It was due to these costs that the pre-historic physical marketplace evolved as a human institution. It was only there that many buyers and many sellers could meet and provide the infrastructure required to store and protect all the grain, chattel and precious things brought to market in exchange - one for the other. With money one need only find someone who wants to buy what you can provide. With money, afterwards, you can then simply find someone else who has want you want to buy and will also accept money in exchange. It is this ubiquitous quality of money to become all possible things that holds its ultimate alchemistic charm.
Transportation is a primary transaction cost.
The principle problem with commodity money is that it is subject to 'debasement' or corruption, e.g. lowering the quantity of precious to non-precious metal. This is the form in which inflation afflicted the ancient and medieval worlds of the West. As well anything 'precious' usually has an attractive alternative use, for example, jewelry. The next monetary institution to evolve was convertible paper money. Used first in China it was in extensive use in medieval Europe.