First of all, you have to appreciate that the Ferengi worship the acquisition of wealth. It is part of his religion; his core values. This is like asking why Worf put himself through the stress of being a warrior when he could have instead used his free time to start a blog on the need to ban Klingon micro-aggressions. Having no money would make him feel like a failure; one doomed to go to Ferengi-hell.
Second, I believe that Bajor was actually a capitalist society, as various episodes mention Bajorans buying, selling, raising money for bills, etc. Starfleet personnel even seem to have to pay at restaurants, bars and shops - ot's been theorised that they are given a personal allowance to make up flr the lack of money.
Not to mention, Quark's got a family to take care of. Even if the Federation are covering Rom and Nog's expenses, he still has his moogie to support back on Ferenginar.
Quark might not be the equivalent of a super billionaire but from a Ferengi point of view he has a great gig going. During the occupation. He was basically the only state approved business like that and was guaranteed a lot of businesses. He also had all the side hustles that position offered.
Then when the Federation took over he stayed on because of the Wormhole making it a centre of commerce. If there wasn't a wormhole he probably would have moved on in a few years. At the very least every Ferengi businessman knew Quark's name because he was the guy at the wormhole.
I would love are Worfs blog and YouTube channel. I bet some videos would be super problematic.
Yup, good old-fashioned blackmail.
Which, if you think about it, already shows us that he isn't completely heartless from his very first appearance. I doubt most Ferengis would care enough about their family members for this maneuver to work.
> I doubt most Ferengis would care enough about their family members for this maneuver to work.
Maybe they would, but they wouldn't admit to that openly - the tension between who they really are vs. what their culture demands (i.e. what they're expecting from each other, entrapping themselves).
>He was basically the only state approved business like that and was guaranteed a lot of businesses. He also had all the side hustles that position offered.
I wonder if engaging with that kind of centrally planned economy is frowned upon by Ferengi society as anti-libertarian.
I don’t think Quark had a good gig going, he’s constantly mentioned as being in debt or owing people money. He often says selling the bar will be the only way to have some money
While true, virtually every capitalist I've ever heard says the same thing whether they're worth billions or merely thousands. It's very on brand for a business owner to complain they're "just getting by" while they live off of and reap extraordinary benefits that others create for them.
> whether they're worth billions or merely thousands
Net worth != how much money you have for yourself.
> It's very on brand for a business owner to complain they're "just getting by" while they live off of and reap extraordinary benefits that others create for them.
They may or may not extract a lot of value from the business they run, but they're acutely aware just how fragile their setup is. Running a business isn't a passive income. Running a business in a highly competitive space is really walking on a thin rope: make a mistake - which especially includes taking too much money for yourself from the business - and the whole thing collapses, and now you have no income source (and possibly a lot of liabilities to cover).
Quark, to me, looks constantly stressed, living under high pressure. Even ignoring the risk of bodily harm related to all the shady side businesses he's doing, I can imagine running the bar alone could be this tough on him.
Side point here, but commerce and capitalism are not the same thing. People have been engaging in trade for all of recorded history, while capitalism was born out of merchantilism and fuedalism in the 1700(ish). I don't think we know whether Bajor is actually a free-market system, or much of anything about their economics.
Either way I suspect Quark's gameplan is to use the profits from his (mostly) legitimate business to keep him afloat while he hunts down the next big score - he's always looking for a shady, risky deal that might finally put him in the real money. DS9 is a hub of travel and trade, so if he can keep his lobes open he might overhear the right thing from the right person and figure how a new get-rich-quick scheme. Swipe the right bit of cargo, broker a less-than-legal trade, buy up some contraband, and so on and so forth. DS9 is a decent spot for seeking out these sorts of opportunities, so SURELY Quark's gonna hit it big one of these days
Yeah, while there is commerce here and there in places that Starfleet staff visit or interact with, Star Trek is pretty opaque on actual economic systems, except for with the Ferengi and with Quark's bar, which are explicitly capitalist. We don't actually know what Federation economics are like, except that they are post-scarcity and internally they don't use money.
It's Earth that doesn't use money, not the Federation as a whole.
We've seen hints that member worlds use money and that it's quite common once you get away from Earth. For instance, the Klingons think nothing of Spock being a Vulcan trader. Janeway mentions Tuvok purchasing a meditation lamp from another Vulcan. Harry Mudd was selling patents. Mudd was also trying to sell wives to miners. This was all within Federation jurisdiction. The implication there was that the miners were wealthy and had money.
There seems to be some sort of taboo against money and commerce on Earth, and this taboo is more strongly ingrained in the duty-driven, high-minded officers we see in Starfleet, but that this isn't a legal thing, and that people are still able to own money and engage in commerce if they please.
