Businesswoman talking on a cell phone
Sometimes called a double match, a want match is a situation in which two parties agree to exchange services or goods other than money to satisfy a want that each party currently has. This medium of exchange is generally limited in scope and will likely require certain factors, such as time and place, to coincide for each party to derive satisfaction from the exchange. Despite the limitations, this approach is often used in various settings for the mutual benefit of both parties involved.
An easy way to understand how a coincidence of desires can occur is to consider a tenant who has lost their job and is unable to pay their rent. The owner currently has some vacant apartments that need to be painted before advertising the units to new tenants. Assuming the unemployed tenant has the skills to paint these apartments, the two parties can work out an agreement in which the landlord provides the paint and other supplies, and the tenant provides the labor. In exchange for the tenant’s effort, the landlord agrees to accept this work as payment for the month’s rent. As a result, the landlord saves money on the painting job, and the unemployed tenant can stay another month, hoping to get a job before he pays rent again.
This same general concept of wish fulfillment can be applied in many settings. A courier service may offer a certain number of free deliveries to a supplier in exchange for providing goods or services that are necessary for the continued operation of that service. A baker can offer pies to a vegetable stall owner in exchange for a good amount of tomatoes. A plumber who needs to fix a car may agree to trade services with a mechanic who has a clogged drain. In all of these scenarios, each party has a wish that must be fulfilled, and each party has the resources to fulfill the wishes of the other party.
The circumstances that come together to create a coincidence of desires place this type of exchange outside of typical business transactions, where money can be used to complete those transactions. In theory, money can be used as a medium of exchange at any time. In contrast, the specific circumstances of time, place, and event must come together for a coincidence of desires to occur. There is usually only a limited period of time in which the exchange or exchange can take place before one or both parties determine that the desire can be fulfilled by some other means and interest in working together to satisfy those desires has past.