Businesses Bartering to Make Ends Meet

It’s an age old system that’s helping local businesses make ends meet in light of the credit crunch and tough economy.  But as WFMZ’s Jaccii Farris explains, this barter system is also bringing some area businesses extra income.

SHAWN CRESSMAN: We had a truck lose a transmission. It just died and it was not in my budget to fix it.

FARRIS: What’s a landscaping company without trucks that work? Shawn Cressman with Cressman Lawn and Tree care in Hellertown says thanks to Merchants Barter Exchange, it’s a question he didn’t have to answer.

SHAWN CRESSMAN: They were able to put us in contact with two transmission shops and we went the better of the bid and we didn’t pay cash for it we just traded landscaping.

FARRIS: Cressman Lawn and Tree care is one of 100 businesses in the Lehigh Valley using the barter system.. Cressman was able to get the new transmission, tires, a storage shed and business cards..

STEVE BOLLES: The worse the economy does the better that we do. When people don’t have extra money to spend but they’ve got extra time or extra equipment they are willing to trade that time or equipment or product for things they want to spend money on anyway.

FARRIS: Steve Boles is the founder of Monroe-county based Merchants Barter Exchange. Boles says there’s no cash component to the system…just barter dollars exchanged by members of the exchange.

STEVE BOLLES: We have had businesses actually say they’ve stayed in business because of barter. It was a Godsend, it saved my butt for the end of the year we were able to finish the year with that truck.

FARRIS: Cressman says the best part of the program is after doing barter work for the owner of a muffler shop.. And he was able to expand his customer base and bring in more cash. We did landscaping around his house he used every trade dollar he had with us and he still wanted more so he ended up paying cash for those extra things and then his neighbor saw that we fertilized lawns and we got business from him as well.

For more information, visit MerchantsBarter.com or call 800-822-7204.

In Hellertown, Jaccii Farris 69 News.

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