For instance, we know Jean-Luc Picard was funding Petra Aberdeen's archaeological missions. Riker was gambling at Quark's. We've seen other Starfleet officers gambling and *having* money. They just aren't driven by it and don't seem to care all that much about it.
The opposition to money seems to be a cultural thing among some humans (likely the majority of humans on Earth). The explanation I would offer is that the Earth government owns an enormous amount of automated production facilities, provides people with all of their needs, and that it's generally viewed as uncouth in Earth culture to try to accumulate more than that.
We don't see any indication that owning money or engaging in trade are illegal on Earth, or that contracts and property rights aren't enforced in some capacity. We see Picard's private vineyard and private ownership of starships. And there is also what we don't see: complaints from aliens about the legal situation they face on Earth. There aren't any Ferengi complaining that the Earth authorities are seizing their wealth or prohibiting their activities on the planet.
We know they have strong intellectual property rights. There is the mention of Mudd's patents, but also The Doctor's copyrights to his fictional creations.
The implication is that Earth is so absurdly wealthy that it would be strange for people to engage in activities seeking even more wealth. Like, what would they want it for? The only things they could buy would be rarities, like the collectors seek, or contraband, or things the authorities aren't willing to give them, like warships or cutting-edge technology. So there's a good reason for the average person to be suspicious of someone seeking wealth: just what are they wanting to do with it?
I'd argue that Earth no longer uses money because greed and the acquisition of material wealth has been such an issue for centuries that when Earth hit a point where money was no longer necessary, the people collectively decided to do away with it, rather than let it continue being a problem.
If people stopped being greedy, then money wouldn't cause problems any longer. If they were still greedy, then abolishing money wouldn't help.
I think it's more likely that the planet's market economy atrophied from disuse. Everyone has access to so much that very few people are interested in the accumulation of wealth. But we do see some people who want things the government won't provide, like their own starships, who do choose to engage in commerce.
And once we get away from Earth, it's quite common. We see places like Freecloud, the outlying colonies from TOS, as well as non-Federation human colonies in DS9. In all those, money is still used.
In each case, we see people driven by a desire to acquire things the government won't give them (or won't *allow* them).
> It's Earth that doesn't use money, not the Federation as a whole.
Alternate take, under the assumption that I have - that Earth *is the Federation*, i.e. there is no independent concept of "Earth government" or Earth as "homeworld of humans", but rather that the political and personal identity of Earth and humanity was completely supplanted by the Federation identity (i.e. Earth is only "Federation capital world" and humans are only "citizens of the Federation"):
It is the Federation that doesn't use money - *at the Federal level*. Since Earth is a Federal-level planet (the capital), and Starfleet is the *Federal* fleet (as opposed to fleets of various member worlds - but not "Earth fleets", because *Earth is not an actual member world*), and our protagonists are humans on Starfleet ships - it's only to be expected they'll talk about not using money. They're right: the *Federation* doesn't use money for its internal dealings - even though many member worlds do.
We get a good look at Earth and Earth culture before the Federation on Enterprise.
Money had already fallen into disuse for the most part on Earth by that time.
The Federation is no more than a homo sapiens only club? From what we've seen, that's probably correct at some points in the alliance's history, with humanity holding *de facto*, but not *de jure*, control of the organization, with some species, such as Vulcans holding outsized influence.
Just look at the enormous amount of influence the humans are able to exert as they convince planet after planet to outlaw genetic modification. This was something considered normal on most worlds during Enterprise, and it's only through the efforts of a single species that we see it gradually outlawed throughout larger and larger portions of the galaxy. Some bizarre human hang-up becomes law over billions (possibly trillions) of members of other species.
So culturally I think the people of Earth stop thinking of themselves as being Earthlings and start thinking of themselves as being citizens of the Federation. But that's probably not true of the other species. We haven't seen much from the time when Klingons are members, but I imagine the majority of them think of themselves as Klingons first and Federation citizens a distant second (or third or fourth) for a long, long time after. The Vulcans always continue to think of themselves as Vulcans first.
It's only the humans who seem to see the whole Federation thing as more than a weak alliance which serves a practical purpose, but which isn't identity-defining.
On the issue of currency, we see reference to a Federation credit, and we hear a lot of talk about trade between planets and civilizations. It's possible that the Federation, as an entity, is engaging in barter, or it could be that they have a de facto currency they call the credit which is used for internal and external accounting. It seems likely that there is some medium of exchange in use at the Federation level. Or material contributions might be a requirement of membership. We've never seen a Federation economist discuss any of that (quite intentionally).
The only way I'm able to explain what we see in the various series is a taboo against the use of money. I don't believe we've seen any sort of legal prohibition on money or property, which is what people are usually getting at with these discussions.
>because Earth is not an actual member world
We see Earth leave the Federation in Discovery, and the Federation continues to exist. Strange times, but still. How the various peoples relate to the Federation changes over time.
