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Red paperclip leads to Yahk, B.C. Internet smarts and a sense of adventure will bring this man to the Kootenay Rockies by JEFFREY COOPER
Are you interested in buying a snowmobile? How about going on an exciting trip? But why pay money for these big ticket items when you can barter for them instead—starting only with a paperclip? This is exactly what Kyle MacDonald decided to do when he was in Vancouver visiting his parents this past summer. Citing a childhood game called Bigger and Better as his inspiration, and using the internet to get his idea out, MacDonald, 26, decided he would try to trade his way up from a single paperclip to his ultimate goal—a house. Here’s a snippet taken from MacDonald’s website explaining how the project started with a simple blog he posted on July 12, 2005. “This red paperclip is currently sitting on my desk next to my computer. I want to trade this paperclip with you for something bigger or better, maybe a pen, a spoon, or perhaps a boot.If you promise to make the trade I will come and visit you, wherever you are, to trade. So, if you have something bigger or better than a red paperclip to trade, email me with the details at oneredpaperclip@gmail.com. Hope to trade with you soon! Kyle P.S. I’m going to make a continuous chain of ‘up trades’until I get a house. Or an Island. Or a house on an island. You get the idea.” Two days later, MacDonald made his first trade. He said goodbye to his red paperclip for an odd—yet attractive, in a ‘Ringo was the cute Beatle’kind of way—pen in the shape of a fish. From there MacDonald’s trades have taken him across North America including upgrading from the fish pen to a door knob in Seattle, a Coleman stove in Amherst, a 1000-Watt generator in L.A., a party kit including a keg of beer and a neon Budweiser sign in New York City, a snowmobile in Montreal and now a trip for two, courtesy of SnoRiders West, to snowmobile and ski in the Kootenays, B.C. All in a period of less than five months.
“I haven’t spent a cent on travel,” MacDonald said in a telephone interview from his Montreal apartment, explaining that part of his ultimate goal in trading-up to a house is to do it without spending any of his own money. Although he is currently seeking full-time employment, MacDonald is able to travel on a semi-regular basis by attending trade shows throughout North America to pitch Table Shox—a product his father invented consisting of hydraulic table leg glides used to stabilize wobbly restaurant tables. MacDonald traded his party kit for a snowmobile from well-known Quebec radio host Michel Barrette on Thursday, December 8, 2005. “It’s awesome, it’s super cool,” said MacDonald. “And I was on Barrette’s radio show live in French, which was interesting because I don’t really speak French.” Barrette, a collector of cars and motorcycles, said he read about MacDonald’s quest in a local newspaper article and decided he wanted to put in an offer. “I found it so funny and interesting,” said Barrette. “I thought if I could be part of this I would be so happy.” Barrette thought back to his days snowmobiling near his home town of Chicoutimi and the Mont Valin area north of Montreal—which, incidentally, Barrette said is the “best place in the world for snowmobiling”—and decided to offer MacDonald his 1991 Ski-Doo. MacDonald jumped at the opportunity to own a sled. “I thought, ‘Sweet, this is perfect,’” MacDonald writes on his website. “A snowmobile is EXACTLY the kind of thing I need to trade for. Especially if I’m going to do a trade in Quebec. Quebec and snowmobiles are like, well, Quebec and snowmobiles. One simply cannot exist without the other.” As his trades get bigger, MacDonald’s blog continues to gain popularity. In fact, MacDonald has already had more than 10 radio interviews, national and international newspaper exposure, a national television interview with CBC The Hour’s George Stroumboulopoulos, a scheduled appearance on CNN and several hundred thousand hits on his web blog. Along with an increase in media attention and the quality of goods MacDonald has up for trade, comes an increase in the number and quality of trade offers MacDonald receives. As of December 7, offers in exchange for his snowmobile comprised a trip for two to the Kootenay Rockies from us here at SnoRiders West magazine, 14 vehicles (including a 1995 Neon), two life-sized Playmobil figures, four tickets to any show in Toronto including concerts, Leafs games, the opera and the ballet, TVs, computers, a drift boat from Michigan and a life-sized, hand-painted statue of Green Bay Packers football player Bart Starr by well-known American sculptor Jack Dowd. MacDonald went on air live on CTV's Canada AM on December 12, and officially accepted our offer to bring him and one other person to British Columbia for a Kootenay Rockies winter getaway. New offers to trade for this trip have already started pouring in to his website. MacDonald said the only items he won’t consider are anything he considers to be offensive or things with unrealistic logistical problems.“Sure, I want to get a house,” he said. “But this is really about having some fun and meeting new and interesting people.” MacDonald is well on his way to achieving all three of these goals. Related websites:
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