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.
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.
I’m pretty sure that’s the episode where Quark becomes an arms dealer.
Which also has Avery Brooks’s creepiest line in the series; the way he says “Works for me!” gives me chills. Serial killer vibes.
Having seen Avery Brooks give panels at cons, I can confidently say that all the times when Sisko got space madness or was holosuite transformed into a Bond villain or was otherwise acting like a madman… all of those performances are the real Avery Brooks, and the stolid, restrained, level-headed Sisko is the character that Avery Brooks uses his formidable acting skills to pretend to be.
It’s the strike episode. “Bar Association” Sisko threatens him with charging rent if the strike doesn’t end soon.
I think Sisko’s threat is to start collecting rent Quark technically always owed but that Sisko had chosen to overlook because of the benefits the bar brings to the promenade, especially in the immediate aftermath of the Cardassian withdrawal.
I believe you are correct.
It was because they’d given him the supplies he needed to restart the bar after the FCA revoked his business license. So they were threatening to take back the equipment and start charging him rent again if he continued to do arms deals on the station.
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.
Great point.
And to be clear, by “programmed” we mean “installed weird sketchy dark web firmware, some of which he happened to write and sell himself” and by “even better” we mean “breaks lot of Federation food safety rules in fun ways”.
This makes much more sense. On my first run through of ds9 and this has been bothering me
Also, you can get groceries and make your own dinner. Why would you ever go to a restaurant?
Going to a bar is most likely about the atmosphere, the people there, just as much as it is about the alcohol
Why a restaurant for the service.
Between my wife and I we can make a lot of good staples (roasted chicken, beef and potatoes, etc.) but we’re not masters of the kitchen by any stretch.
You go to a restaurant to have someone else make the dinner and hopefully they are better than you are to make something tastier. As a side you don’t have to deal with cleaning dishes.
That and hopefully they have a good wait staff to liven up things
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.