# Bartering skills and learning to survive.



## LibertyHippie (Aug 28, 2009)

The closest thread I've seen that touches on this subject is a really dated and the topic isn't exactly what I'm looking for so I'd like to start a new thread.

I believe that medical services would prove the most valuable in a SHTF situation but in lieu of that, what skills and abilities could a person acquire that could be used to barter for goods, protection, shelter or other services. How would one rank them in order of importance?

For example:

Medical training
Firearms and hunting
Horticulture and animal husbandry
Cooking and food storage
Wild harvesting and edible/medicinal plants 
Construction and machinery repair
Security(other than firearms)


I'm trying to decide a way to prioritize these disciplines so that I can set about working on them individually to build my skill set. I know the basics in all of the subjects listed, I'm stronger in some than I am in the others. I'm sure there's some things I left out as well. 

What makes a person invaluable and/or independent in a SHTF situation? You can stockpile all the material items in the world and it won't help you if you don't know how to use, keep or maintain any of it. I think knowledge is the most useful thing I can have at my disposal and basically, I'm trying to avoid paying for nursing school. LOL


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

LibertyHippie said:


> What makes a person invaluable and/or independent in a SHTF situation? You can stockpile all the material items in the world and it won't help you if you don't know how to use, keep or maintain any of it. I think knowledge is the most useful thing I can have at my disposal and basically, I'm trying to avoid paying for nursing school. LOL


You don't need nursing school. Start with Anatomy & Physiology I & II, you must learn normal function, names, & basic medical vocabulary before you can progress. Get you a good medical dictionary & a Medical/Surgical textbook & start studying. You can see which books your local junior college uses & then find earlier editions on Amazon for dirt cheap. I would recommend actually taking the A&P classes, the labs are very helpful in understanding & retention.


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## 101airborne (Jan 29, 2010)

Personally I think that while important medical would rank down the list a bit. Simply because it won't be needed every day. IMHO skills ranking would be more like................

Ability to grow/ gather/ forage foods. Including medicinal and edible plants. Including those that can be used as natural vitamin suppliments. Be able to build a fire and prepare food.

Next IMO would be able to build/ maintain shelter for longer term occupation.

Next to be able to procure water when what you've stored runs out.

Next the ability to provide security for your group. 

Then I'd rank Medical next. Not only treatment for injury and Illness but also preventative treatment with a knowledge of using herbs, As pharmacuticals won't last forever.

Next would be the tinker, the person that repairs things as the break. Like pumps, generators/ solar set ups. repair firearms, that sort of thing.


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## camo2460 (Feb 10, 2013)

LibertyHippie said:


> The closest thread I've seen that touches on this subject is a really dated and the topic isn't exactly what I'm looking for so I'd like to start a new thread.
> 
> I believe that medical services would prove the most valuable in a SHTF situation but in lieu of that, what skills and abilities could a person acquire that could be used to barter for goods, protection, shelter or other services. How would one rank them in order of importance?
> 
> ...


Having a good skill set is invaluable, but no one can know it all since some of the examples you listed could take a life time to master, and even then does not guarantee your survival. While having skills are valuable and a must, these skills will not automatically render you indispensable and/or independent, way to many variables exist. In my opinion one would be better off mastering one or two skills, and then having a good working knowledge of others.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

camo2460 is right. Plus most people simply can not master some skills and it has nothing to do with your intelligence. They may be excellent with some things and not very good at others. 
I'm sure you have already figured out that you are better at some things than others. You Can try to build your knowledge base and you Can purchase books on many subjects.
It takes what 12 years or more to be a doctor but you could learn to sew up a cut in an hour or so. You can have books that you can reference on what drugs to use for what. You can have books to reference on what medicinal wild plants grow in your area and what they look like and are used for.
You do not have to do everything unless you are planning on living all alone in a remote location.


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## Starcreek (Feb 4, 2015)

LibertyHippie said:


> Medical training
> Firearms and hunting
> Horticulture and animal husbandry
> Cooking and food storage
> ...


Since the title of this thread is "Bartering Skills," I would scratch Firearms/Hunting and Cooking/Food Storage from your list. Those are basics for survival that you and your family will need, not something to barter away. In a shtf situation there are some things that would be absolutely essential to me and not available for barter.....firearms and food would be at the top of that list.

My son has taught himself blacksmithing. That is a barterable skill. In any kind of primitive living situation, people need nails and tools made and repaired. Plus, he could easily pick up horse-shoeing, if that became a useful skill.

