Posted: 2/11/2013 12:07:34 PM EDT
| In TX a pretty good vodka (Heaven Hill) is available for +/- $10 per 1.75L. What are your thoughts on vodka as a barter item? For medicinal use? For one last party if all else fails? |
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I keep 6 half gallons of Seagrams 7. I am going to get a case of Stoli vodka to rotate through...
I have a drink a few nights a week, but if I buy a half gallon of whisky and a 5th of vodka a month I will have a fast growing supply. I think comfort items like booz and TP will be much better barter items then SILVER. I |
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I agree,
If the shtf what is silver going to do for anyone? I rank the most valuable barter or trade items as such: 1-ammo, yes boxes of sealed 855 will bring a premium...just don't sell too much! 2- food/water people will pay whatever you ask if the need this stuff. 3- other necessity/comfort items...like soap, tp, spices, cigs, booze...etc. Now, if a shtf happens ... Those are my short list... Other things of trade...that you may have... Rom and board...a place to stay. General repair...things break, if you can or have the ability to fix it that's worth loads of cash... I'm sure there's more but it's late and I'm going to lof off... P.s. Op. I'd say if you can have a name brand that is recognized in your area it will bring the best bang for the buck... I like glenmorangie, but if I'm looking for a drink, desperate, I'd take what I can get... So, I'd say any well known name in the middle of the road is best...you won't get you roi on uv or grey goose, but, any name is better than one no one has heard of... Bret |
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Quoted:
I'd try to get some pints or half-pints of Bacardi 151. Years ago I took 151 along on a wilderness backpacking trip to mix with cool-aide thinking it would have twice the punch for the same weight as 80 proof. What a mistake!!! Yuck! Never again!!! Tasted terrible. Could hardly drink it. By the way, if we are in a real national EOTW-SHTF situation, I suspect el cheapo Vodka will be worth just as much as Stoli! |
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Quoted:
I agree, If the shtf what is silver going to do for anyone? I rank the most valuable barter or trade items as such: 1-ammo, yes boxes of sealed 855 will bring a premium...just don't sell too much! 2- food/water people will pay whatever you ask if the need this stuff. 3- other necessity/comfort items...like soap, tp, spices, cigs, booze...etc. Now, if a shtf happens ... Those are my short list... Other things of trade...that you may have... Rom and board...a place to stay. General repair...things break, if you can or have the ability to fix it that's worth loads of cash... I'm sure there's more but it's late and I'm going to lof off... P.s. Op. I'd say if you can have a name brand that is recognized in your area it will bring the best bang for the buck... I like glenmorangie, but if I'm looking for a drink, desperate, I'd take what I can get... So, I'd say any well known name in the middle of the road is best...you won't get you roi on uv or grey goose, but, any name is better than one no one has heard of... Bret While I agree with almost everything you are saying, I do wanna say this on the value of silver, gold and other PMs. The biggest value to PMs is not there trade value (they do have value since they are basically unanimously considered a currency, and there's a decent chance someone else somewhere will trade for silver), there biggest value is to act as a hedge against inflation and to insure your wealth through any major disaster. Eventually humans will rebuild. We will work together to build communities. Silver and Gold don't go bad. They are fairly rare, which gives them a value. Silver and gold would be able to allow you to buy land, purchase a car, hire a team of workers to work your farm. It basically holds the same value as a money or barter item, just in larger denominations. If you look all through history, a day's labor has been paid with a tenth-ounce silver coin. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I agree, If the shtf what is silver going to do for anyone? I rank the most valuable barter or trade items as such: 1-ammo, yes boxes of sealed 855 will bring a premium...just don't sell too much! 2- food/water people will pay whatever you ask if the need this stuff. 3- other necessity/comfort items...like soap, tp, spices, cigs, booze...etc. Now, if a shtf happens ... Those are my short list... Other things of trade...that you may have... Rom and board...a place to stay. General repair...things break, if you can or have the ability to fix it that's worth loads of cash... I'm sure there's more but it's late and I'm going to lof off... P.s. Op. I'd say if you can have a name brand that is recognized in your area it will bring the best bang for the buck... I like glenmorangie, but if I'm looking for a drink, desperate, I'd take what I can get... So, I'd say any well known name in the middle of the road is best...you won't get you roi on uv or grey goose, but, any name is better than one no one has heard of... Bret While I agree with almost everything you are saying, I do wanna say this on the value of silver, gold and other PMs. The biggest value to PMs is not there trade value (they do have value since they are basically unanimously considered a currency, and there's a decent chance someone else somewhere will trade for silver), there biggest value is to act as a hedge against inflation and to insure your wealth through any major disaster. Eventually humans will rebuild. We will work together to build communities. Silver and Gold don't go bad. They are fairly rare, which gives them a value. Silver and gold would be able to allow you to buy land, purchase a car, hire a team of workers to work your farm. It basically holds the same value as a money or barter item, just in larger denominations. If you look all through history, a day's labor has been paid with a tenth-ounce silver coin. I do agree as well, but unless you have a pallet of ammo and mags you under funding the immediate essentials... If you have the weapons, gear, and survival all taken care of then yes, gold, silver will have a fairly steady value... My point is two fold, don't horde silver insted of ammo... Also ammo and weapons will have a fairly good roi simillar as gold, silver with a bit more ups and downs. And me, well my gold stash is low...weapons and survival is ok, not perfect... I put the following order on supplies and trade goods. 