Posted: 1/11/2009 7:42:30 PM EDT
|
My nephew works at a fuel storage terminal. I asked him to be on the lookout for some 55 gal drums. He scored two in great shape and delivered them for free. He then told me that he could get more if I needed them.
That got me to thinking about getting them as trade stock. I go to church with the local well driller/service guy. He probably doesn't know the term "prepper" but he is an old school version of one. Triple redundant on everything, frugal, etc and I'm pretty sure he wears his old Remington Rand 1911 in Sunday morning services. The guy lives on 700 acres of family land with 3 ponds, a creek and an artesian spring 
I asked if he needed drums (he did) and if he knew a source for food grade intermediate bulk containers for water storage. He did and it looks like we will work out a deal. My point: network with your local well driller, backhoe operator, septic guy or whatever. They tend to be long time residents of your AO and they know everybody. You just might luck into some equipment on the cheap! |
|
i've saved a lot of money over the years throught networking...
here's one and maybe my best example: had a buddy whom was a mechanic, never charged me for work, but i always sent folks to him as refferals, he would turn wrenches on the side of his regular mechanic job. he'd do the work for my refferals cheaper than he would through day light hours of the shop but still charge a little something. he also did a lot of towing work, again i got free tows and sent him a lot of refferals and did a lot of word of mouth advertising for the guy both for towing and wrench turning, i did alawys insist to the folks that they "trreat him well", meaning never squable over any price he ask(he wasn't going to fuck anyone in general but not anyone i reffered for sure) and to tip him on top of that, no oe ever complained that they didn't get a great job at a great price. i also would occationally ride shotgun(with a .45) and watch his back when he did repo's or parking enforcement. he had someone to bullshit with and cover his 6(i also took care of him if and when he ever came into the bar where i work) and i got mechanical work done for free from a guy i realy trusted... we were kinda eachothers "hookup", mutually beneficial favors and networking is the name of the game. and it really dose work quite well, only problem is really when someone is greedy or oblivious to abusing the favors, or not repaying them. those folks usually get ostricised pretty quickly... other examples: *i had a gun shop guy, he hooked me up there, i hooked him up at the bar. i've networked with many folks i've met through my conection at the store, some have panned out and paid off some have not. *met guy when buying an old mauser out of the classified ads once, now we have become friends and keep an eye out for each others likes, he helps me out with bolt actions and reloading and other "fudd" guns, etc. i help him out with the "black nasties/ebr's". i also get treated pretty good by good friend of his whom is a smith who will work on stuff for me because of him that he dosen't care to(ebr stuff, he's a fudd smith but a very good one) work on in general. in return i send folks looking for work on fudd guns to him. *when i worked service industry jobs in the past there was an unwritten rule amoung many many of us whom worked all over town that if you were one of the "in" crowd and the person serving you were also than whomever was eating got the deepest discount allowed by the other. at one point i could eat for free at more than a few places and get big discoutns at probably 10 more restraunts in town. gotta love managers comps. and for those of you whom tip well (remember the big arguement that incompssed the tip well/don't tip thread caused in reg G.D. a while back) do it repeatidly and in amlot of places you'll start to notice a little something here and there being taken off the bill(very much depending on what type and from restraunt to restraunt). if your server does a good job, tip tem well(no ones saying tip them if your service sucks). *many years ago after being disgusted at the shitty selection and markup at a gun show i walked into a pawn shop. i asked the guy very politelly behind the counter if he would be willing to allow me to order things through his FFL, i'd be down with paying whatever he deemed fair over his cost. this went on for a while i visited his store quite often and started sending friends in. he has great prices on used dvd's eventully the owner and i became friends and he realised i wasn't going to take advantage of him and was tryig to by word of mouth drum up buisness for him. i now pay very little over dealed cost, very very little. in return he gets the absolute very best refferences by word of mouth about what a fair guy he is to deal with. in appriciation i also try to not ever walk into his store with out buying something even if just a used dvd, though sometimes i'm just stopping in to bullshit with the guy i still buy something. *looks like my baby sister is going to be able to hook me up with a bunch of food grade buckets from a walmart bakery. she works in the optometry dept. at a walmart and already gets great prices on stuff there for the family(contacts for mom, second pair of glasses for me and dad thought i rarely wear mine at all and yes i get yelled at for it). but the buckets will be just in time as i just got another batch of mylar bags from major surplus. i guess i really could go on and on about how i feel this is a great system and i feel like a more back to basics, old world, friendly, system that requires you to have a reputaion that your willing to be hald accountable for. nobody wants to do buisness with an ass or with someone whom will fuck them over, so you kinda held more accountable for your actions and intent than in a strictly cash and carry role. but mutually benefiting bartering, service exchange, favors, "hook ups", etc. etc. whatever you want to call them/it, really can save you if you're willing to network and in some cases willing to negotiate/haggle. many folks would just rather pay a set price and be done with things, cash and carry. me, i'll call up one of my go to guys, and find a "hook up"... |