Trina Machacek
Long ago there was no money. Well, that kind of sounds like today, doesn’t it? Seems there are very few of us mere mortals who always have enough money jingle jangling in our pockets.
But in reality, there was no money like we know money. There was always a way to pay for goods and services without the green and silver things we know as money today.
Believe it or not some places, like old west towns, printed money that the residents could use as money to buy stuff. The money was not recognized in other places though. Just the community where it was printed. Sometimes by banks and bankers and sometimes by companies.
Yes, that’s where company stores started. You sang, “I owe my soul to the company store,” didn’t you? Me too. It's an interesting thing, money.
As a girl I of course have no problem saying I like money. I am not a feminist, just a girl. Is it in my DNA to like money? Don’t know and don’t want to dig deeper to find out if it’s just a girl thing though. It’s just me. No hidden story or deep thoughts about it. Money and I are friends. But! Yes, a jingle jangle “but.” There are many ways to pay for things we all want besides opening a wallet or whipping out a debit card. When money was not a thing people learned to trade this for that. That’s when “in-kind” purchasing and bargaining became a thing.
I have to say that as much as I like money, I like acquiring things with the “in-kind” pathway of dealing with people. I must put a disclaimer here. I don’t do “in-kind” in business. Why? Well, this will explain it better than I can. In all the many businesses my other half and I had, I did the books and sent out the statements to our customers monthly.
If I ran into my account that was a titch past due, I had a rubber stamp I used to stamp onto the statement to remind the customer why it was important to pay the bill. It read, “Please pay us, so we can pay them, so they can pay you, and so on and so on.” I think of that stamp notice a lot when money is talked about.
Money travels a round robin all the time. Going from me to you to them to those guys and back to me – eventually. I would like to think some of it would stick to me along its path. So far enough has dropped in on my life to make me comfy.
In-kind transactions to “buy” something are so interesting. I desire eggs from my up-the-hill neighbor. So, I traded her some orange poppy seeds I harvested last fall. Once we needed to borrow a spot and some tools to repair a wheel bearing on a trailer on the way home after delivering a piece of equipment.
The rancher said no to our offer of payment, so we traded his kindness with a brick of .22 LRHP shells. Every time, each and every time I have witnessed in-kind trades everybody walked away happy. That’s the best thing about in-kind-ness.
There is, or maybe was, a show on TV about a guy who starts a trade with something small and over this trade and that deal and some in-kind juggling he ends up with something amazing. That’s fine, but it gives a bad reputation to the in-kind deals that are made just because it is a good way of doing a little business and getting to know someone better.
Don’t get me wrong. I am always in for a deal. But there was some “slick willy” in the way the show portrayed going from say a stick of gum to a new car. OK that is a stretch, but you get the idea.
The simple in-kind transaction is something that comes about usually due to necessity. That necessity more often than not turns into a good memory and a grand story. Like this one.
I have an old wooden sheep wagon in my yard that was used long, long ago by a sheep crew up on Diamond Mountain. We found it one day backed into a huge wild rose bush, covered from the hitch to the back gate.
It was so cute with its wooden wheels and hoops that at some time held canvas. Well, I knew who ran sheep for years and I found the guy who owned the wagon. I asked if I could have it and what it would cost. A beer! It cost one beer. Such in-kind-ness.
Trina Machacek lives in Eureka. Her books are available wherever you buy books or email her at itybytrina@yahoo.com to buy signed copies.