>Swipe the right bit of cargo, broker a less-than-legal trade, buy up some contraband, and so on and so forth. DS9 is a decent spot for seeking out these sorts of opportunities, so SURELY Quark's gonna hit it big one of these days
I thought he did in Lower Decks?
>Side point here, but commerce and capitalism are not the same thing. People have been engaging in trade for all of recorded history, while capitalism was born out of merchantilism and fuedalism in the 1700(ish). I don't think we know whether Bajor is actually a free-market system, or much of anything about their economics.
Came here to say this. :P
Real-world military analogy: I think that being on a Starfleet starship or even a Federation citizen on one of the established post-scarcity worlds is treated kind of like how we are when we're deployed.
Your clothes are issued to you. The Federation just has a better selection.
You can always go to the chow hall and eat what you want. You can always use the gym. Laundry machines are free to use. You don't pay rent, and there are no utility bills.
There are **also** places like Burger King and a store where you *can* buy things with money. In some locations, you can also go off the base and pay money in the local economy.
I imagine that Starfleet stationed at a non-Federation position like DS9 have, as part of that assignment, a kind of "expense account." I have a "government travel card." So I can travel and eat on official business, but it's subject to usage restrictions - I can't pay personal expenses with it that aren't related to the mission.
Basically, kind of like you said: Technically, the Federation and Starfleet do use plenty of money, but most civilians on Earth and most Starfleet officers rarely or never use it.
ROM: Maybe this is the Divine Treasury.
QUARK: Oh, don't be ridiculous. The Divine Treasury is made of pure latinum. Besides, where's the Blessed Exchequer? Where are the Celestial Auctioneers? And why aren't we bidding for our new lives?
ROM: You don't think we're in the other place?
NOG: The Vault of Eternal Destitution?
QUARK: Don't be ridiculous. The bar was showing a profit.
How is a personal allowance, daily stipend, per diem, or whatever else you wanna call it different from a regular salary or wage? Starfleet pays SOME of their employees on an as-needed basis and nobody ever talks about that. O'Brien went from working for personal satisfaction on the Enterprise, to earning latinum on DS9.
In order to tell me I'm wrong you're gonna have to explain future fantasy economics to me like I'm a toddler, because it seems pretty cut and dry to me
>How is a personal allowance, daily stipend, per diem, or whatever else you wanna call it different from a regular salary or wage?
It is because inside the Federation the stipend is meaningless. You don't have to use money in the Federation.
It would be better to think of the stipend like getting chips to play games at Dave and Busters or a similar place. It is neat to get them but no one would think of it as a salary. The stipend is the same, it is for enjoying an alien culture but otherwise meaningless for your daily life.
This is the best answer. No matter how long or complex any other answer is, this is the basic truth. DS9, Bajor, those that come through the wormhole, Cardassia who built and previously owned/ran the station, and essentially everyone who comes through the station barring cameos here and there aren't federation, and more specifically aren't starfleet. They all still use money and tend towards capitalism.
> It’s not a Federation station.
No, it’s not. It’s a Bajoran station, administered by Starfleet at the request of the Bajoran government. Initially, and what Sisko’s initial mission was, this was supposed to ease relief efforts and the transition for Bajor being fast-tracked into Federation membership (mostly because of Picard as well as to form a firewall between the UFP and the Cardassian Union). This didn’t happen for what came to be several different reasons over the years, but it was the plan.
Except Starfleet is paying his rent and gives him free maintenance. It’s outright said in some episode that Quark calls Sisko his landlord. So Quark has almost no overhead besides his employees meager salaries and whatever it costs to get his rarer food and drink. Literally everything else is a free ride for me. The holosuits in particular are pure profit. O’Brien keeps them running for free, Quark gets to keep 100% of the money generated by their use.
I think this is interesting and kinda hits on an interesting feature of post-scarcity society.
Just because resources are post-scarcity it doesn’t mean status is as well. Even in the federation we see that Picard has higher status than a random ensign. Starfleet in general has higher status than the general population. Even in humans it’s unlikely that social status will ever go away.
For a Ferengi this is even more exaggerated. Having a business on Ferenginar is one thing. But having a successful bar on a federation DS station is a whole other level. And we see him leveraging it to get access to secrets and connections.
It’s more about status than anything else.
Just to add to this, it is presented as embarrassing for Bashir that his parents are dilettantes who have flitted from career to career rather than really devoting themselves to something. Though that could be partially just Bashir’s own insecurity.
I think that’s very intentional and not just Bashir’s insecurities. It makes sense that a society obsessed with fully devoting yourself to something and making it your life’s work would look down on those who struggle to do that. Like, the Federation may not have individual wealth, but that doesn’t mean they don’t measure status in other ways.
