Yeah they let you into the castle, take your gold and silver and dump you into the moat.
No I don’t see it, if we are talking total societal breakdown gold and silver are going to prolong your life until the opportune moment someone has to relieve you of it.
If you want to survive you are going to need a skill, something that stronger, better-armed people can make use of and for which they will keep you alive, that indeed might include being a good shot and carrying your own weapon, or it might just be farming, cooking, medical, mechanical or whatever skills, but simply walking around with a bag of sovereigns hoping to buy your way out of trouble ain’t going to be much help.
Agree. You must be worth more alive, like Mailman. And you need to be part of a ‘tribe’ ahead of time (now), for safety in numbers. That’s a critical part of what militias provide.
And for your loaf of bread, are you going to give them 1/10 oz of gold, or a gram?
What do you think you are going to get for change?
Quite honestly, if it gets this bad it is likely most people are going to die anyway.
The reasons gold and silver have been considered money will have disappeared by that time. Not forever, mind you. But in the end your food and medicines are going to be the key to making it through alive.