This past year has been difficult for business owners to say the least. Drive down the main streets of any town and you'll see stores going out of business and an abundance of "for lease" signs. Small businesses in particular have had a difficult time keeping up with expenses. While it's possible to compensate for lower sales to a point by cutting unnecessary expenses, most businesses have fixed costs, like electricity and utilities and rent, that do not go away regardless of how much cost-cutting they do.
While it will not pay the utility bill, barter can be used as a tool for controlling expenses. For example, a person I know who was recently looking for a place to live arranged a trade for part of his rent in exchange for detailing the property owner's cars on a regular basis. Since the landlord had a vacant apartment, and the car detailer had extra time in his schedule, both parties benefited by leveraging the cost of their product or service to fulfill a need.
In this example the two parties happened to need what the other had to exchange. But what happens in a case where both parties are interested in trading, but don't have what the other party wants?
This is an example of where a trade exchange, such as SS Barter, can help.
In a barter exchange, rather than directly trading products and services, members use a private currency system to earn credit with which they can purchase other goods and services. These credits, called barter dollars, are equal in value to cash. These credits can be used to purchase any products or services available within the barter exchange from any other member.
One might ask, why use a barter exchange when we have a cash currency? Here are couple of reasons.
In the trade example above, both the car detailer and the landlord had goods or services that were not selling. By trading these items, they were able to relieve "excess inventory" that had not sold for cash. At the same time, they were able to purchase a product or service that they needed. Without the ability to trade, the transaction never would've taken place. The transaction cost each party no more than it would have had they bought and sold using cash.
Particularly in a weak economy, barter, when used wisely, can positively effect a business' cash flow. In essence, each party is leveraging the difference between their cost of providing a product or service and its retail value to be able to purchase things that they need. This, by definition, is positive cash flow. By relieving excess inventory and bringing in new business, barter can help the overall health of a business.