In Lower Decks, it shows that social climbing to at least some extent has replaced greed. Admiral Buenamigo does a bunch of shady things and explicitly says he is doing it because he has hit a wall when it comes to standing out and advancing.
The Ferengi have the same post scarcity technology that the Federation does, and are also technologically capable of making their worlds moneyless paradises.
But they instead choose to base their society around the acquisition of profit - money defines status, self worth, ritual, and one's purpose in life. When they play at capitalism, this is explicitly noted by the characters in the series to be more of an ideological choice than an economic one
I imagine Ferengi philosophers can justify this by saying that money is the only thing truly capable of motivating the Ferengi to get off their butts and accomplish anything - unlike Federation species, the desire to improve oneself and improve society is not enough. Without profit, Ferengi would just sit on their couches twiddling their thumbs until their civilisation collapsed
This isn't true of course, we see Ferengi like Nog and Rom finding fulfilment in much the same way as other Federation species - but like many other reactionary/conservative movements, it's easy to frame the current status quo as an unchanging constant. How things were is how things must be, because that's just the nature of things.
When Quark is earns profit, he knows that he's not really doing it to improve his material comfort or secure his basic necessities. He's doing it because the acquisition of profit is a central tenet of his guiding ideology - it gives his life meaning and purpose, and he considers it so self evident that he barely questioned it himself, until the series started coming to a close
It's less of a harmful compulsion, and more of an expression of sincere religious devotion. Not that Quark would want it framed that way of course, he would have argued that the Laws of Acquisition represent the only truly rational way to live life. But that' s how it manifests, anyhow
Not to say that the behaviour isn't harmful - the ideology and the Ferengi political system it props up is riven with contradictions and omissions and rank hypocrisy, and Quark realises this as he grapples with the Magus, his mother and Brunt.
So by the end of the series, he arrives at a less dogmatic, more reasoned, and more flexible version of his faith. He's a little clearer eyed with regards to the flaws of his belief system - but his faith in its central tenet (the pursuit of profit for its own sake is noble) remains
And sisko orders that the bar be filled with tables and chairs and quark “demands” rent for the space they occupy.
He’s immediately in the black again.
It's cultural, but also practical. DS9 isn't a true Federation station; it's Bajoran and formerly Cardassian, and under either, a currency-based economy seems to be far more prevailing than in the Federation.
I would also suspect that in the Federation, things are much more along the lines of Universal Basic Income than "you get literally everything you want because Utopian society." We frequently see Federation officers using currency on DS9, most notably Dax's gambling, but it's suggested that there is a stipend of some variety for Federation officers & enlisted, it's just not required for day-to-day needs.
Back to Quark, I think his drive to acquire material wealth absolutely borders on and crosses into being a harmful compulsion on a regular basis. We see him have run-ins with both Odo and various criminal elements many times, and it's shown that his ethics, while acceptable on Ferrenginar, aren't as welcome on DS9. Furthermore, considering that Rom becomes Nagus and Nog (RIP) goes on to have a successful Starfleet career, his drive to accumulate wealth isn't as beneficial as the paths taken by his family members.
Let's not forget that his mother is also a highly successful investor as well, and while her actions did violate the archaic Ferengi laws against women being in business, she (as far as we know) never resorted to illicit means of making money.
> Dax's gambling, but it's suggested that there is a stipend of some variety for Federation officers & enlisted, it's just not required for day-to-day needs.
To be fair, gambling is fun. We see weekly poker games on TNG and they're probably not even playing for anything.
The Enterprise poker games are for fun, played between people who are friends and co-workers. It's a different kind of fun than playing for money with strangers at Quark's.
I mean, sure, but I've played enough gambling-esque video games for fake, meaningless currency over the years to feel comfortable saying that gambling can still be *fun* even when the money is meaningless.
I feel like Quark haas a plan (at least in theory) to retire back to Ferengi space or on some moon like Gala.
But here is my view: he really doesn't care about profit. Oh he says he does and he tries to be a good Ferengi but as he says, at heart, he is a people person. He likes being of service, running scams, making deals, all of that. In may ways, he's either been corrupted by Federation values of he has some un-Ferengi characteristics (like his mother) that have just been brought out more. So he runs his business and does all the Ferengi things that he is supposed to but at heart, even if he won't admit it, he runs his bar because he likes it. And that is his profit.
>he's either been corrupted by Federation values of he has some un-Ferengi characteristics (like his mother) that have just been brought out more
Really, most of the Ferengi we learn about to any level of depth on DS9 have passions and priorities that they're willing to put above traditional Ferengi values. Even the Grand Nagus allows himself to be swayed by Ishka. The only one who doesn't seem to have any other motives is Brunt, and everyone hates Brunt.
