Quark latinum free#

People might also pay a premium for non-replicated (and therefore expensively shipped) drinks, as it's apparently possible to tell the difference. Most of the rest of the galaxy still uses some form of currency, and usually that currency is latinum because it cant be replicated. You could easily order a meal from your replicator, but having someone bring exactly the same meal to you in a restaurant is going to cost you somehow, and at least some of that money will go to the person who brought it. The Federation may not use money, but everybody else does, and nobody's going to accept Federation goodwill as payment for goods and (more importantly, in an economy with replicators) services. Wasn't there an episode where Quark complained about something and Sisko 'reminded' him (in forceful terms) that since the Federation had a cashless economy he wasn't paying rent, but that could easily not only be changed, but actually backdated to the moment the Federation took over adminstration of the station?īut there has to be some sort of 'cash' involved, no matter what. I think Bashir actually pays something for being allowed to run Vic's in one of the episodes.Īs for where the characters get latinum, Dax wins it on the Tongo tables often enough! Although she apparently doesn't collect her winnings. And Quark's holodeck services often seem to be in that category, even when his clients are from Starfleet. But some deals with Quark necessarily take place without government involvement or knowledge. It is also possible that there is a government-level 'interface' between the cash-based Ferengi consumer economy and the apparently moneyless Earth/Federation one.

Quark latinum free#

And I strongly suspect that it's the latter, with wording to the effect of 'Quark provides free meals and drinks to all Starfleet personnel, without consumption or time limit, and in return doesn't get thrown out of the airlock'. Starfleet may have set up either an expenses account that does not require user intervention, or some other kind of financial arrangement. Also, we haven't ever really seen a Starfleet character pay for his or her drinks, with cash or abstract credit, either at Quark's or at the Replimat.