What’s an old Mercedes-Benz worth? 50 cases of wild turkey bourbon (or about $16,500 @ 6 bottles per carton x $55 each), if you’re selling it on one of the many beer economy Facebook secret groups that are springing up.

A Facebook secret group is an invite only collection of people usually around a common interest like religion, politics, causes, education, schools, hobbies, interests, local community etc and in this growing digital trend numerous  secret groups have sprung up in every state of Australia blending secret groups with the collaboration economy philosophy to pay for services and products with alcohol.

The ATO of course is not happy, nor are the various Liquor Licencing Boards which see it as sale of alcohol without a licence, but apart from this you can get your house painted, car fixed, dog walked, groceries bought or anything else you can think of by offering to pay for it in liquor, and if you’re not to sure if you’re offering enough grog, don’t worry many groups use the wonderful quote from the film The Castle “your dreamin'” to let you know you’re way of price.

These groups seem to have been spurred on by the 2010 Toohey’s TV commercial, in which chores and jobs were quoted in cases of beer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cD8nFN69eE

A really interesting spin of an age-old habit of paying for things with alcohol, that dates back to our earliest Australian settlers being paid in rum for their work and long before that with numerous examples of alcohol being used for currency in civilizations throughout the millenniums and even seen as recently as last year on Channel 9’s The Block where to get things done often the contestants would pay in beer (and I’m sure those who accepted the slabs will include them as income earned in this years tax return).

Listen now to my chat with ABC Local’s Fi Poole (6 mins 41 secs) and then let me know (I promise not to tell) which secret Facebook sites you belong to.