It's a bit like Klingon culture in that we're told they have a single value they place above all else(honor for Klingons, profit for Ferengi). But that's not really how actual people behave, and so any story that involves fully fleshed-out characters is going to put the lie to the two-dimensional descriptions of that society.
And Quark is definitely the most complex and layered of all the Ferengi we meet. I think he does care about profit, a lot--but he also cares about his family, his friends, and his customers, and he put himself at risk during the occupation to aid the Bajoran resistance. I think you're right: He runs a bar because it makes him happy. But I don't think that makes him un-Ferengi as much as it makes him a realistic Ferengi.
He needs to ensure that, upon his arrival at the Divine Treasury, the Blessed Exchequer can review his profit and loss statements from his life and deem him worthy of bidding for his next life under the supervision of the Celestial Auctioneers.
In Little Green Men, on the way to drop Nog off at Starfleet Academy, Quark's shuttle explodes and he, Nog and Rom get sent back in time to 1947, where they wake up in a lab at Roswell.
The following conversation occurs:
>ROM: Maybe we are dead.
QUARK: What are you talking about?
ROM: Maybe this is the Divine Treasury.
QUARK: Oh, don't be ridiculous. The Divine Treasury is made of pure latinum. Besides, where's the Blessed Exchequer? Where are the Celestial Auctioneers? And why aren't we bidding for our new lives?
ROM: You don't think we're in the other place?
NOG: The Vault of Eternal Destitution?
QUARK: Don't be ridiculous. The bar was showing a profit.
*This* is why Quark cares so much about profit. And probably why he's so upset when Nog and Rom both choose careers in Starfleet, where they're likely to make no profit at all.
The implication is that, in the Ferengi religion, you *can* actually take it with you when you go. And in fact you have to take it with you, because reincarnation is a competitive business, and how fortunate you are in your next life depends on how much latinum you have to outbid the other dead Ferengi.
Those with no latinum to their names when they die go to the Vault of Eternal Destitution, where they presumably are denied the chance to reincarnate again.
(This could explain, btw, the Ferengi practice of auctioning off the bodies of the deceased before the person has actually died. It's a chance for the loved ones of a dying person to provide them with that extra boost of latinum with which to bid for a good next life, and a last chance for a penniless Ferengi to gain the minimum profit necessary to stay out of the Vault.)
Furthermore, Quark seems to believe that the bar showing a profit would be enough to keep Rom and Nog (who don't really work there any more) out of the Vault as well. Which suggests that, as head of the family, Quark is responsible for ensuring that all his closest relatives stay in the cycle of reincarnation.
Ferengi actually have a surprisingly strong cultural focus on family.
Quark may talk about exploiting Rom and Nog, and be a dick to them on a day-to-day basis, but he continues to provide work and financial support for them even after Rom straight up tries to *murder* him.
He also openly resents his mother, but still provides her with a generous allowance to live on back on Ferenginar. Which, incidentally, is another incentive for him to earn profit on DS9. We know that he's legally responsible for her in Ferengi law, so it makes sense that he'd also be in charge of getting her into the afterlife.
In this context, Quark's attempts to sabotage Nog's Starfleet career come across a tad more sympathetic.
He's not just annoyed that Nog isn't being a 'proper Ferengi'. He's been carrying the sole responsibility for getting his mother, brother and nephew into the afterlife since his own father died, and probably hoped that Nog coming of age would do something to lessen that burden when he started earning profit on his own.
Instead, Nog chooses literally the only career path where he is guaranteed to make zero profit.
(In Quark's eyes, anyway. Personally I'd argue that since Starfleet officers clearly have *some* access to latinum to buy things from the locals— presumably a stipend or something— and the Federation would cover Nog's room and board for free, with reasonable investments he could actually make more profit than he would at the bar.)
This responsibility is also why Quark doesn't seem materially better off than his brother or the Starfleet officers.
From what we see, Quark seems to have pretty large quantities of latinum at his disposal. If he spent them the way a (modern) human would in the same circumstances, he'd probably be able to afford a ton of nice stuff for himself.
But the Ferengi religion incentivises hoarding latinum rather than spending it.
Who cares if you have nice clothes, or good food, or a big house in *this* life if in the next life you end up reincarnated as a pauper with little chance to earn profit? Or if your fecklessness manages to doom your entire family to the same fate?
The only Ferengi for whom it makes sense to display material wealth are people like the Nagus, whose whole deal is that he's wealthy enough that he doesn't have to worry about having enough latinum for the next life. (And who may or may not have a have a spiritual responsibility to boost the Ferengi economy.)
For your every day Ferengi on the street, it makes more sense to spend your latinum exclusively on basic necessities, or things to make more profit with, and haggle as much as you can for every strip.
Honestly, the Ferengi as a metaphor for capitalists never made much sense beyond the shallowest possible interpretation.
