Issue # 43

Our fascinating cover story centered on an $850,000 dream home that was built in Michigan on barter. In 1997 that was a huge amount of money to pay for a home, in that area of the country. Mel Berg, a member of Michael Mercier’s Metro Trading Association, put together the property on Deer Lake, 30 miles NE of Detroit. It’s a motivational story you will want to read again and again.

The International Reciprocal Trade Association’s Barter Hall-of-Fame was introduced at its eighteenth convention, held at the Las Vegas Golden Nugget. In attendance were 244 industry stalwarts to observe this milestone.

Charter inductees included: Werner Zimmerman and Paul Enz, founders of WIR, the oldest and largest barter organization in the world, established in 1934 in Geneva, Switzerland. Their awards were presented posthumously, as was the award to Mac McConnell, the founder of Business Exchange in 1960.

Also inducted were Paul Suplizio, the organizer and mentor of the International Reciprocal Trade Association and its executive director for 18 years, and Bob Meyer, founder of BarterNews (the first barter industry magazine) and worldwide spokesperson for the industry.

IRTA introduced the “Universal Currency” at this convention, which had been announced and was in the works since the previous year’s convention in Montreal.

In our Corporate Barter Section we looked at how barter investors trade their products or services for equity in promising ventures.

And a travel agency president showed how his “thinking out of the box” provided him a competitive edge in the marketplace. He announced that travel agencies are missing the boat by overlooking the many opportunities available to them.

In our Countertrade Section we not only looked at the global trends, but examined the traditional Thunderbird Winterim Course—Countertrade/International Offset.

This issue and every back issue of BarterNews is now available in digital format:
DIGITAL

Keep abreast of what’s happening in the barter marketplace, read the Tuesday Barter Report:
TUE

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