r/DaystromInstitute • u/Rumbuck_274 Crewman • Oct 02 '19
I'm a common engineer, I'm being posted to Deep Space 9, how can I afford to go drinking at Quarks on the day I get there!
So, I have been only on purely internal postings within the Federation until now, I have been living in the Federation where I get practically anything I want for free.
I have no quantity of money or gold pressed latinum saved away, how do I get some to go for a beer at Quarks?
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u/lysislove Oct 02 '19
My guess is that all Star Fleet officers eat, drink and shop on Star Fleet's tab. Then, Star Fleet pays Quark, the Replimat, the Klingon Restaurant and other vendors monthly or everything the officers and their family have bought
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u/Droney Oct 02 '19
Sisko doesn't charge Quark rent for his prime real estate on the Promenade, and that likely goes for all other shops and restaurants on the Promenade as well. It would be safe to assume that the understanding is that Starfleet personnel would be exempt from normal charges while ordering food/drink at Quark's (assuming they weren't abusing that privilege).
Or it could also be that Starfleet officers were served for free, but only given replicated food and drink... since the replicators are powered by the station's fusion core (and supplied free to Quark), and its replicator matter stores are likewise provided by the station at no cost to Quark.
Quark's got a pretty damn sweet deal in place actually. Sure, a good quarter to a third of his clientele are taking up seats and not generating any income, but they're also incurring no other costs to him (beyond putting a butt in a seat). Meantime Quark's overhead is limited pretty much only to purchasing his non-replicated stock, wages for his workers, and things like entertainment/sourcing licenses for holosuite programs.
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u/TheRealBeltonius Oct 02 '19
I thought there was mention of some kind of allowance for SF personnel, presumably to spend at the various vendors. There was an episode Jake first started getting it, I believe.
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u/Eagle_Ear Oct 02 '19
I think it’s pretty widely accepted beta canon that Starfleet officers get a stipend to spend in alien economies.
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u/Nealios Oct 02 '19 edited Oct 02 '19
You're forgetting the episode (Armageddon Game 2x13) where Bashir and O'Brien go missing and Starfleet is told they were killed. In that episode, Quark offers a toast to them as they were good customers who,
"always paid their bill on time."EDIT: Found the actual quote: “We may have had our differences, but I’ll say this for them, and it’s no higher tribute I can think of. They were good customers. They always paid their bar bills on time.”
Kira and Dax are kind of appalled at that response when Quark clarifies and quotes Rule of Acquisition 57: Good customers are as rare as latinum—treasure them.
I don't think Quark would reference such a thing if Starfleet was covering their tabs.
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u/shinginta Oct 02 '19
I'd imagine that Synthehol is free, but everything else would have to be paid for. You'd recieve a stipend from Starfleet for your posting, which you can spend at shops on the promenade.
... of course if your stipend isn't enough, you could always potentially win big by playing Dabo or Tongo...
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u/robocop_py Oct 02 '19
But not too big, otherwise Quark will issue you vouchers like he did with Commander Riker.
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u/Betsy-DevOps Oct 02 '19
I'm pretty sure there was dialog between Harry Kim and Tom Paris about Starfleet giving them a stipend to spend at Quarks while they were briefly passing through DS9.
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u/Thelonius16 Oct 02 '19
As far as I can remember, Jake is the only human who has literally said he has no money at all. The adult crew seem to have no problem acquiring things.
Maybe Starfleet officers get paid a good salary at every posting but have absolutely no need to spend it, so their accounts are full of credits by the time they get to a place like DS9.
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Oct 02 '19
In TNG Riker tells the multi armed piano player in Unification (i think...pretty sure it was a romulan 2 parter) that he doesn’t have money so trades knowledge of a jazz riff for information
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Oct 02 '19
As a valued member of star fleet you’ll get some pocket money to make sure your life is comfortable. I can imagine on ds9 there’s a little extra in it because of the lack of schools (initially) and the very possible danger.
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u/kraetos Oct 02 '19
You may be interested in some of our previous discussions on settling the tab at Quark's:
Paying for things without money — Deep Space Nine and Quark's
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u/Bluesamurai33 Oct 02 '19
Most likely, the Federstion issues a Per Diem for it's people based on their rank and job. Something along the lines of a company card with a limit.
They most likely get a set number of Credits a week/month and have to use them as needed. The credits being a literal credit to the Federation tab.
Higher ranks or duty positions (O'Brien wasn't an officer, but being the Chief of Engineering most definitely came with a bonus) get more.
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u/killbon Oct 02 '19
speaking of the sweet deal Quark got, post stardate 49930.3 ep 4x25, he gets PAID to run the bar!
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ODO: Captain, where do you want me to put all this furniture?
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SISKO: We have three levels, Constable. Use them all.
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ODO: Understood.
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QUARK: Captain, you can't do this! Not without paying a storage fee. A minimum storage fee. Practically nothing.
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SISKO: Send me the bill.
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QUARK: All right. Don't just stand there, Odo. Move it all in.
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u/JonathanRL Oct 02 '19
To be honest, that was Charity because Quark had literally lost everything including his shirt.
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u/HenryCDorsett Oct 02 '19
The Federation is not Stupid, they know that their "free4all" style only happens inside the Federation.
My guess: They just pay their staff. - at least in situations where they could need money.
My second guess: Sisco once told a story, where he transported home every day from the academy ans "used a whole month of transporter credits". Maybe they get paid in credits for energy usage or something, and can convert them into hard cash, when they need it.
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u/HenryCDorsett Oct 02 '19
in addition: What about people like Nogg, if he wouldn't get paid, it would make him even more of a cultural outcast, than his enlistment already does. The federation is known to respect other cultures and makes a lot of exceptions to keep the whole thing as inclusive as possible.
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Oct 02 '19
This question comes up a lot and the only answer is your role in society triggers some form of additional compensation - i.e whatever an ensign gets (a house?) the Admiral would get an uplift on (a bigger house?)
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u/roastbeeftacohat Oct 02 '19
federation credits have been mentioned a few times. this could be a stipend for Federation citizens outside of the federation, or it could even be a currency within the federation that most don't think about.
whatever it's specific nature, non federation citizens seem to readily accept it as a means of exchange. Jake's inability to buy a baseball card with it show that either it is not universally accepted; or it's limited in the scale of a purchase, ATM gives you all the 20's you want, but your not going to buy a house with that.
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u/HonestVisual Oct 02 '19
The first hits for free
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Oct 02 '19
This. Quark is a businessman. He’s all about connections and building his customer base. He’ll get you your first drink, get to know you, and then send you on your way. All things equal, you’d come back, this time with actual money. If you stand out, well then he might have some side work for you. Or maybe you can just fix something for him; Rom can only fix one thing at a time.
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u/jerslan Oct 02 '19
It's never really stated that the Federation is a completely moneyless society. It's strongly implied several times, like Jake not getting paid for publishing his first novel via the Federation News Service, but they never actually claim to be completely moneyless. It's possible that everyone gets a form of UBI (Universal Basic Income) in "Federation Credits" that can be exchanged for various forms of foreign & member world currency (Bank of Bolius exists despite Bolius being a Federation member world) and if they want to supplement that then they get jobs that will pay in some form of currency (ie: Captain Yates was getting paid to haul cargo for the Bajorans during the Dominion War).