Trading your Skills for Guns/Accesories

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NCSUPackman

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This past weekend I popped into a gun store I hadn't been in for some time. I used to pop in once a week when I lived near the store but since moving into the city, I don't get up that way as often.

The owner immediately said "I'm glad you're here! You work in computers for your company right?" He then went on to explain he had lost internet access about four days ago that he accessed wirelessly from the furniture store in the next building (the furniture store owner knew this and allowed it) as well as the furniture owner was on the phone with the local telco for several hours and they were no help. He asked if I would please take a look.

Long story short: The wireless router had given up the ghost and needed to be replaced. The gun store owner ran to the local office supply store and picked up a new router; I got it installed and both businesses had their internet back up and running.

When I went to pay for a holster I had gone to the gun store to pick up in the first place, the owner said "Just take it. It's the least I can do!"

So for less than a hours work and a simple fix, I got a free holster out of it. It made me wonder, anyone else parlay their skills or talents for guns/accessories?
 
Good idea.

Another good idea: keep your mouth shut.

The government doesn't like bartering. It avoids income, payroll, sales and perhaps other taxes.
 
Sort of. I used to help out the old man who lived next door to me. he was all alone and no friends/ family, so I would help him with yard work or simple handyman jobs. I never expected anything in return, well maybe one of his delicious home brewed beers, but a few months before he passed away he asked me to look after his Browning Superpose O/U. It will always be one of my favorite guns.
 
Troubleshooting IT problems is easy for people that know what they're doing, most everyone else not so much. I charge a reasonable fee for IT consulting on the side. It both deters people from seeking free service and allows me to spend more money on ammo.
 
I have not... but if anyone needs home or corporate networking, pc or server work done by someone who does it for a living, in the Dallas area, I will accept payment in the forms of firearms, common calibre ammo, any valid currency, check, precious metals, various barter, or whatever the hell else would have value to me.

just sayin', advantages are taken, not handed out.
 
Years ago, I traveled throughout most of the U.S., but particularly the mountain west, northwest and Alaska. In Alaska, bartering is very normal and common. People trade for everything and I caught on quickly. I was a self-employed college student at the time and had artwork and navajo,zuni and hopi indian jewelry with me, so it was easy. I traded for a Ruger 10/22 rifle and a shotgun. Also, 3 different type of fox pelts that had been skinned amazingly well by Yupik eskimos*.

I traded for a car/a rotary engine mazda, meals, gas, groceries, motel or a place to stay, use of an ATV, air travel, leather backpack and leather coat, lots of small items like carved walrus ivory and grass baskets, seal fur craft items, beaver hats, and lots of other things.

* The pelts were as if the animals flesh and bone had disappeared, leaving only the skin/fur. The legs,feet,claws, tail, head, including mouth opening, nose, eyes holes,and ears, etc were all 100% complete and without any sort of sewing or splice. Real craftsmanship.
 
It is happening more and more. A few local forums are advertising handywork for trades for guns and such.
 
I've never done any kind of skilled work for guns/ammo/accessories, but then again the opportunity hasn't presented itself.

However, a few weeks ago, my little sister was in town for spring break. I stopped on my way home to get a pizza for lunch at a local pizza place indigenous and unique to the area. I placed my order and sat at the bar to wait for it. A few minutes later, two girls came in and were talking to someone they apparently knew in the back about having a worker change a flat tire for them. They were busy and working like mad dogs trying to get the pizzas out and didn't have the time, so I offered to do it.

I changed the tire, and as it turns out, one of the girls was a waitress at the place and gave me a coupon for a free pizza on my next visit. The other girl worked at the italian ice place next door, and she gave me a free italian ice/ice cream mix which looked outrageous but was downright delicious. They told me that as long as they were working, they'd set me up with something free. The car was her mother's and she would have tanned their hides! They had backed over a beer bottle and destroyed the tire. I changed it and recommended a tire shop that I knew did good work and charged a reasonable and fair price.

Don't go out looking for things you can do and expect things in return. If you can help someone in dire need, you should do it. If I were in their situation, female with a flat tire and no idea how to fix it, I would have liked help from a capable man. There are lots of people taking advantage of others-they called a towtruck to literally move the car across the street, and they wanted to charge $50. Helping your fellow man/woman is the high road thing to do.
 
Never for firearms, but wish I could. I do machine work, usually in aluminum, and work my karma by usually charging twice materials (instead of materials+$60/hr) and pointing people at machinists with better machines and skills than I, if it's something I can't do well or quickly.

Have gotten some meals out of it, but mostly some spare pocket money here and there.

As for good deeds, I keep jumper cables and a cheap leatherman-style tool in the trunk. A lot of problems can be fixed by removing the battery posts, scraping them clean, reconnecting them, and jumping it. Always turn down any offer of payment.
 
Troubleshooting IT problems is easy for people that know what they're doing
Click to expand...

Famous last words...:D

Often, the "problems" that unskilled people encounter are easy to solve, though.
 
Im known as "the computer guy" as well... also "The car guy"... i have used my skills in trade for product several times. Im never the one to suggest it, they always bring it up first.
 
