Whenever there’s a storyline with quark, they talk about money/latinum.
I remember in one of the next gen episodes that there was discussion about money and Picard said something about how they’ve moved away from money.
So do Starfleet get paid now?
Update: thank you for the quick responses. From what I’m gathering the tldr is that the following is the answer
- Ferengi love for money/not being a post scarcity society by design
- Bajorans being so near their slavery times and not post scarcity yet
- Quark creating an atmosphere of camaraderie/gambling/upgraded replicators/actual food
All this requires some form of currency.
Ok so next question. If the computer can magically create anything. And they are on almost all space stations (including cardassian/federation ones) what’s the point of a bar?
Gambling makes sense. Paying for food/drink when you have a replicator doesn’t.
You can buy alcohol cheap from a store in real life, along with all the ingredients to make drinks, yet people still go to bars where cocktails cost more than a meal. They’re not going just because of superior bartending skills, they’re going as part of the experience of drinking with other people. Because on DS9, your other option is basically to drink in your quarters, which is no fun.
There are more options for food on DS9, but people still go to Quark’s for the atmosphere. It’s lively and fun, which is probably hard to come by otherwise on a remote space station. I doubt people are coming to Quark’s in droves for the food though, it’s more just something you get if you’re already there.
In real life you have to make your own food, make your own drinks, use your own plates/glasses/etc. and deal with cleanup.
In ds9 the replicator does everything for you.
But I get your point
Thanks!
There has been several episodes that talk about how poor the quality the food and drink are. Plus Starfleet replicators cannot make alcohol.
I don’t think that’s accurate, we saw an episode of lower decks where the group were discussing that Starfleet replicators use a similar chemical that has much shorter lived symptoms.
The exact quotes were tense asking how they were all so drunk when x thing existed and Mariner replying she had started asking real alcohol after the 2 drink.
Replicators make synthehol and alcohol, you choose which variant you want or program in your standard options. Snobs like Scotty and Jean-Luc’s brother say they can taste the difference which is why Guinan keeps “it is green” behind the bar.
Aldebaran Whisky?
Yes.
They can in TNG at least. There is an episode about people being cryogenically frozen in the past, because of uncurable illnesses. They unfroze them, and one dude ordered alcohol. He even said it was the best glass he has ever had.
Whiskey, I believe. I bet the replicator gave him Synthohol with whiskey flavoring.
@atlasraven31 @Maalus martini
Iirc it’s that they find Scotty from OG through plot magic and he complains about synthehol not being scotch.
Data says someone else (guinan?) Has a bottle or two stowed somewhere of something similar…
Picard had the bottle stashed away
It’s a plot point in the early seasons that the replicators on the station are not as good as the ones you might find on a federation starship.
Pretty sure Quark uses replicators for the food. Just has actual drinks in stock.
I suspect that the primary money makers are the drinks, gambling and holosuite time.
No one said the replicator can perfectly create the most delightful and exquisite flavors and aromas associated with the real thing. Also the bar is like a real bar in a way, you’re not paying for just the food/drink but also the atmosphere.
Also also it’s a Bajoran station, so maybe Quark has to pay an energy bill even for using the drinks replicator.
Also also also Quark makes the point that he had programmed the drinks replicator to be even better than a regular one, so you’re also paying for that.
I think Sisko threatened to charge Quark for rent and utilities in one episode as a way to get Quark to do something Sisko wanted.
Quark may be billing Starfleet for his services, but I’m sure he understands how to be in the good graces of his cop landlord.
Quark doesn’t pay for anything on the station. That was clarified in the series when Sisko threatened to charge him for it all. Forgot the episode though.
I think this is the main part. Things cost money on DS9 because the energy used to run the replicators is a finite resource, given that they are in such a remote location.
Same reason Nelix is the chef on voyager. Replicators don’t make something out of nothing.
This makes much more sense. On my first run through of ds9 and this has been bothering me
@aredditimmigrant @VindictiveJudge later in lower decks it’s revealed that quark has “done some work” to his replicators that make them produce results you can’t get in your quarters/mess hall
The computer can’t create everything, that’s why gold is near worthless and latinum is eternal.
Paying for food or drink would be for recipes not programmed into your own replicator, or when you’re not at home with your own. Star fleet seems paternal about healthy stuff like synthehol.
I think I remember them mentioning that the replicators can’t make very complex items, like a layered alcoholic drink. That and honestly a lot of people would probably still go just for the social aspect.
Latinum is chosen as the default currency, exactly because it is not replicable. In ST:Outpost there’s an episode where they find an alien tech that is able to replicate latinum, but only for a couple days before it dissolves. That is than used by ferengi pirates for obvious malicious reasons. ST:outpost is a fan production though, so not canon, but I do believe this is how it is. It is briefly mentioned in the apendices on latinum’s memory alpha page