a4) is a crucial reference for measuring the current value of coins with particular mint marks and dates in any given grade on the Sheldon scale. Even having an out-of-date Bluesheet is better than nothing, since it will show relative values of coins, which change fairly gradually. Again, this is not for a novice or a part-time dabbler.
Tools
To be ready to barter with bullion gold coins or scrap gold it is important to have a touchstone, an acid-test kit, test needles, a very accurate scale, and a set of Fisch coin-authenticity dimensional gauges.
When bartering for canned goods you should have a Julian calendar (since some packers use Julian dates) and a hard copy of the mealtime.org chart showing how to decipher date-of-pack codes from various canners and packers.
For liquid fuel, it’s important to know if the fuel has been contaminated or adulterated. UR-2B-Prepared.com sells water test strips.
For batteries, you’ll need a voltmeter. For the greatest versatility, buy a volt-ohm meter with test probes on leads, rather than a typical tray-type home battery tester.
For examining the fine details of just about anything—such as reading hallmarks—a jeweler’s loupe (magnifying glass) is a must.
For evaluating firearms, at minimum buy a six-foot