Criminals have a vested interest in barter.  It’s simple really.  Barter transactions are harder for enforcement agencies to track than cash.  I’ve mentioned in the past that the alternative electronic currency known as bitcoin is known to be used by drug dealers in an attempt to hide their business.  Now there may be a new and much stranger alternative currency that the underground economy is using:  Tide laundry detergent.  That’s right!  Based on the news articles I’ve been reading (just Google “Tide theft”) criminals have been specifically using Tide as an alternate currency.  If true, I’m sure this is just breaking hearts over at Proctor and Gamble.

Although there is some debate as to the voracity of the news reports about this (snoopes) I think the concept is still interesting.  There is no good reason why we should be trading government issued pieces of paper to buy and sell products/services especially seeing that the paper is a fiat currency that is backed up by no real assets and has no “real” value.  As such a jug of Tide is arguably much more valuable than US dollars.  When you combine that fact with the declining confidence that many Americans have in the Federal Reserve System it makes perfect sense that people are going to look for an alternative currency with real value.

More than anything else I would take these news reports as a sign of the times as to the current openness of folks to accept payment in barter.   As such I recommend to strike while the iron is hot and do your best to recruit as many of your vendors/customers/friends/enemies/etc. into the Cult Of Barter.

OK…what I really want to know here is who told A&E about my idea??!!!

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Exclusive-Orders-Barter-Kings-1044955.aspx

Seriously though…a friend and I came up with a similar idea about 6 weeks ago.  There is a difference between our ideas though.  Based on the article above it sounds like they are going to try to do the whole “trade a  paperclip up  to a house” type thing.  I understand why they are taking that route.    It’s a popular story that people love.  I wouldn’t do it that way though because that doesn’t reflect the real barter sub-culture.  Real traders aren’t going to limit their resources and try to trade a single item up as much as they can.  Real traders are always bartering everything.  I think a better framework for a show would be to show how people live every day  with as little cash as possible.  I’ve heard of people that depend on barter for 80 or 90% of their income.  That’s what I’d be interested in seeing.

BTW…thanks to Paul for the heads up on this one!

In case you are one of those folks that don’t know the difference, let me lay this out for you and make it CRYSTAL CLEAR.  The words “barter” and “haggle” do not mean the same thing!  Am I the only person that is driven crazy when these words are sometimes used interchangeably??!!  Even my wife (who can’t escape a constant barrage of barter banter) mixes these terms up sometimes.  Here are the correct definitions:

Barter:  To trade one product or service for another.

Haggle:  To negotiate for the best possible price for a product or service.

I think the cause for confusion is twofold:

1)  Traditionally, Americans neither barter nor haggle much.  As such I think many of us simply lump them both into the mental category of  ”that undesirable thing that some people do when they try to buy things cheap.”

2)  Of course part of bartering involves determining the value of the traded item and that can often include some haggling.  The confusion is caused by the fact that both are often conducted at the same time.

The reason that it’s important that folks understand the difference is because many Americans simply refuse to haggle.  If they mix these two terms up, their distaste for haggling will infect their feelings about barter.  So I send you forth, my little barter fanatics, to educate the world and spread the gospel of barter.  Whenever you can please point out the differences between these two terms.