In light of more concerns of a faltering economy and round two of the recession on the horizon, do you see bartering and more working under the table making a comeback? Especially now if unemployment benefits haven't been extended?

I haven't seen any indications that bartering is becoming more popular, but I wish that it would. I wonder if it just doesn't occur to people? As far as "working under the table" I think that will always be popular.

More than either of those, I see people doing services or creating things for sale on a one to one basis. Washing windows for the neighbor for a fee, making shelves for someone for a price, that sort of thing. It does make me wonder why they don't barter more, though.

 

I haven't seen too much of it either ... but I think there's also a leariness of doing business that way with strangers. Its more possible that friends would do that, but we just don't hear about it.

I think there may be some tax issues involved with bartering, so it may just remain more informal. 

Don't know if it would be bartering per say, but one of the coupon forums once had a thread in which folks were asked what they did with the excess stuff they got free/cheap.  A few poster did say they used the goods as "payment" for other things ... (I think one woman 'paid' her beautician friend a couple of packages of hot dogs for a haircut.) 

We live in a rural area, bartering is an acceptable method of payment for many things but we are careful about who we barter with and what we are bartering for ...

Couple things we bartered so far this year ...

traded a planer (woodworking tool) we were no longer using for 3 big dump loads of black dirt - really good manure compost for my garden

traded striping a dozen chairs for fresh locally grown beef

couple times a month I bake a few loaves of fresh bread and some of my canning items in trade for fresh locally grown farm eggs 

traded a dozen of our home grown chickens for more beef (are you following our food pattern here ?  :))

I think bartering is done all of the time, tax issues or not.

 

 

we have bartered for years  dentist likes bison we got bison and DD got new braces ..  

my DH does work for people  the do stuff for us .. and yes we do declare it on taxes ..  it works out great for us ..

My mother, sister, & I barter with each other all the time.  Right now, I have bought train tickets for all of us for November.  Mom wanted to do this for the grandkids for part of their Christmas gifts, but her computer isn't working, so I did it for her.  Now she owes me $ for that.  We went shopping together a few weeks ago and she paid for two sweaters BOGO 1/2 off.  I owe her for my sweater.  At some point we'll get together and sort out how much $ she still owes me. 

I do this with my MIL too.  I'll buy Disney on Ice tickets for the grandkids and that will pay her back for our Dixie Stampede tickets.  Works out for us.

 I don't know about bartering per se, but Freecycle seems to be thriving, at least in my area.  Instead of trading this for that, you can give away what you don't need and get other things you do need for free.  Kind of like bartering on the honor system.  And come to think of it, I have heard of swapping sites  online where you can list an item you have and something else you'd like to receive, and then other members can offer you a trade.  (The one I visited didn't really have anything of interest to me, though.)

I think for some folks bartering never went away. Recently dh bartered  doing a duct work job in exchange for 150 bales of hay.

 I don't think bartering has really "gone away." If "comeback" means it will have more importance in day to day dealings, then, no, I do not believe it will make a comeback. 

 Barter only works when you have the item or skill that the other person wants and they have the item or skill that you want. It works best when you know the person and they are trustworthy, and, of course the other way round. This means that bartering becomes limited and will not become the premier way of obtaining goods and services. DH and I have bartered over the years and it has worked out. Mostly the barters involved exchange of services rather than "stuff." My friend barters for/with stuff rather than services, but then again, she lives in an area that is still "Dutchy" and has a good number of small farms. We both know our barter "partners" well. Son does very well "swapping" via the net for his hobby. 

When Argentina had their financial collapse in 2000/2001 (?), a network of barter clubs appeared. Finding the right person who wanted your stuff or skill and you finding a good match was difficult, so they resorted to "tickets." They were easily stolen and duplicated. There were also criminal problems as well. People needed money for groceries, etc. From what I understand the clubs have either disappeared or are greatly reduced. 

What will spring up, especially if things get worse, are gray/black markets. I have no insight to this. This is what a guy in Argentina says. He has lived through hard economic times and this was the result.

If the economy tanks, unemployment benefits run out, jobs are scarce, and few are able to fill in the gap with finding a financial niche (i.e. small business) in the economy, the real problem will be crime.