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The Original King of Barter

Trading your way from a paperclip to a house

By Marco den OudenPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 12 min read
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The Original King of Barter
Photo by Dan-Cristian Pădureț on Unsplash

A couple of days ago (Dec. 14, 2021) a woman from San Francisco named Demi Skipper made the news because she had bartered her way from a bobbypin to small house in Tennessee. But she wasn't the first to accomplish such a feat. She was inspired by a fellow named Kyle MacDonald who did much the same thing in 2005. I wrote up that story in June 2006 for Lesley Scorgie's Rich by Thirty newsletter. At the time, Kyle was one trade away from getting his house, which he did one month later. So I've added the ending and a few other details as well. Here's the story!

So how much is a red paperclip worth? A Skidoo? A cube van? An afternoon with rock star Alice Cooper? A year rent free in Phoenix? A role in a Hollywood movie? A house? By June 2006, 26 year old Montrealer Kyle MacDonald had achieved all of the above except the house which was his ultimate goal.

Kyle came up with a brilliant idea. He would try and trade up a red paperclip for a house. So on July 12, 2005 this unknown young man launched a website, One Red Paperclip. He also advertised on Craigslist. In less than a year and 13 trades later, he had traded up to a role in a Hollywood movie. The house wasn't too far down the road.

Kyle’s genius is that he understands the nature of trade. Games, like Monopoly or tennis or poker are what are called zero sum games. There is a winner and a loser. But trade in a market economy, barring force or fraud, is always a win-win situation. Both parties to a trade come out better off than they were before or they wouldn’t make the trade.

And true to the principles of trade, everyone that’s traded with Kyle came out a winner. The first person to make a trade with Kyle wanted that paperclip. Two days after launching his website, two girls from Vancouver gave him a fish pen for it (a pen shaped like a fish). Ten minutes later he got a call from a Seattle girl offering to trade a hand-sculpted door knob for the pen. And the trades just kept coming!

Kyle was willing to travel to make the trade and took pictures of himself with his trading partners and the objects of the trade. The website is actually a fascinating read. Kyle’s enthusiasm bubbles up throughout and you can’t help but like the guy.

After six exchanges, the trades moved from trading ordinary objects (and sometimes extraordinary items) with your every day average person to celebrity items and traders, including Alice Cooper, KISS and actor Corbin Bernsen (L.A. Law, JAG, etc.).

Here’s the progression item by item:

  • July 12, 2005: website launched – one red paperclip to trade
  • July 14, 2005: traded paperclip with Rhawnie and Corinna for a fish pen
  • July 14, 2005: traded fish pen with Annie for a sculpted door knob
  • July 25, 2005: traded door knob with Shawn for a Coleman Stove
  • Sept. 24, 2005: traded Coleman Stove with Sgt. David J. for one red generator
  • Nov. 16, 2005: traded generator with Marcin for one instant party (keg of beer and neon Budweiser sign)

It was at this point that things started to rev into high gear. Kyle got an offer to trade the instant party for a snowmobile. The offer came from Michel Barrette, a Quebec television and talk radio personality. Michel announced the trade to his radio audience and that led to television news stories on CBC, Global and CNN. He posted videos of the news stories on the website.

On the CBC show, The Hour, noted Canadian TV personality George Stroumboulopoulos asked Kyle if there was any place he wouldn’t travel to to make a trade. Kyle said, “I will go anywhere in the world except for Yahk, British Columbia.”

Well, don’t go riling folks from Yahk! Kyle got a call from Jeff at SnoRiders West Magazine based in Cranbrook, 45 minutes from Yahk. He offered round trip airfare for two from anywhere in North America to Cranbrook, a day’s skiing and a snowmobile excursion to, you guessed it, Yahk! But Kyle had to agree to go to Yahk to make the trade. Kyle didn’t want to be made out to be a liar but he did want to make the trade.

As he put it on his blog: "How could I go to Yahk? I might be a lot of things, but a liar is not one of those things. If I went to Yahk, my credibility would be shot. People might think I wasn't serious that I'd go anywhere on earth to make a trade except Yahk. I was totally serious - Yahk was not an option.

"It wasn't like I had anything against Yahk or the citizens of Yahk, it's just a lot more fun to say you won't go somewhere really obscure, than just go around saying you'll go anywhere. Anywhere is boring. Anywhere is cliché. Anywhere is not Yahk. I had to do some crafty maneuvering to get out of this one unscathed."

So how did he get out of this pickle? The story is hilarious and he put it on his blog (which still exists).

In short (and I recommend you read his blog post linked at the end for more details because it really is a good read), Kyle decided to get out of being a liar by being a liar extraordinaire! He sent a letter to "citizens of Yahk" accusing George Stroumboulopoulos of hypnotizing him into saying he'd go anywhere but Yahk. And he asked the citizens of Yahk to start a petition to Strombo to do a live show from Yahk (Kyle would be there) "to apologize for his evil ways" and thus break the spell.

Well the citizens of Yahk did just that and part of the petition read: "If George Stroumboulopoulos makes the broadcast from Yahk, the hypnotic spell he placed on Kyle MacDonald on live TV will be reversed and future trades for the one red paperclip project will finally be allowed to take place in Yahk."

Well, Yahk had its dander up and the petition by these "Yahktivists" as Kyle calls them, took off.

If that sounds crazy, get this. Stroumboulopoulos and his crew decided to play ball. They agreed to go to Yahk and do a live broadcast. (Small towns played a big role in Kyle's success as you'll see in his last trade.)