1- weapons, ammo, mags, spares 2- survival gear, radios, tac gear 3- food, only because of rotation and I live in farm country and own a farm 4- water is not an issue, I have 15million gallons of fresh water and a private well 5- misc items for comfort and trade, scotch, etc...only stuff we use here not just to store for trading. 6- monetary hard goods, gold, silver etc... Everyone's situation is going to be a bit different. Where I live it's rural, and still have lots of resources available here a person in the city may not. I'll say one thing, a few months ago we started getting with a buying club, it's been awesome. We order food once a month, its inexpensive, mostly organic and local as well... The biggest thing it's done is for us to get away from the every couple days trip to the store... I haven't been to the local Walmart for food in a while... Our routine is also keeping more basic ingredients as well, 50# bags of flour, my gf bakes bread and home made stuff every day... Large bags of sugar, etc... And maybe every two months a trip to Costco and/or SAMs club... Back on topic sorry about the aside.. Keep the things you need, use, and want, they all will have value now and if properly rotated and stored in the future... Then get silver and gold. I keep almost no money in the bank...don't trust them, must have picked that up from my grand dad... Another aside...I spent lots of time with my grandpa when I was young, he thought me most of the skills I can use everyday...now, I'm not ancient, but I'll say the old timers had much more knowledge than you see in most people these days. I learned to build, remodel houses, roofing, plaster, drywall, painting, hunting, trapping, general tinkering as well.. The biggest lesson I learned from him was to keep just about anything, you may use it for something later. And to use what you have. Don't buy a new thing fix it and you'll be way ahead in more than dollars. I wish when I was younger I would have spent even more time with him...not an option anymore...died just before the century mark. I'd say the old way was in many respects much better equipped for taking care of yourself, these days it's not common anymore. Anyhow, My 2€ for the day. Bret |
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I keep a well stocked alcohol cabinet, high proof stuff lasts basically forever unopened. If opened it will last a few years as far as flavor goes but the alcohol will prevent it from going "bad" in regard to bacteria and will last a few decades or more, just wont taste as good as a freshly opened bottle.
I feel it would be a good barter item, and if nothing else can be used to disinfect wounds or wash up around the house. Just make sure you get the high proof stuff, the 20% alc content crap from wal mart wont do anything, get 40% or higher. @ the people saying gold and silver are useless for a survival situation i agree that its basically worthless during the worst of times, when people are starving and the population is going Mad Max Precious metals will not be important, but once things settle down, and they will at some point, gold and silver are what people turn to for trade. ive read many stories about people who were prepared and sold basic survival items for gold and silver. In an article about one man who survived the Kosovo Civil war in the mid 90's he recalled seeing people trade gold coins and jewelry for just a few cans of food or a sack of potatoes. When times are rough food and water will always take priority, but in this case, within less than a year the war was over and the price of potatos was back to $1 a bag and that gold necklace was back up to probably $500 |
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The most important thing is to have a well-rounded supply of everything. You never know what the disaster you are faced with and how long it'll last. Do I think I'll need 10,000 rounds of 5.56mm for anything that'll come up? No, but it's nice having it for times like right now and should anything happen that leads to a longtime shooting outbreak.
Vodka and other lasting alcohols (wine comes to mind) would be good trade goods, I'd just exercise caution on who you trade with, same as I would with ammo and such. The knowledge and ability to make these things is also a good thing to have. |
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I had a "privilege" to experience collapse of the Soviet Union first hand. I can tell a lot of survival stories but don't want to sidetrack this thread. One thing I can add to this thread - alcohol was the best barter item.
I could exchange it for food, gas, services, medical supplies etc. People tend to drink more during hard times and many will give you anything for a bottle of booze. |
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Yes,
I wasn't around in that era over seas. I also will say, I may be thinking a bit different than the op. My thinking is when someone says barter I think horde...that my be my issue...I'm man enough to admit short sight or askew on my part. See, I look at my alcohol at my place, I see a few cases of scotch maybe 150-200 bottles of wine, maybe another 20-30 bottles of misc. like grey goose, Seagrams 7, etc. even some Yeager and schnapps as well... I think, if there is a big barter needed, I've got enough, and I own a farm as well, lots of barter there as well, I also feed and water quite a few here each day too... So, for my, I see like 200 cases of vodka bought just for barter reasons, not the best use of resources, but I'm now looking at it a bit different... If your in a dense populated area, living in a house in town, a few cases of vodka might be reasonable. Myself, I can distill grain and corn on site easily,... I'm not saying I have is better or anything like that...just different... From a different perspective... Bret |
