Cash is bartering. The pieces of paper you get called bank notes are just instruments of barter and have no actual value, such as would a piece of gold or other tangible object.

You do the work and get paid in useless pieces of paper that only indicate the giver at some point did some work to the value noted on the pieces of paper and they are passing the value on to you. When you pass the pieces of paper on, you too are giving someone else the value of the work that piece of paper represents.

But, if you give those pieces of paper to Waitrose for example, they will give you bottles of wine, chocolate biscuits and other useful goodies. I don’t think they accept drama lessons, which, not being tangible, only have any value for you and are not transferable. If they were given as vouchers which you could sell/pass on, it would make them worth a little more, otherwise they are almost worthless.

Very true Mark.

I wouldn’t want to barter my services for goods all the time but thought that to get going and as one-offs for services/goods I need then it’s not too bad an idea.

Thanks for sharing such a nice post. During tough economic times, many small firms can find themselves cash poor and with time on their hands. With bartering, business owners can get many of the products and services they need to run day-to-day operations by offering their services or products in return. That’s basically how this ancient economic system of trade works, and more and more firms seem to be getting in on the bartering action .