The nugget at the end of the article I read was this:

Hutchinson calls for countries to raise interest rates to counter the tide toward further investment in commodity assets. But he fails to ask a simple question: What if the owners of the commodity assets also think the same – why do they want the fiat currencies in exchange for their commodity assets?

If the situation were to develop to that point, we would have witnessed the end of the fiat-currency era and a move toward a new international monetary system based on barter trade.

What Hutchinson failed to notice is that barter has been a long time piece of the monetary system. Consider that when companies want things from each other, but their governments are at odds, they barter.

What it means for the barter industry is another large scale feet-in group entering the barter arena. What are all of those commodity owners going to do with the commodities if the price they want fails to appear? Barter.

Have fun barter industry! More players are coming your way.

NO brokers.

Brokers are the lifeblood of the barter industry.

The truth is this: business owners are less concerned about barter than everything else they are dealing with. I try to get my clients to understand that the success of a barter exchange depends entirely in the broker’s ability to get motivated and stay more motivated than their members. Business owners are busy. Business owners, especially right now, are very concerned about the bottom line of their Profit and Loss Statements, not about what trade transactions are available to them.

All Business Barter failed for a reason: no brokers

Once they understand how it works, the first question most people ask is, ‘what can I buy?’ Debbie Lombardi of Bristol, Conn.-based Barter Business Unlimited (BBU), says the answer really depends on what you want, and your timeframe.“Ultimately,” she continued, “it comes down to your network and the expertise of your trade broker.”

Like a good travel agent, trade brokers play a constant game of matchmaker. They help members promote what they have to sell and help them spend their trade dollars by locating items on clients’ wish lists.The range of what can be bought is quite impressive.

Jeffrey Cohen of ImageWorksLLC, a Web and e-commerce design company in Vernon, Conn. uses his trade-dollar currency for clients, networking, and keeping his employees happy. “I do seven business meals a week between clients and other business associates. We’ve had company events catered as well.”

On the entertainment side, vacations, hotel rooms, banquets, catering, music, and sporting events are always popular.

Van Houten of Advanced Air Quality, a commercial air duct and kitchen exhaust cleaning firm in Springfield, offered how he used barter exchange to curb costs. “One special celebration back in October would have cost $7,000 if I had to pay cash, but I just used trade dollars instead.”

In my ten years, I have seen over and over that the health of an exchange is dependent on the broker. If you have a good broker, you’ll have a great time with a trade exchange. If you have a bad broker, you’ll get frustated, you’ll get mad, and then you’ll get nothing.

I used to compete with two ITEX franchises locally, one of them with an outstanding reputation and one of them with a shaky reputation. People asked me, quite frequently, what I thought of my competition. I tried to not say much about the ITEX office with a bad reputation, but I praised the work of the ITEX office that had a great reputation.

Again, the truth is that your broker will make or break your experience with a barter exchange. The parent company doesn’t matter as much, the software they use doesn’t matter much, what does matter is your broker.

Today I ran across an article that nicely articulates what I have talked about for ten years: using barter as a source of employee bonuses and perks.

I used to put together packages of dentistry, massage, chiropractic, and certificates to family doctors and sell them to small businesses as a way to add to their health benefits. We spent a considerable amount of time getting items for clients that were specific to their employee’s desires and wants. You can do the same thing.

Robbie Riggs of CarSmart in Mesa offers his employees “barter bonuses.”

“It helps keep employees happy when you are able to do things through barter that you wouldn’t be able to do with cash,” said Riggs.

Riggs is a member of the Arizona Trade Exchange, along with 400 other businesses.

Members offer up their services or goods and get the value in trade credits that can then be spent at any of the other participating member stores.

Each year Riggs, takes his employees to ATE’s Annual Holiday Fair, where employees can use their trade credits to get toys, sporting goods, household décor, entertainment items, jewelry, musical instruments, furniture and small appliances.

President Rob Miller said it is becoming a popular money saving option for Christmas shopping.

“If you can pay for 80 percent of your Christmas just because you had some excess time, then that is a win win for everyone,” Miller said.

Eighty percent isn’t an exaggeration at all. Eighty percent of Christmas is easy. Barter, this holiday season more than all the others, will be a huge way for business to help their employees finance the happy smiles their children have on Christmas morning. If you own an exchange, it’s time to get to work and get your holiday show put together. If you own a business, it’s time to start putting together your barter resources so you can help your employees get what they want, and you’ll keep them and keep them happy.

In the news I have noticed there are dozens of barter/trade related news stories with a common thread – Craigslist. One story in the Reader’s Digest stood out. They are quoted as saying,

On craigslist, the classified-advertising website, requests for bartered goods and services were up 125 percent in the past year, making it one of the site’s most popular categories. Recent posts include “dining chairs for computer,” “litigation services for a reliable van,” and “my BlackBerry for your digital camera.”

This quote got me thinking, so I decided to a little of my own investigative research on the matter…but relevant to the barter industry. I follow the barter ads in my local area pretty closely, so I went back with a new eye towards looking for anything related to a barter exchange, that sounded like the seller was open to being in a trade exchange, or anything I thought would be of interest to exchange owners.

I found a couple of ads pretty interesting:

The first was from someone associated with an exchange in Salt Lake City. I put in a call this morning, but no one answered. I’m hoping to have a comment from them by Friday for Barter News Weekly. I’d love to hear from him that it is working and that sign ups are pouring in, but I doubt it. I think he will tell me he has had a couple of calls from it. Either way, it’s good exposure for an exchange. The ad looks like this:

Become a menber of a barter exchange-FREE (Utah-S.L.C.)

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Date: 2009-09-13, 5:37PM MDT
Reply to: sale-27gqj-1372924232@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}

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Are you a business owner or just like to trade? I’m involved with a great exchange(over 150 members locally). I traded for a CAR! There are NO monthly Fees or Enrolment Fees if you sign up with me. The only commission(6%) that you pay will be for your trade transactions. Pay for when YOU TRADE. You now have the power to barter for many items. Call for info. Trader TROY (801)898-8769

The next ad I liked was one I was surprised to see on Craigslist. Most of the ads are for something small or service related trades, this one says:

28 acres NE Arizona. Less than $400 PER acre. Investment, camping – $11000 (Navajo – St. Johns – Holbrook – Chambers)

Clearly there are things other than massage that you can get on trade by watching Craigslist.

The last ad I found I forwarded on to my own broker, Aaron Orgill at the Barter Anywhere Group.

“I own a lawncare and tree removal company and would like to trade my services for Chiropractic services. I do lawn service on the east side from Millcreek to Draper but would be willing to entertain offers. If you need treework, I travel from Provo to Layton. If you are interested, please call Dennis at 801-694-6565. Check us out at www.woodrufflawncare.com. Thanks for looking.”

I saw Aaron this morning. Apparently he called the lead on Saturday and signed him up on the phone, without meeting at all. I remember doing this same thing a couple of times back when Craigslist was small and barter listings were short and sparse. Good for Aaron.

Clearly, these kinds of message boards can be a source of fantastic referrals for a trade exchange, if you are willing to keep working them and stay on top of what is going on. If you need some help finding the barter listings on Craigslist in your area, shoot me an email and I will help you out…info@exchangetrainers.com