If you are good with either animals or plants (most people favor one or the other), you need to improve your skills in growing or raising something that reproduces. If you raise rabbits, of course those reproduce (2-3 litters per year). If you raise dairy animals, you can sell/barter milk, cheese, butter, etc. If you raise bees, you can barter the honey, and make candles and herbal salves with the wax. If you are good with plants, you can grow lots of vegetables, fruit trees, etc., but something a lot of people don't grow that would be barterable would be culinary and medicinal herbs.

Medical training would always be barterable. In the old days, people would give the doctor a few chickens for delivering a baby. Midwifery, imo, would be a wonderful skill to have.

Security would likely be something everyone would provide for themselves or their group.


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

Start by looking at yesterday, today, and tomorrow. If you are a buggy whip maker today you are not eating on a regular basis. Skill needs change. Steve Jobs got rich by being very good in an area where there were few really good people at that time. After an EMP or a fiscal collapse certain skills will be needed more than others. Look to the skills you might need tomorrow and build on those. 

Look first to what you are good at and to what you are interested in. If you are looking for skills to barter then you want to be really good. Mediocre work does not get many referrals. Develop other skills so you don't have to trade for those. Look to the things you spend your money on today, how many of those can you do or learn to do for yourself. It is not how much you make it is how much you spend.

Learn a skill that is not widely known in your area. I started a small contracting business doing mostly remodels and home repairs. When the local mill went out on strike everyone at the mill and many of the others in the community tightened their belts so there was less work to go around. Then every mill worker with a pickup and a tool belt was out there working for peanuts. While they felt the need to get lots of money at the mill they needed cash to get themselves through the strike. They had no insurance, bonding, or facilities expenses. It was hard to compete with their price.

I developed my medical skills by taking an EMT class at a volunteer fire department. The basic EMT classes about 120 hours plus your reading time. I let myself get recruited as a volunteer and that really improved my abilities with the continued training and direct patient care.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

While medical training will be invaluable you need to think of skills that will not only work for barter but help you survive if there isn't anyone near to barter with.


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

Starcreek said:


> Since the title of this thread is "Bartering Skills," I would scratch Firearms/Hunting and Cooking/Food Storage from your list. Those are basics for survival that you and your family will need, not something to barter away.


Yes and no. In the eskimo villages the superior hunter is a prized asset to the village. Being really good at anything makes it barter able. Go to any farmers market and you will see canned items. A can of tomatoes or beans will be worth more in the winter than the fresh in the summer or fall. I make a pretty fair corned moose. I bet I could do okay on beef as well. While canning can provide you with food year around it can also provide you with something to sell year around. Dehydrating is another storage method that can provide a marketable product for a year around income. By income I mean cash, PM's, or trade.


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

Our focus has been to become more self sufficient in all areas. There may or may not be a secure enough situation to facillitate bartering with anyone. If we have enough skill to live independently, I'm sure we'll have enough skills to barter with someone else.


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## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

Grimm said:


> While medical training with be invaluable you need to think of skills that will not only work for barter but help you survive if there isn't anyone near to barter with.


I agree.
Skills are best for bartering, because things can be stolen & if you have a trading post to work from then you need security. That mean staying in one place & having 5 or so people to take care of.
I do not plan to move, keeping animals, fruit trees & garden means staying put as long as possible.
So these skills will work for survive more then trade for me.


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## LibertyHippie (Aug 28, 2009)

This is all excellent input and I'll be making use of every tip provided. Thank you.

So far my concentration has been on what I can make use of on my own in situations where I would not have access to many modern amenities and since I'm not stationary, yet; the best way to increase my chances of survival while being nomadic.


Again, thanks.


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## Balls004 (Feb 28, 2015)

Bartering has never been an exact science. It doesn't require that you be an expert in a certain field, it just means that you have more skill or goods than the person who you are bartering with to be successful. 

Bartering is largely a give and take enterprise. There will be times that you have to give more than you receive. In those instances, learn as much as you can from the exchange. The "take" situations, simply means that what you have in knowledge goods, or experience is more valuable to the recipient and you can maximize your "profit".

Bartering goods or services is no different from the model we use today except that we do it with currency. There will always be a party that profits from the exchange. The best portfolio of skills, goods, or services will usually have the upper hand in any transaction.


