When I first started in this hobby, Doug Saito told me try to always trade with new people.

He told me of his observations over the course of a few years where new people were completely turned off to our hobby by cold and insensitive people. These people would tell the new person (who maybe collected Indian reservations) "I don't collect that crap - you got any AC or Vegas to trade???"

Of course this type of statement would "crush" the individual and make him/her feel strange or unaccepted within our hobby. After hearing this from several different individuals one could see how this could have an effect on anyone.

To avoid these type of situations I view my trade book as a binder for public relations. In person, I will trade ANY collector for whatever he/she has. That is why I have all types of chips in the binder. From LEs to riverboats to AC to you name it. I don't care - as long as I replace the chips with equal value.

You should see the smile on "new" collectors who enjoy turning the pages and asking questions. That to ME is what the hobby is all about. Saito lets me put this binder on his table and he gets just as big a kick out of the new people expressions as I do.

If everyone maintains one such binder think of the good it would create. Best, Jim