the.com/barter
the original economy, running fine for millennia before money showed up uninvited
means To trade goods or services directly for other goods or services, without using money.
from From the Old French 'barater,' meaning to bargain, exchange, or sometimes to cheat or deceive — the line between haggling and trickery being thin even then. It entered English in the late Middle Ages. The deeper roots are murky, possibly tied to a Celtic source, but the French sense of wheeling, dealing, and occasionally hoodwinking is the clear ancestor.
- older than coins
- Predates currency by thousands of years
- prison economy
- Cigarettes once served as inmate currency
- radio swap
- WWII soldiers traded chocolate for everything
- modern revival
- Apps now let strangers swap skills directly
- tax exists
- IRS taxes bartered goods at fair value
ithaca hours — local currency in ithaca, ny since 1991 where residents trade hours of service instead of dollars
timebanking in portland — portland, oregon community members trade skills and labor through the timebanking system since 2000s
oyak turk — turkish military pension fund that bartered weapons and goods during cold war procurement