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## bigg777 (Mar 18, 2013)

I have looked at skills that our Amish neighbors use and/or need regularly, such as leather tanning and harness crafting, blacksmithing, veterinary svcs., etc. Other skills that come to mind are spinning wool & clothing mfg., knife making, gunsmithing, cobbler, cooper, potter, glass blower, soap maker, the list goes on & on. Look around at the items that you use daily, 95% are currently produced overseas, there will be 100s of skills and crafts necessary and in great demand.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

Be careful looking at old time skills as a guide because some of those will be worthless now. 
Flint knapping would be an example of an old skill that would now be worthless. With the many thousands of tons of ready iron and steel everywhere there would certainly be no need for Flint knapping.


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

I think barter is going to work in very few places by very few people. At least 95% of the population isn't prepping. They don't have more than a week of stored food. Probably half the preppers only have a few months worth of stored food. So people who don't have food will want food. If they know you have it, they can become a danger to you. Some of the most dangerous people will be family, friends, and coworkers who think you owe them something.

So what good are all your skills when everyone is starving except you? 

If I'm wrong about all this someone should let me know why.


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## Balls004 (Feb 28, 2015)

BillS said:


> I think barter is going to work in very few places by very few people. At least 95% of the population isn't prepping. They don't have more than a week of stored food. Probably half the preppers only have a few months worth of stored food. So people who don't have food will want food. If they know you have it, they can become a danger to you. Some of the most dangerous people will be family, friends, and coworkers who think you owe them something.
> 
> So what good are all your skills when everyone is starving except you?
> 
> If I'm wrong about all this someone should let me know why.


I don't think you're wrong, just realistic...


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## offgridcooker (Mar 5, 2012)

How about street marketing and street vending skills?
Maybe a food item you have perfected, to sell.
Fresh hand made tortillas would sell like hotcakes. 
But it may be easier to just sell hotcakes!


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

BillS said:


> I think barter is going to work in very few places by very few people. At least 95% of the population isn't prepping. They don't have more than a week of stored food. Probably half the preppers only have a few months worth of stored food. So people who don't have food will want food. If they know you have it, they can become a danger to you. Some of the most dangerous people will be family, friends, and coworkers who think you owe them something.
> 
> So what good are all your skills when everyone is starving except you?
> 
> If I'm wrong about all this someone should let me know why.


Straight barter, i.e. you paint my house I fix your car, is very difficult. That is why we developed money. For thousands of years money was gold, silver, and copper. Remember though that these metals are also commodities. In Japan rice was money. In a very real sense you barter your time to your employer for cash and then barter that cash for food at the grocery store.

If money becomes useless then the person who knows the needs of the most number of people will do the best with barter. I have X and you have Y. I don't want Y but I know that Bob likes Y so I take your Y in trade and get the M that I really want in trade from Bob. Today there are people that barter. They take something clean it up and trade for something more expensive. They keep doing this until the eventually cash out. They then start over. There was even a TV show about this a few years back.

Pure barter works, but currency is far more convenient.


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## offgridcooker (Mar 5, 2012)

LibertyHippie said:


> The closest thread I've seen that touches on this subject is a really dated and the topic isn't exactly what I'm looking for so I'd like to start a new thread.
> 
> I believe that medical services would prove the most valuable in a SHTF situation but in lieu of that, what skills and abilities could a person acquire that could be used to barter for goods, protection, shelter or other services. How would one rank them in order of importance?
> 
> ...


The problem with barter, trade and enterprise accociated with disaster is everybody thinks you should give your stuff to them. Even if they have more wealth than you, if you charge for your service you will be labeled as a greedy!
The "price gouger accusationist" has ruined it, for venders to provide necessary supplies, at an agreeable price, during or immediately after a disaster.
Or have I become too cynical?


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## TheLazyL (Jun 5, 2012)

Swap meet is every Monday at the local school parking lot. I been doing good by trading off my surplus 22's.

I've been careful not to come and go by the same route. And I only bring a few of my surplus 22s with me.

Unknown to me I've been watched. By watching the entry/exit routes over a period of time the Watchers have narrowed down where my BOL is.

One day the Watchers catch me off guard and with the help of the 22s I traded, proceed to take everything I own.


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## Starcreek (Feb 4, 2015)

Remember that if you have a skill to trade -- blacksmithing, knitting, gardening, whatever -- make sure you stock up on supplies for whatever it is you do. If you grow or raise something (gardening, livestock) make sure you have stock that reproduces, like non-hybrid, heirloom seed or male and female of your livestock.

