Well, thats an opinion. I just offer gold or silver as the most dense and durable type of trade good you could have. Far better then diapers I think.
I think that if your preparing a fairly comprehensive supply base and your staying put, so weight and bulk aren't an issue, that a supply of diapers would have a place. I don't see carrying lots of sizes. I would invest in a good supply of mid-range disposables that do not use gels or other super-absorbents that mat degrade in time just to get people over the first few days. Smaller and larger children would have to make due with creative taping, pins and other field modifications.
To avoid any resentments, legal issues these types of supplies would be given away or, at worse, traded on a sliding scale system according to means. People with things to trade don't get them all and those with nothing to trade are not excluded.
Gold neatly bypasses any possible resentment or legal issues. No one needs gold, they aren't going to come to you begging for it as a supply so you don't have to worry about becoming a charity...if you don't want to.
Travelers in the worst collapses in history didn't offer work to get what they wanted. They took it by force. Or they bought it, with gold. Thats what happened after the fall of the Roman Empire. In prisoner of war camps trade continues and what is valued most is gold and jewels. Name a war with large numbers of prisoners (The civil war, world war two) and its the same.
Finally, I'd reiterate that their most useful place would be in a bug out kit where you're moving and can't possibly carry all the supplies you'd ever want. You could offer skills in trade, but if you have to do that at every stop you might as well put down roots because you'll never get anywhere. And even if the price of gold drops to ten dollars, how far do you think the value of paper dollars will fall.
If someone doesn't want it, or refuses to give what you believe is a fair price...simply walk down the road. You get what you want, or you have to adjust what you think is a fair price. But it gives you options, lots of options that nothing else weighing less then an ounce can. Gold is and has been universal all over the world as being synonymous with money throughout history, I can't see that changing anytime soon.
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