Another reason I love being in the IT & Telecom World.
I come across these types of things every now and then.
 
When I finally get a digital camera I'll have to start posting them.

I got my S&W Model 19s painting the outside of a guys house, the inside of a guy's house, replacing two toilets that needed replacing, helping this daughter and grandson move in, etc. etc.. For about three thousand dollars of work I got four revolvers and five hundred bucks in cash. I've known the guy since I was six(I'm 25) and he's been a friend of my parents more or less.

I installed a new garbage disposal for a nice older lady in my parent's neighborhood when a 'tech' wanted three hundred dollars(I did it for the cost of the unit), she went and got her Dad's old Colt 1903(she had wanted it out of the house for some time, it was unloaded and hadn't been cleaned in forever). I went ahead and trimmed a few trees for her and detailed her car for her to make sure me and Karma were close to even.

I've had older folks in my parent neighborhood come to me to help them sell their firearms through my FFL guy(I find them a customer at a good price, and they deal with my FFL guy for a transfer to keep it all kosher), and once in awhile I'd get old ammo, brass, reloading equipment for helping them out. I got offered a Model 13 4" for my help but I couldn't justify the karma so to speak and helped the guy find a buyer who would cherish and appreciate the firearm, I'm not a collector I'm hoarder.

I look at it like this, always be a good person, always be ready to help your neighbors when they are in need, and if you never got anything out of it you lived a good life, but...there's always the chance that folks will remember your kindness. When the hurricanes were real bad here in Florida back in 2004 if I remember right, I was out helping folks clean up for free. When some of those older folks came to meet their final reward they remembered me in their wills, I didn't get rich and I would never expect lest I invite bad Karma, but it was plenty to help lessen what I needed to borrow to pay for law school.
 
Not really free firearms, but there have been a few times that I've been able to troubleshoot problems at the range and get guns back up and running where otherwise the shooters would have gone home early. I've gotten to shoot some neat firearms that way.

Most of my freebies have been in music. I've fixed a couple power amps and speakers for buddies and on a couple of occasions when I've had gear go out on me they jumped right in and let me use theirs in a pinch. Best one is when I played a show a few weeks back for a relay for life, the guy running sound - who owns a music store in the area and is getting a little too old to be hauling big speakers and whatnot around anymore - traded me a couple hours work helping him set up and take down for a nice brand new reverb/effects unit because he knew I needed one. It's a give a little get a lot kind of deal; I'm in school here for another two years, and he just got a solid two years of business from me, no question.

I do a lot of small repairs on firearms, electronics, cars, guitars, and anything else that needs fixing when I can. I don't accept money for labor, mostly because I love tinkering with stuff and I don't have enough of my own stuff to tinker with... or that I haven't already almost tinkered to death. They can get me back "next time"... a free drink or some good conversation is plenty payment for something I already enjoy doing.
 
for cash fairly often, mainly routing, UNIX & IP.

For a gun, one time. Fixed a modem connected to an ancient AT&T UNIX point of sale system; the local consultants completely screwed up the serial port config on the box. setup a new config file and modem init and they were back to taking credit cards for the first time in 2 weeks. The guy gave me an AMT .45 Backup brand new in box (w/4473 of course). I refused it 100 times but he was not having it. He wanted to go to a more expensive gun but I have guilt issues.

I play dumb on IT knowledge anymore though because the stress level and request rate is greater than I can handle. 14 years and i'm burned out on it. Worse, medical issues have popped up that make onsite near impossible. If i can do it from a remote terminal i'll do it still.
 
It is happening more and more. A few local forums are advertising handywork for trades for guns and such.
Click to expand...

Now I am totally serious. People do need to watch themselves. Bartering got big for a while in the 1970s and the IRS did crack down. Be careful of the trail you leave; you might not be big fruit, but you could be low-hanging fruit. The Federal deficit isn't going to pay itself, you know...

Personally, I haven't bartered services for stuff, at all, that I can remember. IME people don't value services at the same rate as I need to charge for them. When I was self-employed, I had a "friend" try to connect me with her friend, so that I could "take a look" at her computer and she would buy me lunch. I recognized that this was no friend, so I laughed at her and said, "I'd be happy to do it for my regular hourly rate. You do know that this is what I do for a living, right?" This woman had paid a few grand for a computer, but figured that I'd do what was $50/hour work back then, for a sandwich. That's not how you stay above water, in business.

However, I could see why you'd want to do a "trade", especially when you get more stuff for your services, than you could charge in cash. Just remember, unreported income can mean jail time. Be careful.
 
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Bartering was big back in the seventys. There were even some companys that arranged barter services amoung other businesses. Like haircuts for travel or repair work, you were able to build up credits, and there were hundreds of businesses that were on the client list. But Uncle Sam didn't care much for it, "as mentioned", and it died out after a few years. Maybe now, with the economy in the toilet, we will see a resurgance in it.
 
me and my wife Worked a fireworks stand for 10 hrs on new years for a nice super blackhawk and a wild pig roast as a bonus.
 
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