We already barter a good bit. A few trades we've done in the recent past include two multi-color Toyota pickups for construction of a large deck, a .22 rifle for a small herd of dairy goats, web site design for an Akbash livestock guardian dog, cement-block foundation for a work van, carpentry skills remodeling for fresh-cut boards to frame up a house (this last one was a long-term arrangement where my oldest son, who is a carpenter, did various repair/remodel jobs on a friend's house in exchange for a couple of truckloads of boards cut from trees on the friend's property, to frame up my son's house he was building).


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

I recently traded four one hundred dollar bills for a revolver. Does that count as barter?
I have several valuable skills for after the collapse but unless it happens in the near future I fear I will be too old to use those skills and I will just be a drain on my family.


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## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

hiwall said:


> I recently traded four one hundred dollar bills for a revolver. Does that count as barter?
> I have several valuable skills for after the collapse but unless it happens in the near future I fear I will be too old to use those skills and I will just be a drain on my family.


Knowledge is never a drain, true teachers must know to teach.
Someone will have to take your place in working the skills, they will need your help to do these things.


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## TheLazyL (Jun 5, 2012)

hiwall said:


> ...but unless it happens in the near future I fear I will be too old to use those skills and I will just be a drain on my family.


I humbly disagree and will use my dad as an example.

When Dad was in his eighty's:

1. He could no longer climb the ladder to clean the roof gutters.
2. He didn't have the stamina so tasks like mowing the yard he'd pace over several days. 
3. He could put his car up on the ramp, slide under to change the oil and filter. 
4. He could drive safely 1,200 miles *straight thru* back and forth from their summer home and winter home.
5. He could calculate in his head exactly how much a rental increase would cost him in a years time.

Just because someone is older doesn't mean they will be a "drain" or "dead weight".

It might mean they can no longer Rambo with the troops or aren't' mobile enough to plow the back forty with a horse.

They can care for the little ones while the parents are Ramboing or plowing.

They can man the communications gear.

They can maintain inventory records, reload ammo, be teachers, etc...

Get the point I'm trying to make?


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

hiwall said:


> I recently traded four one hundred dollar bills for a revolver. Does that count as barter?
> I have several valuable skills for after the collapse but unless it happens in the near future I fear I will be too old to use those skills and I will just be a drain on my family.


The eskimos and indians valued their elders. Not because they could hunt and fish but because they could teach others how to do things and advise the village on the best way to accomplish something.


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

hiwall said:


> I recently traded four one hundred dollar bills for a revolver. Does that count as barter?
> I have several valuable skills for after the collapse but unless it happens in the near future I fear I will be too old to use those skills and I will just be a drain on my family.


Great job! You traded four pieces of paper with no real value for something that has value.


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## readytogo (Apr 6, 2013)

(I'm trying to decide a way to prioritize these disciplines)
While it sounds good in a shtf scenario any skill is a good skill I like to think that pure common sense will play a big role in survival too, I have no medical skills only the first aid training I got in the service and back in the American frontier with few and far real doctors the frontiersman had to survived on guts and pure skills learn by experience and pure survival instincts .In today’s world and based on past events I have seem medical help arrived within hours ,death is eminent ,the best skill to have is the ability to take care your family first and to have a good heart towards your neighbors and friends to give a helping hand in any way possible to shared a cup of water or a can of beans is a great beginning skill in my book.


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## fteter (May 23, 2014)

hiwall said:


> I have several valuable skills for after the collapse but unless it happens in the near future I fear I will be too old to use those skills and I will just be a drain on my family.


hiwall, may I suggest a different perspective? Wisdom and experience will be sorely needed in an "after the collapse" scenario. You may not be physically able to grow crops anymore, but you could teach those skills to a younger generation (many of whom have never gotten their hands dirty). Perhaps you can't be a "run and gun" guy that helps secure a group, but age shouldn't be much of a barrier to reloading.

In addition, we can develop new skills that we can perform as we age. I'll freely admit that my best days of heavy manual labor are far behind me. I'm physically unable to be a blacksmith or a home builder anymore. But I've developed medical/healing skills as I've grown older. Ditto for communications and electronic repair. My project for this year is to learn cobbling skills (which I think will be in big demand if shoes ever go out of production).

Note that all those new skills will also be of value when bartering opportunities present themselves. You're spot on to be concerned about certain skills deteriorating with age. May I propose that the answer to that issue is to adapt as we age? Just some food for thought...


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