Barter bank

Mention bartering to most San Antonio businessmen and you will likely bring to mind visions of loud merchants in an exotic street bazaar busily trading chickens for gasoline.

But if a local firm has its way, those visions will soon be replaced with organized bartering - a modern solution that enables firms to purchase goods and services, while increasing their cash flow and expanding their customer base.

Rachel Taylor, president of Alamo Barter Corp., says organized bartering improves upon the age-old concept of trading goods and services between businesses.

"In traditional bartering, businesses have to find goods of equal value to trade for their own. In organized bartering, firms become members of a bartering group and then sell their goods or services to members within that group," she explains. "Instead of receiving cash, they receive payment in the form of barter credits that are deposited in an electronic account that they can then use to purchase goods and services from other members."

Taylor says organized bartering, which began 40 years ago in California, is gaining ground in the Alamo city.

"Bartering is gaining in popularity because it provides a progressive way to pay for everything from airfare to landscaping without tapping into a firm's cash flow," she explains.

"At the same time, it generates new business because it gives a member access to clients through the bartering organization. The end result is that the cash that a company would have used to purchase goods and services can be used instead to invest in the company and expand their market share."

Taylor says Alamo Barter Corp. receives a significant amount of interest from new small- to mediumsized firms.

"The start-up costs associated with a small- to medium-sized firm tend to add up to a huge amount relatively quickly," she says. "Bartering through an organization like Alamo Barter helps those firms avoid tapping into cash reserves while at...