Poor people should just stop trading...

It really boggles my mind. If you're in such bad financial shape that you couldn't make good on a $50 box after getting laid off, you should probably be focusing a bit more on saving money rather than burning every last free dollar on trading beer.

Beer trading is a gluttonous luxury hobby. You can enjoy craft beer just as well as anybody by sticking with local distribution, which has gotten insanely good in the vast majority of this country.

 

I completly agree, its not that hard to drop off a box. Just last night I had to drop off a box, although my dog ended up having a Massive cluster if seizures, so I had to run him to the Emergency Vet. Yet, I still got my box out on time. Would it have been understandable to wait until the next day? Yes, but I was able, so I did.

 

With how little the 'community' does to harass bad traders, it's a wonder that there aren't even more bad trader threads.

 

Thank you for starting this. After thinking about it for a few minutes, I deleted a pretty hefty rant I was going to post in one of the other threads. Probably would have gotten in trouble for it.

 

Agreed. Get 3-6+ months of living expenses in cash, and then trade.

 

What I don't get is why theyre trading beers that they do not own. Two of my trades (maybe im ill qualified to comment on this because of the low trades) were based on what I could get, but I did not commit to the trade untiI I physically had those beers in hand.

 

Without any repercussion, bad traders just flake and then disappear. We need a bond system where each active trader should deposit a certain amount according to the activities so when bad traders run away, they lost their money. Or we can set up an insurance system to protect good traders.

 

Beer trading is as luxury , not necessity. I totally agree that if people can't afford it, they shouldn't trade. Its not like they cant just walk down to their local store and buy beer instead of trading for it.

But beer trading seems to be addictive like crack. Way too many people who get in over their head.

 

While I agree with what you're saying, I don't know if the title is quite right. I'd like to amend it to "Liars Should Just Stop Trading". I'm sure there are at least a handful of awesome traders on this site who are "poor" by conventional standards, they just trade within their means.

 

This is why I run a credit check on all prospective trading partners.

 

If there's anything we've learned from 24 hour news cycles, it's that sensationalizing an issue gets a smart conversation started.

 

There is only so much that can be done. There quickly comes a point where you run afoul of harassment/stalking laws, which is a lot more serious than a $50 box of beer. (which was also likely traded illegally, so you can't exactly go file a theft report) It's also not very fair to harass friends/family/coworkers - they had nothing to do with it, and two wrongs do not make a right.

Fact is, trading just requires a bit of a leap of faith. Getting burned is still very rare, especially for people who take some very simple precautions. Extrapolate out that one lost box amongst a long line of trades, and it's not the end of the world...

 

There should be a disclaimer at the top of the trade forum that says beer trading is an expensive hobby, I don't think people understand that when you get a few trades going you are going to be shelling out a good amount of cash when you factor in the beer cost and shipping.

I know it seems like common sense but....

 

This is why I think we should start a site similar to what "spam the spammers" do, and pester the bad traders as a community. 10 phone calls from the same person may be harassment, but 1 phone call from 200 people would just be annoying as hell.

 

What do you think is the percentage of people in America carrying debt at this moment?

I'm gonna paint with a very broad stroke right here (and probably get killed for it)...

This is an AMERICAN problem. People buy what they can't afford all the time because in America, it seems like debt isn't really a big deal. Carry that over to BA where there is no one to even collect on that debt and no way to enforce it, and of course there are those that are gonna take advantage.

To most people a shortage of money doesn't actually stop them from getting what they want. That is the problem.

 

Wouldn't that be conspiracy to commit harassment? That seems just as bad legally.

 

I think that's perfectly fine, and have done trades in the past where the beer could be picked up from a local shop but I didn't physically have it yet. But, like you said, I waited until I had said beer before finalizing. One time, I was unable to pick up the beer I offered, but it was a smaller part of the deal so we figured out another beer to replace it. I also added a little for the inconvenience.

 

And I don't mean items of "need" like food or housing. I mean things like getting a Jag when you can only afford a Toyota. Getting the latest Jordans when you can only afford only afford old Nike.