One of America’s longest established trade exchanges is found in the Detroit market. Michael Mercier and his wife Lois have been serving their community for three decades. And Mercier has tirelessly supported the commercial barter industry, serving on the board of director’s of both the International Reciprocal Trade Association and the National Association Of Trade Exchanges.

The Detroit News had an extensive piece about some of Metro Trade Association’s satisfied exchange members:

Restaurant owner Gary Sussman noted that he’s received more than $500,000 in cleaning services, appliances, and renovation work on his Sweet Lorraine’s Cafe and Bar in Southfield (MI) over the 15 years he’s been a member of MTA.

Cloverleaf Pizza’s general manager Carol Corrie says it was a line of credit from MTA that enabled them to come back after a five-alarm fire destroyed their establishment. The Eastpointe eatery closed for a year, because it was not totally covered by insurance.

Al Buffenn, owner of Top Value Car and Truck Service in Southfield, joined the exchange three years ago and has decreased his business cash outlays by $20,000 through barter purchases.

In the article, Charles Owens, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, was quoted as saying, “The pro’s of bartering are obvious, I can’t see any negative in it. I think it’s rather clever, it sounds like another entrepreneurial approach to solving a problem.”

“What most people don’t understand, is it provides the same as cash flow,” pointed out Mike Mercier, president and founder of the Troy-based Metro Trade Association. Always a viable way of doing business, bartering is especially helpful when companies are cutting back and scrimping to get by.

For more information on Metro Trade Association see:
Metro

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 24th, 2007 at 3:53 pm and is filed under Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.