Kyle had one problem left—how to get the snowmobile to Yahk. And that problem was solved by another trade. A Montrealer named Bruno offered him a cube van to transport the snowmobile in exchange for the the trip to Yahk. The truck belonged to Cintas and had a big Cintas logo on it. They thought it would be good publicity I guess.

So Kyle drove the Cintas truck with the snowmobile inside to Yahk where he appeared live on national television to make the trade official.

Kyle then traded the cube van to Brendan for a recording contract which included 30 hours of recording time, 50 hours of post production, transportation to and from Toronto from anywhere in the world, accommodations and promotion of the finished album to Sony-BMG.

He traded the recording contract with Jody for a year rent free in Phoenix, Arizona

And he traded the year in Phoenix with Leslie for an afternoon with Alice Cooper. Leslie rented the other half of the duplex that Jody offered. She also worked for Alice Cooper's restaurant in Phoenix. She asked her boss if he would do her a favour so she could get a year's free rent and good guy that he is, Cooper agreed.

Now Kyle is a huge Alice Cooper fan, but his goal was a house so he knew he was going to trade away the afternoon with the legendary rocker. But before he did, Alice invited him to appear on stage with him where he got doused with "blood" from a popped giant balloon. Kyle keeps the blood-stained shirt as a souvenir.

Kyle traded the afternoon with Alice Cooper to Mark for a KISS snow globe.

Yes, Kyle knew people would think he was crazy for trading an afternoon with Alice for a KISS snow globe. But as he explained it, value is relative. “One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Sure, to you, a KISS snow globe might be worth less than an afternoon with Alice Cooper, but what about someone who really likes snow globes?”

Remember my remarks earlier about trades being win-win. Kyle believed he would be able to trade the snow globe for something much bigger and better. Posters to his discussion forum slagged him. “dumbest decision I have ever seen anyone make”, “what were you thinking?”, “you’re almost back at where you started”, etc.

Well, Kyle’s trade was inspired and he had the last laugh. Amazingly, he got a call from actor Corbin Bernsen who is an avid snow globe collector. Corbin’s offer? A paid, credited, speaking role in a film called Donna on Demand which was being shot that fall, room and board during filming, and return airfare from anywhere in the world.

Kyle hints in his FAQ that he may have already had the trade with Corbin in place before he made the trade for the snow globe. Why would Bensen make that trade? Well, that's yet another story which I won't go into here. (There's a link to Kyle's blog at the end so you can read it for yourself.)

Kyle had now made thirteen trades. What would come next?

A month after I originally wrote this story Kyle got a letter from the mayor of Kipling, Saskatchewan, a small town an hour and forty-two minute drive from Regina. The town offered Kyle the Key to the Town of Kipling, Honorary Mayor for a Day, the day of the trade would be declared One Red Paperclip Day, the town would build the world's largest red paperclip in his honor, and best of all, an 1100 square foot newly renovated house on Main Street.

What did the Town of Kipling do with the movie role? The idea was to have an open casting call in Kipling for the role, thus promoting tourism the remote Saskatchewan town. The casting took place over the three day Labour Day long weekend. They held "American Idol" style auditions and a fellow named Nolan Hubbard won the role. Yes, the movie and Nolan are on the IMDB website. In fact, Nolan got another role in another movie the following year.

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and Kyle's story is both strange and inspiring. Kyle had the perfect personality to pull this off. He is outgoing, a bit brassy and excellent at self-promotion.

And yes, he and his girlfriend Dominique (who was with Kyle throughout this incredible journey) did move into the house where they had "Saskatchewan's Biggest Housewarming Party, Ever" with 3500 guests. 11 of the 14 traders made it to the party.

Kyle and Dominique did get married and they lived in the house until 2008. He wrote a book about his journey called One Red Paperclip. It has been translated into 14 languages. He became a sought after public speaker.

People kept asking him if he loved the house. And "that's when I realized to me it wasn't really about the house. It was about the idea. Trading. Meeting people. Making things happen. I wanted more of that."

At first he offered to trade the house, but he changed his mind on that. As he puts it, "So at one point I woke up one morning and offered the house to town. Totally free. The town has since turned the house into a cafe and tourist attraction. When you drive into Kipling there's official Saskatchewan tourism signs that announce the Red Paperclip House, one of Kiplings' largest tourist attractions, the other being the world's largest red paperclip. I'm very proud to have helped contribute to the existence of a large paperclip and tourist attraction in a remote Canadian town."

They moved back to Montreal where Dominique started a cooking school.

Kyle subsequently moved to Whistler B.C. in 2012 where he wants to start his own university. He still lives there and is making clothing of various types.

To some extent, flying by the seat of his pants is what keeps Kyle going. As he puts it, "A funny things happen when you cleanse yourself of objects and obligations, the future becomes less clear and you're forced to create a new reality. In many ways, having no clue what you're doing is one of the most powerful skills a person can ever possess."

Who knows what his next project might be?

Links of Interest

Below is a 20/20 news story on Kyle's incredible journey from first trade to the house in Kipling.

More Links of Interest

Here are some links to my other stories on investing, markets and economics.

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About the Creator

Marco den Ouden

Marco is the published author of two books on investing in the stock market. Since retiring in 2014 after forty years in broadcast journalism, Marco has become an avid blogger on philosophy, travel, and music He also writes short stories.

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