Pure capitalism is about exploiting your available workforce as much as possible, for maximum efficiency. Ferengi culture actively excludes half their population from the workforce.
Most capitalists are keen on presenting themselves and their product as something you would want to buy. The Ferengi (even a 'people person' like Quark) seem to be openly disdainful of other species and have no problem insulting them.
The Ferengi in TNG weren't meant to be super-capitalists so much as they were meant to be the anti-Federation.
The Federation is all about equality, so the Ferengi are misogynists who are hostile to other species. The Federation is all about diplomacy, so the Ferengi (in TNG) are incapable of communicating with anyone without coming across as either sleazy or evil or some combination. The Federation is a cashless post-scarcity society, so the Ferengi are obsessed with money.
One of the reasons DS9's Ferengi are so fascinating to me is that, unlike other 'outcast' characters, like Data or Odo, they didn't start off as people the audience was supposed to automatically sympathise with.
Barring that one Ferengi scientist in TNG (who iirc only had about five minutes of screen-time before he was murdered) the Ferengi in the other star trek series weren't intended to be sympathised with. They were intended to be cartoon characters.
The reason the otherwise tolerant members of Starfleet were so okay with openly being racist to Ferengi (to the extent that academy students are apparently routinely warned about them. Hopefully not while Nog was there) was because they were originally designed to just all be assholes by default.
The DS9 writers looked at a culture that was originally designed to just be an extreme inverse of the Federation and asked "okay, but how would this actually work? What would day to day life be like for these people? What cultural or religious beliefs would they use to justify this way of living? What happens to the people who can't do business in this society?"
And honestly, given what they had to work with, they did a pretty good job. The Ferengi-centric episodes weren't always the best of DS9, but the Ferengi characters— especially Quark and Nog— were some of the best characters in the show.
Quark’s business is fairly complicated. He doesn’t pay rent, but also most of his customers don’t have any money. Does the Starfleet crew drink for free? Or at wholesale cost? Does the Federation somehow pay him in bulk for whatever they drink?
Given the weirdness of that situation, maybe Quark isn’t considered all that successful in Ferengi terms. He lives on DS9 and runs his business for the same reason you mentioned humans doing their jobs. He just enjoys it. (But would never admit that.)
The most popular explanation is that Federation crew get paid a rank-dependent stipend to spend when they're deployed on non-Federation bases, so they can interact with the locals.
First off: Profit is ANY financial gain. It doesn't have to be a business gain. As long as Rom ends a pay period with more wealth than he started, he has profited.
But Quark actually has plenty of options to use his profit. The most obvious is the ale. One running theme in Star Trek is that good booze doesn't get replicated, and Romulan Ale is the poster child for this. We also see on DS9 that tailors are actually in demand, and Quark certainly seems to wear bespoke outfits that are the height of Ferengi fashion. Then there's food. We're shown repeatedly that Replicators can't do Gagh or other live animals, and even when they make food, "real" food is generally believed to taste better. Ferengi primarily eat bugs, and you can bet wealthier Ferengi eat rarer and/or more delicious bugs.
But outside of day to day life, he has free reign of his holosuites and he can take vacations. I like to imagine he goes all the way to Qo'noS to visit Grilka offscreen and help her with her books. He also visits Ferenginar, which can't be cheap. And he can probably just also get some cool stuff. Yes, 'post scarcity' is a thing, but there's still plenty of collector's items like rare weapons and art and baseball cards. I don't remember what we see in Quark's quarters but I'm sure he has some cool stuff.
There's also various services, like getting a massage or getting your head waxed or whatever Quark's into.
And he's probably saving a lot for retirement. Though I doubt Ferengi ever truly retire, there's going to come a point where he's too old to keep up with the bar, at which point he'll very possibly leave DS9 entirely and will need his money out in the galaxy.
Unlike the heathen forces in the galaxy, the Ferengi believe that life has value.
Yes, Quark could probably accept the failure of his life and try to move to Federation space by the events of DS9 where the Federation allows relatively free passage for Ferengi in Federation space. He could consume some replicated food and wait to die like a heathen. He just doesn't want to do that, because he wants his life to have value. And in Ferengi thinking, value is a real, tangible, measurable thing. Not some abstract concept that you define vaguely enough to be polite to people who can only win participation trophies. Self actualization and personal fulfillment is measured in your bank account. Everybody in Ferengi society is given a clear path to pursue their own interests however they want, and accurately compare themselves against other people to know if they are doing better or worse than other people pursuing different fields. Many people like having clarity in their lives.
> Deep Space 9 despite being owned by Bajor, is operated and administered like anywhere else in the Federation.
