Bartering And Horse Trading (Part Duh)

[agnut]

This thread is a continuation of the over three years that it was running at the GIM website. Also, madfranks has graciously offered to sticky an archive of all the previous material. That’s coming but is a huge load to download.

So here we are on May 21, 2010. If you have been reading a lot of articles on the internet, you may have noticed that some writers of late have mentioned bartering as a necessity in the future. Actually, bartering and horse trading has always been a skill that has provided extras, or luxuries if you will. I believe that as time passes, it will provide necessities much more than luxuries. Hopefully, we are all pretty much aware of what the future holds. It ain’t gonna be pretty. However, there have always been opportunities throughout history and I see no reason why there will not be opportunities on the future. No matter how bad it seems to get. In fact, difficult times offer great bargains to those aware and prepared.

This thread is no armchair warrior advice. It is here, offered freely in order to enrich and empower lives. Your lives. If you read this thread and archives and do not change your life for the better, you have wasted your time. I am not altruistic but rather believe in what Ghandi said “Be the change you want to see in the world.�

I believe that the world cannot be changed from the top; it must begin at the bottom. That’s us, you and me.

So let’s get started.

My first personal observation in the last few months is that my customers have been increasingly asking if I had any good used transmissions rather than the higher cost rebuilt ones. This has been a fast developing trend that I anticipated years ago. I have been saving good used parts over the past 5 years. My cost has been nothing except for the storage space, of which I have plenty. This is an example of futurist thinking which by the way, Ponce is an absolute expert.

A few weeks ago I attended a garage sale where the owner was a carpentry specialist. He had a yard and house full of desirable items. I asked why he was selling all of these items and he said that there was no work and he had to move soon. I asked the price of a few items and learned that he was practically giving them away.

It was then that I set up a plan. I took the items I wanted and set them on the far side of the front porch deck. When done I must have had 80 or so items set aside. Other buyers wanted to look at my items but I told them that they were all sold. So they moved on. At the same time I was guarding my stash, I was going over the other for sale items a second time for anything I had missed.

When I finished I had the seller give me a price for all of the items. The price was so good that I paid without haggling. There is a sound reason for not haggling in some circumstances. When a purchase is already very cheap, it is unwise to try to get it for even less. You could create ill will; very expensive in the long run. Also, have some compassion for a seller who is in a financial bind. Sure, it is a judgment call. In this case it paid off handsomely. I asked if the seller had anything else he was going to sell later and he said that he had a storage container full of items that he was going to sell the next weekend.

I got his name and phone number. This is important. I called him on Thursday and confirmed that he was to begin the next garage sale on Saturday and not on Friday as he previously mentioned as a possibility. Nothing like getting to a garage sale to discover that the sale had started the day before and all that was left was what nobody wanted.

I was told that the sale the next Saturday would start at 8:00 and I made sure to be there when it was supposed to open. However, the seller had listed the sale in the papers at 9:00. So I was there an hour before others would arrive. By the time most buyers arrived I had already filled the porch with everything I wanted. Once again I went over the remaining items for anything I had missed. I asked the crucial question “What else do you have for sale ?� He took me in back to his garage and back yard where I picked up several more items.

At the end I asked him for his total price and he said “How about 50 bucks ?� I replied with “How about 60 ?� He smiled and said sure. Why did I offer more that asked ? Call me crazy. It felt good to be generous back to the seller who had been so generous to me. If I were to see him in the future, I would feel good about our dealings. What is 10 dollars in the whole scheme of things ? In this instance, it was powerful in my opinion. See, that’s one of the beautiful things about bartering and horse trading. We have the power to express ourselves in positive ways and spread goodwill toward our fellow man. I have always said that business is bad where anybody loses (except for the competition). Good buying and selling takes place without coercion or fraud.

So what were these bargain items of which I speak ? Picks, shovels, rakes, brooms, saws, pry bars for a dollar. Stanley and Craftsman chisels, pliers, wire cutters, tin snips for as little as a dime apiece. A roll of new three lead copper wire weighing over 60 pounds for $2. Forty pounds of heavy tow chain for $2. A new come along for $2. An 8 foot fiberglass Werner ladder for $2. A 6 foot fiberglass Husky ladder for $2. A tool box with 100 sockets, ratchets, extensions and more for $5. A 100’ extension cord with roller for 1$. A 12� Diamond brand Crescent wrench for $1. Ten table saw blades with two portable holding units for $2.

I also got 5 big boxes of nails for $2 each. They had been opened and didn’t weigh the original 50 pounds each but were still mostly full. I also got lag bolts, specialty items, etc. I still haven’t looked at it everything but I know that if I had to buy all of the items new from the store, it would have been well over $3,000. I spent about $140 in total. Looking back, I know I missed a few items. This always happens in a sale with so many items offered. If you didn’t get the seller’s phone number, be content with what you did get. There will always be more sales in the future.

You are probably asking yourself, “Yeah, a bargain. But what are you going to do with all that junk agnut ?� Well, some of it I need and some I will put away for the future. I don’t expect that a straight nail will be worth a dollar someday as Ponce says it is in Cuba right now. He was in Cuba a few years ago and had the money to repair his father’s house. Problem was, the materials were not available AT ANY PRICE. Will this happen here in the good ‘ol USA ? It could but I’m not counting on it. I’m buying with the belief that many things will dry up in time and the screaming bargains I get now will become in greater demand some day. That goes double for good quality American tools.

The other day I was cruising around and saw a sign for a garage sale. I drove by and it looked like a lot of baby clothes and toys. But I stopped there just to see if there was anything interesting. There wasn’t. But I did ask “What else do you have for sale ?� The husband piped in with “We have a barbecue out back�. So I looked at it and it was a medium size unit with three burners inside and one outside. It had a propane bottle with an expensive cover. He wanted $5. The only problem was that the plastic wheels were broken. But since I don’t move my barbecue around, I will saw off the lower legs and make it level. A nice unit that is $200 at Home Depot (plus sales tax of $17) The way I look at it, I got the barbecue for less than a third of the sales tax had I bought it new. Oh, and almost forgot; a propane tank and cover thrown in on the deal. The cover had a huge decal of the Florida Gators, from the University of Florida. I mention this because my daughter is visiting us in July and she worked at the University of Florida medical center for several years. Sort of a karmic thing, I guess. As Voltaire said, “God is a comedian playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh�. I laughed when I saw the barbecue cover for the first time, knowing it was meant to be.

Gotta go; please post any experiences you may have. This thread is meant to be for all of us to share.

Best wishes,

Agnut

P.S. Always remember that you are a sane person living in an insane world. Rather than get upset (wasting valuable time and energy), get to understand it and make it work for you.