Realistic Barter Goods

[bigpaul]

(3 February 2013, 01:17)Scythe13 Wrote: Considering MANY preppers refuse to make contact with other people (BP, looking your way mate)

i find that a very odd statement, seeing as i have attended the last 2 WG's, and have put The Game Fair, The SCYTHE Fair and the Wood Fair, on the forum.

[Scythe13]

You say, quite often, that WTSHTF you're not making contact with anyone.

I'm so easily confused.

[bigpaul]

(3 February 2013, 10:31)Scythe13 Wrote: You say, quite often, that WTSHTF you're not making contact with anyone.

I'm so easily confused.

that is POST SHTF, i am making face to face contact NOW not waiting until WTSHTF!

[Scythe13]

(3 February 2013, 10:39)bigpaul Wrote:

(3 February 2013, 10:31)Scythe13 Wrote: You say, quite often, that WTSHTF you're not making contact with anyone.

I'm so easily confused.

that is POST SHTF, i am making face to face contact NOW not waiting until WTSHTF!

I thought that's what NR was on about in this thread, post SHTF?

Sorry mate. My bad.

---

So you'll work with people you know before TSHTF? Is that what you mean?

[Prepper1]

I still fail to see why some on here, bang on about meeting up and its importance but THEN berate people who do not want too.

Just because I/we wont meet up with other preppers doesn't mean we wont barter post shtf.

Educate yourself, read selco's survival blog, you can also download his full survival course via torrent as I have.

Its a more realistic view of life post shtf and the bartering process, well for me anyway as he actually lived through shtf.

I, as well as others will probably trade post shtf but extremely carefully and rarely after weighing all the pro's and cons etc.

Some of us don't/cant meet up at meets etc... or have a concern for opsec, mine borders on the paranoid, that maybe to my detriment or not, only time will tell on that.

It however doesn't make us/me less of a prepper, it means we/I have a differing view point on the worth of meeting other preppers face to face.

That by the way doesn't mean I don't respect and appreciate other preppers and their views, I just don't concur with meeting up.

The chances after shtf that I'm going to meet anybody on this forum are slim to none, because I for one wont be trekking miles and miles anywhere for anything as I feel for years after shtf it'll be to violent and risky, but that is just MY point of view maybe local trades, but not too close.

[bigpaul]

(3 February 2013, 10:41)Scythe13 Wrote: So you'll work with people you know before TSHTF? Is that what you mean?

yes thats it, if you do intend to work with others after TSHTF, you need to meet up NOW to work out if you could work with them post shtf, more importantly you need to work out which ones to AVOID post shtf my remark about avoiding people after tshtf was meant to refer to sheeple in general not other preppers from this site-that i already know and have formed working relationships with.

[Scythe13]

(3 February 2013, 11:17)bigpaul Wrote:

(3 February 2013, 10:41)Scythe13 Wrote: So you'll work with people you know before TSHTF? Is that what you mean?

yes thats it, if you do intend to work with others after TSHTF, you need to meet up NOW to work out if you could work with them post shtf, more importantly you need to work out which ones to AVOID post shtf my remark about avoiding people after tshtf was meant to refer to sheeple in general not other preppers from this site-that i already know and have formed working relationships with.

That makes much more sense. Thought you meant totally avoiding EVERYONE. Like I said, I'm easily confused.

[Prepper1]

(3 February 2013, 11:19)Scythe13 Wrote:

(3 February 2013, 11:17)bigpaul Wrote:

(3 February 2013, 10:41)Scythe13 Wrote: So you'll work with people you know before TSHTF? Is that what you mean?

yes thats it, if you do intend to work with others after TSHTF, you need to meet up NOW to work out if you could work with them post shtf, more importantly you need to work out which ones to AVOID post shtf my remark about avoiding people after tshtf was meant to refer to sheeple in general not other preppers from this site-that i already know and have formed working relationships with.

That makes much more sense. Thought you meant totally avoiding EVERYONE. Like I said, I'm easily confused.

Its a good idea in theory B.P. but what happens, if you don't mind being morbid for a minute or two, if all the pre shtf contacts for trading are dead and gone, then what?

You've lived in the city so your skills for bartering post shtf are good anyway, because you'll still have that watching people, that sixth sense city dwellers have for spotting people up to no good... back to the wall kinda thing, that skills going to be invaluable to you for trading with strangers should you have too.

I would respectfully suggest that we all don't write off trading with strangers post shtf because we might not be able to trade within a closed prepper group for some reason.

Maybe an idea would be to brush up on body language whilst your on your travels now, for example seeing if you can predict peoples behavior through body language or hand movements or furtiveness that kind of thing.
You can even practice on your family, watch how they behave when they say or do things, if there lying to you about something, what do their hands do?
Do they shuffle their feet, mumble, what do others do?
Is it similar?
Do you know if somebody is lying to you?
Do you get a sixth sense about "bad un's"?

I do recommend you all download Selcos survival course though even if you have to pay for it, its well worth its weight in gold.
Its been an eye opener reading the stuff and listening to him as a lot of its on audio, but very educational.

[bigpaul]

(3 February 2013, 11:29)Prepper1 Wrote: Its a good idea in theory B.P. but what happens, if you don't mind being morbid for a minute or two, if all the pre shtf contacts for trading are dead and gone, then what?

You've lived in the city so your skills for bartering post shtf are good anyway, because you'll still have that watching people, that sixth sense city dwellers have for spotting people up to no good... back to the wall kinda thing, that skills going to be invaluable to you for trading with strangers should you have too.

Thanks for that P1, i am very wary of strangers-comes of living in a city and moving in the circles i did(drug scene, bikers, hells angels, working girls, the club scene etc) i still have this "back to the wall" mentality and i think i am more aware of people than a lot of the people here who have lived in the countryside all their lives. i havent set out to be a trader post SHTF and would only do so if their was something i really NEEDED and had the excess to trade with. mostly, if my set of trustworthy preppers-i know personally through RV's-is no longer alive then its total isloation for me-trust no one.

[Scythe13]

(3 February 2013, 11:43)bigpaul Wrote: if my set of trustworthy preppers-i know personally through RV's-is no longer alive then its total isloation for me-trust no one.

I think we may be hijacking the thread now, but what if you came across a guy mostly wearing black, about 6feet tall, relatively muscular, with a patch on his shoulder saying S13 (possibly me.....okay, most likely ME). We've not met, but we know a fair bit about each other. If we both tried, we could find out where each other lived, or within a could of miles of where we lived.

With that in mind, you see me going through the woods near your camp/BOL. Trust, don't trust, take a chance, lay low, warning shot, fatal shot, or what? You know you won't offend me, whatever your answer is. So what would you do in that situation?