Discussion How do you handle this type of deal?

[Stacey K]

Years ago... I had a great deal with a local brewery/bar/restaurant. I was their graphic designer for hire, in trade for a standing tab. I did work for them, I would frequent the place which was two blocks away from work. have lunch, after work beers... they also had live entertainment, so i helped with flyers. Sometimes knew the band that played. Worked the door (once) for a major event in our city. Hoopfest really brings A-holes to our town.
I had an open tab. It was just a given all the employees knew it. After about a year into our arrangement, they weren't managing things well. They were filing bankruptcy, and wanted to have a meeting to settle up. I was terrified. I thought I had eaten and drank WAY more than I had done work for them. After about an hour of discussions, dinner, drinks - turns out they were worried they owed ME. ha ha, we called it a draw, and it was an end to a good time.

That is hilarious!!! LMAO!!!

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Sometimes its about getting something you want but would not actually go out and buy. It almost makes you feel like you got something for nothing.

 

[rjssigns]

I've been known to work for food/beverages. Ya gotta eat and it beats having to go to the store buy groceries then have to prepare the meal. Oh yeah, no clean up either.

 

[Gino]

Lettered a guy's lawn cutting service truck about 3 years ago and offered to do it for free, if he cut my grass that summer. He said no. He wanted the money. So, he paid me for the job we did and we paid him by the cut monthly. For the entire season, he got less money, than had he taken my offer. We dropped him the next year, as he was weird.

 

[netsol]

Isn't bartering the same as exchanging money for goods? Besides cheating the tax man, what's the advantage?[/QU

sometimes the taxman acts like a business partner who has discovered he has a taste for crack. (and he is the only one in your transaction where you can't quite put your finger on what he brings to the table)

 

[Reveal1]

Sometimes its about getting something you want but would not actually go out and buy. It almost makes you feel like you got something for nothing.

Bingo - that actually makes more sense than anything else I've heard short of cheating on taxes, which personally I'm not going to do regardless on how how I feel about paying them. Sort of like the rush my wife must feel when she comes home with a piece of junk from a yard sale telling me how much she saved. Until I ruin it by questioning whether we really needed it.

 

[Stacey K]

One of the best barterers around...the red paper clip guy! (Besides Dwight Shrute from The Office)

 

[Gino]

Bingo - that actually makes more sense than anything else I've heard short of cheating on taxes, which personally I'm not going to do regardless on how how I feel about paying them. Sort of like the rush my wife must feel when she comes home with a piece of junk from a yard sale telling me how much she saved. Until I ruin it by questioning whether we really needed it.

My Dad always used to say..... I don't get it ?? The more you pay in taxes, just means the more money you made this year.

 

[Humble PM]

March last year, just after UK went into the first lockdown, I helped the building (11 floors) we're based in work out and install the covid safety plan. Directional signs, distancing markers, stairwell directions, perspex screen for the reception etc. In return I got a key to the service yard, room for two verhicles. In 20 years of working in London, I'd never not either cycled or used public transport to commute to work. Now live 20 miles away, too far to cycle (boy racers near me drive mercs, porches and ferraris, and the roads aren't safe to cycle), and public transport wasn't an option if you're not an essential worker.

£100 worth of vinyl, and perhaps 40 hours of my time, has bought me coming on to a years worth of free, secure metropolitan parking. No costs were mentioned at any point - I think we have both got a good deal (non resident parking around us is £15-£20/day)

I can see this going on, until the ultra low emission zone kicks in, in the autumn. But by then, public transport may again be an option, and I can have a beer after work. I would consider that a good trade, and I'll keep hold of the key...

 

[Ray Miller]

A friend of mine just told me about this very thing. He made a banner and a small job sign 18x24 with a stake for this lady. She paid him $60 and 4 free pizzas from her husband's pizzeria. Now that sounds like a really good deal. I did the math. The banner was worth about $20 and the 18 x 24 about $7 with the stake. He got the 60 in cash and four pizzas are wroth about 60 bucks too. That's my kinda bartering. Now, I'm getting hungry.

 

[TopFliteGraphics]

I've been known to work for food/beverages. Ya gotta eat and it beats having to go to the store buy groceries then have to prepare the meal. Oh yeah, no clean up either.

I have a local Pizza shop with owners that I really like. Just good people, if you know what I mean. First time they had me do work, I quoted a price and they said ok and we will make you lunch too. Since, then, we pretty much exclusively trade. They make great pizzas and I know that they have spent a ton of money on their shop the past couple of years so. I figure no need for them to lay out more money for the small projects they have given me. I don't mind trading work for food

As a side note, because of our relationship, when my Son decided to come home after his time in the Army (medically retired at age of 22), they said if he wanted to come to work for them, they could always use drivers. When he came back home we stopped by one day to cash in some of my "pizza credit" , I introduced him to the owners and they hired him on the spot. He has been working for them for the past couple of months as a way to supplement his VA income while he goes to school.

 

[Zendavor Signs]

Bartering does not usually work out. One or the other feels like they did not get a good deal. I always suggest this when it comes up.

You pay me what I want for the signs and I'll pay you for what you have to offer.

I agree with this. I have never understood the appeal of bartering. What if you barter with a pizza place and their food sucks, or they go out of business? Or a lawn guy and he does a hack job? Now you are stuck with them. It's not free stuff when I am investing my time into what they get from me.

 

[Gino]

Hahahaaa...... that's easy, it's not for you. Don't do it. We all have the ability to say yes or no. Look at the situation, investigate a little, do your homework, then decide if this particular venture is for you or not. Don't enter into a contract not knowing what you're getting into. No one said bartering is for dummies. You need to be smart about it. For me, it has worked in just about every case I've done it. Yep, the pizza might suck, but then maybe it's great and your signs are fugly.. Two sides to every story.

 

[JamesLam]

I like to barter every now and again. Often I feel that at the end of the day (assuming it is a fair deal) you both come out with an appreciation for the other business, the owners, the staff, etc..

 

[netsol]

You have to find the right kind of people to barter with

if i had one of those gerbers they do monuments with, i would carve your words in stone

i have a handful of people i have bartered with for decades

 

[mfatty500]

When I was in the concrete business, I traded a driveway for a Ford F250, with a snow plow, it worked out for the both of us, he was a car dealer.

 

[CanuckSigns]

There is a coffee shop I like on my way to work, I barter with him, I never pay for coffee and he has me print out decals a few times a year for him and the occasional coroplast sign, it works well for both of us.

 

[JamesLam]

It will be interesting to see how as we move even more to a cashless society how this affects the barter mentality. I think bartering will become a necessity for many.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I'm not into bartering. Give me cash and lets be done with the transaction