by Peter A. Roos
Barter has become a huge industry. Billions of dollars-worth of business transactions are being run through barter brokers around the world. Trade is the oldest form of currency, and the advent of the internet has made it easier than ever. Paradise News has bartered remnant advertising space for a wide variety of goods and services over the almost 30 years we have been publishing. When we barter, we are paid in “Barter Dollars”, which are recorded in a barter bank account.
Our barter dollars improve both our business bottom line and our personal lives. We have a framer make ‘plackets’ as thank-you gifts for our advertisers. Our office is cleaned by maids on trade. A sign maker makes our yard signs and banners. Member hotels are happy to barter rooms, especially in the off-season.
That has come in handy when we have had business guests, friends or family visiting. We often spend 3-4 summer weeks in barter accommodations in the Rockies, mostly in Colorado. IMS, short for International Monetary Systems has taken the business of barter to a whole new level.
IMS is a business to business barter brokerage, with an office/showroom in Largo and another in Orlando.
Those are just two of twenty IMS offices serving more than sixteen thousand business and professional people in fifty-four metro markets. To give you an idea of the scope, in 2019, IMS processed $200 million in transactions and booked over 23,000 room nights. Convenience and simplicity are crucial in today’s fast-paced business environment. International Monetary Systems provides its members with weekly e-mail newsletters, monthly statements, an App for mobile devices, 24-hour authorization service, and IMS’ exclusive online, internet trading. In addition, each account is assigned a trade broker who acts as that company’s personal sales and purchasing representative. We have found those local trade brokers anxious to help us spend our barter dollars. With their help, over the years, we have found many reliable service providers through the exchange.
There’s a barter delivery service that picks up our magazines from the printer in Tampa and stacks them in a nearby storage, from where our delivery driver delivers them to 550 racks and stacks on trade. Advertising is one of the best things a business can trade for, as it is a great way to turn barter bucks into cash. Until we reached Medicare age, practically all of our healthcare was on trade. In the past decade, some of our favorite local restaurants have started bartering through IMS.
We have also dined out on barter when we travel. Some of our most interesting and memorable experiences have been due to a barter deal. Last summer, we rented a Mercedes Sprinter Sunseeker RV through the IMS Orlando office for a week and visited a couple of Florida state parks, ending up at a refreshing spring near Disneyworld.
What can you get on trade? Here are just a few of the categories that the local IMS office sent promotional emails about in the past few months:
- Accommodations,
- Accounting Services,
- Advertising,
- Attorneys,
- Attraction Admission,
- Auto Repair,
- Boat Rental,
- Boat Rides,
- Catering,
- Charitable Organizations,
- Chiropractors,
- Computer Service,
- Concert Tickets,
- Delivery Service,
- Dentist Services,
- Dolphin Watching,
- Drs. Walk-In Clinic,
- Electricians,
- Event Tickets,
- Gifts,
- Hair Salons,
- Health & Fitness Clubs,
- HVAC Contractors,
- Internet Advertising,
- Landscaping,
- Legal Services,
- Magazine Advertising,
- Marketplace Items,
- Massage Therapists,
- Medical Imaging,
- Movers,
- Moving Supplies,
- Newspaper Advertising,
- Optometrists,
- Pest Control,
- Pet Boarding,
- Pharmacies,
- Printing Service,
- Radio Advertising,
- Restaurants,
- RV Rental,
- Salons & Spas,
- Screen Printing,
- Security Systems,
- Social Media Assistance,
- Solar Direct,
- Storage,
- Sunset Sailing,
- Supplements,
- Television Advertising,
- Tickets to Events, Concerts
- Timeshares for rent/purchase,
- Tree Trimming,
- Vacations,
- Video Production,
- Web Site Design,
- Window Tinting,
- Wines and Wineries.
There is so much variety, in fact, we call the local IMS office to see if it might be available on trade before I call anywhere else to price any product or service, I know will cost over $100. If anything about bartering interests you enough to learn more, email Cathy.LaGrange@IMSbarter.com or call 727-524-6800 and let them know you have been reading about them in Paradise News.