Scavenging

Bartering’s Back

Whenever cash becomes scarce, swapping and bartering come back in full-force. These smart practices have been around ever since ancient human beings with one skill or possession met others with different skills and possessions and, rather than kill each other (which would ultimately end the supply), they decided to trade. Not that folks ever totally stopped swapping. But these days, it’s flourishing again and going mainstream — from Craigslist’s “barter” category to office-wide clothing swaps. Even commercial enterprises are adopting the model.

Highland Hill Farm in Pennsylvania is happy to offer trees and shrubs and design services in exchange for other items in the absence of cash or credit. The nursery’s owners will happily trade their own goods and services for such useful items as tools, plumbing and building supplies … or darn near anything. “You cannot insult us with off-the-wall offers,” is the title of a video at the farm’s web site. By “cannot,” they mean “No offer is too weird for us to consider,” not “cannot” as in “better not.”

We’ll be seeing more of this — you bet.