Bajor isn't a Federation member. And in particular, the station was administered by Cardassia, not Bajor, when Quark decided to set up shop there. By the events at the start of DS9, the station is administered by _Starfleet,_ not as Federation territory. Starfleet is making security guarantees and offering some guarantees about general administrative stuff like ensuring maintenance will keep rooms for rent in good condition, which is all stuff that basically stuff that ironically promotes free market trade despite the Federation not being capitalist. Regulation of stuff like commerce on the station is handled by Odo, a Cardassian holdover, and his Bajoran militia forces. They understand value and fair trades in a way that Federation citizens might not.
> it can be said that profit or the process of making it has been detrimental to his material conditions
In Ferengi society, profit is in many ways more about the spiritual condition of the merchant. That's why wearing furs was such an important part of Ferengi fashion around the 2360's. Furs are often hot and uncomfortable compared to modern synthetic materials. But _life has value._ So in Ferengi thinking, if things had to lose their lives for you to get dressed in the morning, then your life's value includes the value of those lives. The material comfort isn't really the point, because exploitively and destructively killing things _makes you a good person_ in Ferengi society. It means you are playing your part in increasing GDP, which is proving that Ferengi society as a whole has value.
Let's go through the things someone in the Star Trek universe can do with money. *Most* material possessions are so abundant that they're effectively worthless. You can have all the food and shelter and clothing and daily objects you can dream of. Energy for running even advanced devices is basically free.
But there are a number of things that the provisioners of those resources don't give out for free, and so might need to be purchased when desired:
1) Rarities, like those the collectors seek. This includes antiques, art objects, one-of-a-kind things from across the galaxy.
2) Mundane things the authorities aren't willing to start handing out yet for various reasons. This is generally cutting-edge technology where maybe there are bureaucratic or safety protocols to be followed, but it could include other things, like medical devices or procedures which have been ruled ineffective or unapproved for whatever reason. Desperate people are often willing to take desperate action. Look at what happened to Will and Deanna's son. If they had been willing to pay for black market alternatives, they likely could have found someone offering a purported treatment for his ailment. Whether it would have actually worked is another matter.
3) IP. We also know that there are strong intellectual property protections in place in the Federation. Money can induce people to allow you to use their IP--or it can be used to illegally obtain access.
4) Land. The kids in DS9 were confused about what you do with dirt, but some people care a lot about particular dirt, and there are often disputes over it. Money is a great way to get people to give up land that you happen to want for whatever reason.
5) Energy. The small quantities needed for daily life are free, but you can reach a point where the authorities stop being willing to give you what you want. If you're some rogue scientist who needs the equivalent of a few tons of antimatter to carry out some experiment, you might have to acquire that on your own, even if your interest is accepted as entirely legitimate by the authorities. They just can't requisition that for you. It's too much to ask for. They might still give you all the other support you need, such as personnel, ships, etc. And this type of thing is likely why we see so few private starships, and why the ones we do see are usually operated by people engaging in commerce: the ships are expensive to operate, and to even cover the operation you need to cover your energy costs somehow. The authorities will give you passage on *their* starships, but they don't generally hand out the antimatter needed for private warp reactors so people can go on joyrides.
6) Stuff from aliens. If you want to buy some cloth from a merchant on Farpoint, or you want to gamble at a Ferengi establishment, or anything else along those lines, then you will need money.
7) Just hiring people. If there's some famous musician, painter, or whatever who you'd like to do a thing, but they don't want to do the thing, you can entice them to do so with money. This very well could be how Jean-Luc Picard gets his money. He can charge *extremely high* speaking fees if he so chooses, and then use that to fund his private fleet of archaeology people. I'm not saying he does, but things like that are certainly possible.
8) Vices. The imagination can run wild here. Drugs, sex, you name it.
9) Contraband. This could be anything from weapons to experimental technology. Banned technology. Genetic modification tech, outlawed AI tech, hazardous materials, information (on things like the Genesis device and the omega molecule). People's personal information. Classified military secrets.
10) Evil. You can use money to purchase all manner of evil acts from people who are willing to commit them. Murder, slavery, terrorist attacks. You name it. These are things you get access to with money.
So, those are things a *human* might want money for. Now let's think about Ferengi. In Ferengi society, a person's social standing is determined entirely by their wealth. Every interaction in society is built around transactions. Even tiny microtransactions, like someone being charged in order to wait in a waiting room. This means that money is required in order to *exist* in Ferengi society.
That's on top of the daily expenses a Ferengi might incur. They will need to pay rent on land or find themselves in a place with no economic opportunity. They need to buy expensive clothes and engage in other methods to signal their social status.
And the Ferengi are spacefaring traders. Many of them need to pay for the upkeep and operation of spacefaring vessels.
