by Shaheen Darr

Created on: October 13, 2008   Last Updated: January 22, 2011

Times are hard and you do not know what financial news you will be waking up to as each new day dawns. The times of the Great Depression come to mind after the Wall Street stock market crash in 1929. Franklin Roosevelt suggested a "New Deal" to take stock of socio-economic conditions and find new ways of dealing with them. In our current times, one way of bringing in a "New Deal” and help people economize would be to resort to old time bartering.

Direct barter in olden times meant that items of a similar nature that a friend or neighbour possessed could be exchanged. There was not much difference in the values of the items to be exchanged, for example an animal would be exchanged for an animal and a tool for a tool. In today's time's friends and neighbours can do similar exchanges without involving finance companies and getting into loans and debts. Cars, furniture, and items of jewellery are only some things that come to mind and the list is endless.

The main thing to remember is that there should be some form of written agreement between the two parties so that both parties are satisfied with the transaction. The items should also have been thoroughly checked before any exchange takes place.

It is the indirect form of barter that might cause problems as it would involve placing an approximate value on the goods being exchanged. These are goods that are not similar in nature to each other, for example the providing of a service in exchange for goods. This can be resolved by checking out the current market price of the goods on the internet or in the shops to get an idea of what its value is before you decide to offer it for exchange.

Apart from offering various professional services to each other, families could give lifts to each other’s children to school to save on car expenses, people could offer to do shopping for neighbours in exchange for having their garden cleaned and some stay at home mums could offer to make a meal for a neighbour in exchange for some repair work that they needs done at home. As the number of satisfied customers increases so will the list of items people wish to offer for bartering.

The initial idea can be suggested at places where friends and families get together and a notice board can be set up where items are advertised. Group meetings can also be arranged in community halls or other public places for live bartering to take place under organised conditions. In this "New Deal" the two main points to keep in mind should be that elements of trust, friendship and goodwill should prevail amongst the bartering groups of people, and secondly no money should exchange hands at all.

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