Mark McDonald

Trading Nothing for Something

My roommate finished collecting his required reading material during the first week of school. When he mentioned ordering Raj Patel’s The Value of Nothing, I gave out a deep sigh, picked up a book off my desk, and asked, “Does it look a lot like this?”

I don’t understand why people hold on to all of the extraneous “stuff” they possess. I prefer a minimalist approach to life; about once a year I sort my assets and throw out or give away anything worthless. Because of my preference towards objects I frequently need, I prioritize owning objects with high “use” values over high “exchange” values. Adam Smith noted that some objects, such as diamonds, have high exchange value and low use value, while other commodities, such as water, have high use value and low exchange value. I wanted to find out if I could take advantage of Smith’s observation through collaborative consumption.

When tasked with participating in collaborative consumption, I decided to see if I could trade away The Value of Nothing for Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth: I wanted to find out if it were possible to exchange a book with nominal use value for a book with a much greater use value – without losing any money in the process.

The Back-Story

I bought The Value of Nothing at a local bookstore in Asheville, North Carolina, while on a trip with my mother. When I purchased the book, I believed I would read it during the car trip back home in order to cure myself of boredom. While I only read through the first few chapters, the book served its purpose: I quickly fell asleep and woke up back home. The book seemed witty enough to hold my attention, but the studious content overwhelmed the quirky style. I held on to the book in hopes of someday being in a more contemplative mood, but the neglected book quickly collected dust.

A year later I started packing up books to take to college and I rediscovered The Value of Nothing. I decided to bring it with me in the off chance that I would regain interest or lend it to a friend. After my roommate bought another copy of the book, I decided to take advantage of the situation by trading my extra copy for a more captivating piece of fiction. In order to reduce the time I spent looking for buyers and sellers, I decided to directly trade my book for The Pillars of the Earth by using swap.com.

I chose The Pillars of the Earth because my mother had recommended it to me a few months after I purchased The Value of Nothing. I believed it would be appropriate to trade something I had received while vacationing with my mother for something she approved of. I hoped my new book would provide me with the entertainment The Value of Nothing lacked.

The Trade

Signing up for a swap.com account was simple, and within two days I had initiated a trade. However, when my first trade was not accepted within the two day time limit, I became worried I wouldn’t find anyone to trade with. I hoped I would not be forced to buy a copy of The Pillars of the Earth from a store and give away The Value of Nothing. Fortunately, the day after my suggestion of a trade expired, the same user I initially contacted sent me a counter-offer consisting of a three way trade. I accepted the trade and mailed off my book, hoping the strangers I had never met would follow through with the agreement.

The Results

After realizing how much I enjoyed the simplicity of my trade, I decided to estimate how much money I had saved. Amazon.com sells The Pillars of the Earth for $11.57 and sells The Value of Nothing for $9.80. Assuming I would only have to undercut Amazon by $1.00, I would have paid $5.44 for the traditional transactions because of Amazon’s seller fees (without including the additional shipping costs). Because I was able to save so much money by performing a direct trade, I began to question why this wasn’t the normal method of obtaining books.

After reviewing my trade, I realized I preferred not to pay for the “package” Baudrillard describes in The Consumer Society . I received The Pillars of the Earth five days after the trade had been officially accepted. I was happy to find out the copy I received was in great condition; I would have expected the same condition from a trustworthy retailer such as Amazon.com. The only missing element of the trade was the wasteful shrink-wrap and worthless “collector’s box” that often imprison new books. While retailers take advantage of excess packaging and combination deals to increase the volume of their sales, I will gladly choose not to spend more money on the “experience” of buying a new book.

Increasing my collection of items with “use” value did not come with a loss in the “exchange” value of my collection. However, in order to accomplish this task, I had to avoid the mainstream system of commerce and trust a new system. Directly collaborating with others can convert worthless items into useful objects if the traders can curb desire for the experience of buying a package.