Possible Currencies for After the End

Matt the Czar

Matt the Czar

First time out of the vault
So, let's assume that several years or decades after the collapse of society, barter is the de facto way to trade. Then, a powerful economic power like the Water Merchants forms. What would they use for a currency?

I would use silverware. It's common, but not common enough to be completely worthless. It's rather hard to counterfeit, and lighter than gold. After the forks and spoons are completely unusable, a similar shape could form.
 
If they're literal water merchants and have access to purification methods or moisture condensers with a semi-large output, I'd do something creative like trading in pseudo bank notes that can be exchanged for water. It would mean you have a complete and utter stranglehold on the economy since the only place they can only really be withdrawn or deposited at is at facilities which you control. Later on when you need to trade with other rising countries with their own currencies it might not be so strong, but early in your country's history you'd have no such problems.

You also run into the same issues as every country which ever did the same thing but with gold instead, but these guys would probably be too ignorant of history (mostly due to lack of access to it) to foresee any of those things.
 
Weighted metal chips (made with smelted scrap into simple shapes, maybe a donut) so their value would be determined by their weight, and they would be usefull to either fabricate more weighted chips or to put together to use as materials for contructions and stuff. Maybe even have some lesser chips made out of plastic.
 
In the first phase, it will be almost pure barter.
Fuel, food, water, ammunition, lighters, alcohol, antibiotics (and other meds), soap, candles, and tools will be common value items. Services (labour, skills, prostitution,...) will obviously also be traded.
Luxury items such as toilet paper and trash bags will be in high demand.
People will try to use gold, silver, local currency and foreign currency as value items, but in case of a global collapse, that will be useless. All these thing only have value because people ascribe value to it. This will likely no longer be the case after a global collapse. While gold & silver are valuable in manufacturing, after the fall its value will not be obvious. Of course, there will always be hoarders which will buy up currency, silver & gold in the hope that it will be valuable again later.

In the second phase, communities will start creating their own currencies to ease bartering. The form of these currencies entirely depends on the options available to said community. Care must be taken not to pick something that is too easily replicated. Some will print their currency, some will mint it. Others will use formal IOUs or every day items validated or stamped in a particuliar way.
It is also possible that not communities but individual strong actors start using their own currency. Say someone who controls access to clean water. A group of people who took control of a goods distribution center. A gang of criminals taking control of an area forcing people to recognize their authority.

In a third phase, it is not unlikely that we will go back to a gold & silver backed currency. This might happen quickly around Fort Knox, but I doubt this will be in the same generation of people as the first two phases for your average community.
 
Matt the Czar said:
So, let's assume that several years or decades after the collapse of society, barter is the de facto way to trade. Then, a powerful economic power like the Water Merchants forms. What would they use for a currency?

I would use silverware. It's common, but not common enough to be completely worthless. It's rather hard to counterfeit, and lighter than gold. After the forks and spoons are completely unusable, a similar shape could form.
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I guess there would not be really a currency. I think people would simply use valuable goods, like they did in the past. For example with salt. It was once more worth than gold.
 
Bags of weed. This would be the currency. It's perfect because it's bound to get used somewhere, and you can always grow more - but not at a large rate in a post-apocalyptic world that it will make you rich unless you have some kind of hydroponics equipment.

No, but seriously, I would use those little caps you pull off cans. Not the "cap" type you would get from a bottle, but the cap that you use to open a can, and you can pull it off. It's light, easy to carry in large quantities, small, and the shape is so distinct and unique that not many people in post-apocalyptic can counterfeit them so easily.

Or, what about just using the old Pre-War coin currency? It's not like someone who didn't take over a mint or something could counterfeit it, and it's common but rare enough to be used as a currency. One cent could be an equivalent to one dollar/cap, etc.
 
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Hassknecht said:
I like the thought of paying with spoons. Are ornamented spoons worth more than ordinary spoons?
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His argument that silverware would be valuable is false though.
Most people would have a hard time to differentiate between real silver and fake stuff anyway.

Magnus said:
Dirt.
Tomato plants.
And paper. Paaaaper.
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It's all fun & games until your set starts sinking. ;)
 
MacDonald wrappers, they are in many countries; ubiquitous. A Big Mac wrapper is worth one amount and a regular hamburger wrapper is worth a different amount etc. Kinda joking, kinda serious.

On a completely random note; if a fallout game was ever set in South America I would love to see Inca Cola appropriated into the setting somehow. I just love the taste of the stuff.
 
The easiest way would be barter. Other than that I'd say pre apocalypse metal coins would be used. Granted, the prices would be weird by our standards, like you might be able to buy a pound of apples for 5 cents or something because paper money would degrade over time.

Larger towns, city states and new nation states would issue money backed by what ever is valuable and shelf stable. Like metals, water, coffee. It would just depend on where you are. Rural areas would have no need for money, whereas larger organizations would fill the void with their own money.
 
SuAside said:
In a third phase, it is not unlikely that we will go back to a gold & silver backed currency. This might happen quickly around Fort Knox, but I doubt this will be in the same generation of people as the first two phases for your average community.
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I'm honestly wondering if that would happen, since it seems likely to me that after the apocalypse a lot of people will find themselves wondering "what the hell good is gold?"

I could see a backed-currency appearing significantly earlier backed by something that is actually particularly useful to dwellers of the wastes (say, salt, seeds, or ammunition, for example.)

Salt itself would make a bad currency, since it's not especially portable and you don't want it to get rained on, but notes or coins backed with salt would certainly make sense.
 
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Moosick said:
oral sex and sadness.
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Too late. This is already a currency for 37+ year old singles.

TomJ said:
The easiest way would be barter. Other than that I'd say pre apocalypse metal coins would be used. Granted, the prices would be weird by our standards, like you might be able to buy a pound of apples for 5 cents or something because paper money would degrade over time.
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You stole my idea, you damn thief.

The_WitchDoctor said:
Or, what about just using the old Pre-War coin currency? It's not like someone who didn't take over a mint or something could counterfeit it, and it's common but rare enough to be used as a currency. One cent could be an equivalent to one dollar/cap, etc.
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The_WitchDoctor said:
Bags of weed. This would be the currency. It's perfect because it's bound to get used somewhere, and you can always grow more - but not at a large rate in a post-apocalyptic world that it will make you rich unless you have some kind of hydroponics equipment.
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You don't actually know the real value of cannabis, do you? Apart from the many medical applications that smoking and ingesting the buds can offer, not to mention its highly desired recreational uses, hemp itself is a highly versatile fiber, capable of creating much softer, far more durable and resilient textiles than cotton or wool can, and it's far easier to cultivate than either. Hemp would UNDOUBTEDLY become a much sought after resource because of its wide number of applications.

Would it ever take the form of a currency? Hell no. You can GROW the stuff, after all. Currencies are things you have to be able to maintain a certain level of control over their production and valuation, and using something you can cultivate as a currency AND has no easy-to-handle-in-bulk form would make it worthless as a currency. Valuable as a bartering asset, that's for sure. Just not for currency.
 
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