Whats Fair in Bartering?Amanda Warren When I talked to a small business owner I worked for, she had nothing but sour sentiments for talk of blossoming barter economies. Greece is using it out of necessity and with encouraging results. Others are going out of their way to choose it for personal reasons. The news vid below, favorably shows New York businesses bartering, and says there are over 1500 bartering websites. Her business was sinking for many reasons, and she needed good PR, so I suggested barter. Instead of pure cash or credit, she had consumable items that werent moving which she paid wholesale for why not trade some to a beginning social media relations expert for a service that would normally cost a lot of dough? The practice sounds perfect to me because I dislike banking, managing money, exorbitantfees, and paying for inflation while I continue to trade hours for stationary wages. I like sideswipes and life hacks. Ive already bartered using my skill set with friends. Her utopia involves government handouts, small business bailouts, and universal health care. In my mind, she is constantly miserable because she is waiting for what she feels is owed to her, forgetting that its hers and everyone elses hourly wages that would go to her slice of pie and slices to many, many others. She asked: How is a barter society FAIR when I have to trade my GOODS that I PAY cash for wholesale prices for something that other people can do for FREE? A BARBER or HAIR STYLIST for instance, can do their work for FREE as many times as they WANT. But I have GOODS. A barter society can NEVER work! What she also missed during this discussion: But if I want a bag of groceries or a hair style, Im trading goods that I paid for, she said.Ive seen this problem arise in a real-life example. A relative who is a painter bartered painting services for dental and doctor visits for his family. But that left nothing much for groceries in the following weeks, as it would take a week or two to complete some of the work. And he had to buy the paint and supplies. Sometimes he trades with a local farm for fresh goods but still has difficulty with gaining other grocery goods when hes trading paint service. How is this conundrum solved? Are these birthing pains since our modern society currently isnt immersed in barter and cannot be fully transitioned? Would it be different if the economy completely flunked would some people and their skills be left in the cold? Is it really just for those doing the trade to work out, going through trial and error? I think perception of fairness is better left to positive people who choose to initiate these interactions. Now, how do you like to respond to the argument above? For me, its the feeling one gets when expressing how great it would be to go back to no income tax and already knows the first words out of their mouths And the third-eyelid starts to droop Please share your thoughts below. This video (a few years old) shows some New York businesses helping each other out of economic slumps with bartering. Even though they are giving something away, they join forces in trade to pull the other up. They express happiness and gratitude for the trade. Image: Wikimedia Commons Read Other Articles By Amanda Warren linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 