Trade items

[Irving]

What if the choice is between trading bullets or starving to death?

What if you are trading ammo you can no longer use (that gun broke) for a gun that you have plenty of ammo for?

In the very beginning of a fend for your self situation, I think that diapers might carry a pretty high value.

[AP-4Guy]

Powdered baby formula too. This could be priceless to the right people, and there will hopefully always be babies, no matter what happens.

[KevDen2005]

What about really soft toilet paper?

[KevDen2005]

I also agree that a person may only be able to carry so much ammo if they are on the move

[mutt]

I always figured vice items would become the defacto currency if things went to shit. Alcohol, tobacco, maybe even batteries and certain snack foods that can survive long term storage without refrigeration.

Ammo would definitely be a valuable item, but as people said before, I'd be wary of arming my competitors.

[cbs]

I love this stuff, I used to go out on survival hikes with my father for one to two weeks at a time in the Colorado mountains. I would hope that in a crisis that the people would not forget that we are Americans. This thread sounds like it's us against them. If a man and his family needed 5to10 rounds of ammo I would make a trade if I could. Survival at it's core can be very harsh but let's not forget we are still "One Nation Under God". If the big crisis does happen the core of who we are as Americans should change.

[cowboykjohnson]

The promise of safety for everything they have to contribute, and to join your group would work for a while if you could find the right people. Alcohol will go along way as well.

[mutt]

I would hope that in a crisis that the people would not forget that we are Americans. This thread sounds like it's us against them. If a man and his family needed 5to10 rounds of ammo I would make a trade if I could. Survival at it's core can be very harsh but let's not forget we are still "One Nation Under God". If the big crisis does happen the core of who we are as Americans should change.

While I would like to hope a crisis would bring out the best in people, the harsh reality is people would turn on each other like animals. There is a very thin veil that keeps people civilized. Once that is torn away, you won't like what you see.

A short term crisis like 9/11, or even Haiti, tend to bring out the best in people. I think that's because there is a feeling that the veil of civilization is just temporarily removed, that normal life with govt and laws is coming back. People feel they need to just hang on until then so they tend to help each other. Step it up to a total disaster where society gets destroyed ( nukes, plague, global natural disaster) and the tendency to be helpful and civilized gets thrown out the window. Now it becomes survival of the fittest. In that scenario, I wouldn't count on my fellow Americans for help. I wish it were different, but human nature is what it is.

[sniper7]

I love this stuff, I used to go out on survival hikes with my father for one to two weeks at a time in the Colorado mountains. I would hope that in a crisis that the people would not forget that we are Americans. This thread sounds like it's us against them. If a man and his family needed 5to10 rounds of ammo I would make a trade if I could. Survival at it's core can be very harsh but let's not forget we are still "One Nation Under God". If the big crisis does happen the core of who we are as Americans should change.

I wish I had some of the same thoughts, and I partly do i guess, i would imagine a few people around me would help, be prepared and work together as a group.
A lot of my family and friends have all said they would come to me in a SHTF situation.
I look at Haiti, new Orleans etc and what those people did and can only hope it would be a little better here but more than likely we would see some of the same stuff...just comes down to how desperate the situation is I guess.

[TFOGGER]

...certain snack foods that can survive long term storage without refrigeration.

I could SO be the Twinkie King!