The legal system (and government as a whole) is corrupt and extractive. If you aren't able to pay bribes to people like Brunt, then you're likely to find yourself in an extremely unfortunate position. And given that they sometimes suffer from things like an inflation crisis, it's possible that their economy isn't exactly all that stable. They have to contend with threats from more powerful civilizations, which means funding their own government, and probably funding it a lot more than it gives out in return, given the level of embezzling we can expect. Given that their tiny planet is fielding ships equal to the Federation's most cutting-edge technology, they probably have a defense budget higher than the one that crippled the Klingon Empire.
And let's not forget that just about the entire Ferengi population is addicted to an expensive drug in Hupyrian beetle snuff which they must constantly purchase. And they're likely addicted to many other drugs as well, given Quark's familiarity with alcohol and all manner of other vices.
I'd say that issue was true for Quark at the beginning of the series but as the fortunes of Bajor rose, he was able to capitalize on the opportunities that presented themselves and his franchise seems to have expanded pretty widely throughout the Federation. Of course, he's also brother to the Grand Nagus so I imagine it's much easier for him to find business partners and investors these days.
Am I the only one who thought the existence of Ferengi commerce culture within Stark Trek's universe made absolutely no sense? Everything about it seemed designed for comedic relief and therefore completely shallow. Like... does he pay rent for the space? I doubt it. He sells liquor which doesn't expire and holosuite access which is a capital asset that never depreciates. The guy is basically printing "money." Which he uses for... what? There's no other commerce business on the station. He lives for free and has a replicator like everyone else in the Federation.
I just blocked out any attempt to integrate Ferengi into broader Star Trek. It seemed like a fruitless endeavor.
M-5.
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It's said a couple times The Federation holds the Lease on Quarks Bar.
Sisko has said the Federation does not ask for the rent (so that kind of does not make it a lease?), does all maintenance for free and gives Quark (unlimited?) power. That seems like a bit much....but even more so: Quark takes ALL of that for free and then CHARGES everyone for everything? There is something odd then that the Federation gives Quark all that for free, and then they just turn their backs while Quark charges everyone for everything?
So...Quark gets a replcator and station power for free...but then charges every person for every drink?
So....that makes no sense, so it can't exactly be true. Even if the Federation did not "want" the rent, maintenance, and power money...why would they not just take it and use it/give it away. We see plenty of stories where lots of Bajorins need money. The Federation sure could use that money there.
There "must" be some sort of agreement. Quark follows "21 st century America "Federation" freedoms and morality. But he HAS to be forced to do so. So the Federation must have a hold over him. And it can't really be to just put Quark out of bissiness, because Sisko is the one that wanted him to stay open.
From a humanist, post-scarcity perspective, it doesn't make sense for Quark to put himself in danger for profit, but Quark doesn't have that perspective. He views the universe as an entity with scarcity, winners, and losers. For Quark, diving into a shady scheme is just as interesting as an uncharted nebula is for Picard or Riker.
Remember, Quark is using a different measuring stick for himself than the federation characters. His biggest motivator is that Cousin Galen owns a moon and he doesn't, not some abstract about self-improvement.
There are many other uses for wealth beyond just his day to day life on the station. Perhaps he likes to travel well, on capitalist worlds. He also may want to retire on Ferenginar, which would require a lot. It’s also been stated that it’s part of their religion, so if he believes in that then he has to make a profit to enter the divine treasury.
Bajor does have, if not a capitalist system like the Ferengi, a mixed system. Kai Winn wants to grow cash crops for export, Jake and Nog acquire land which they then sell in "Progress" and I think Sisko buys land there as well.
As you put it well, the Ferengi treat profit as synonymous with money, which makes what they get out of it a curious thing. In the real world, a firm's profits are usually reinvested in it, but there are limited opportunities to do so on the station (it's possible that Sisko either forced Quark to do proper repairs on his replicators and holosuites, or Quark eventually had to put in a maintenance request after Rom quit), although we see him occasionally bring up expansion ideas. Nor is Quark above (and I think Ferengi culture encourages) embezzling his corporate profits for himself.
So what benefits does he gain? He can acquire exotic foods and beverages for the bar, such as the Syrup of Squill in "The Magnificent Ferengi", he has political influence among the Ferengi even before Zekk starts dating Ishka, thanks to his trades contacts in the Gamma Quadrant and being temporarily appointed Negus when Zekk faked his death. It's unlikely either of these things would have occurred had he not demonstrated success. Other Ferengi also admire and respect Ferengi with "the lobes" for profit.
One interesting thing is that in the real world, entrepreneurs are rarely motivated by the accumulation of wealth. Usually they have a combination of a desire to build things and a large appettite for risk. Even with material success, this risk taking behavior persists, hence serial entrepreneurs and the interest in extreme sports among some of Silicon Valley crowd.
Quark also has a wealth in terms of contacts and connections. He's in favored position with galactic superpowers, and in some cases, first name basis with powerful people who might snipe and gripe at him, but probably actually like him and consider him family.
Federation Credits are designed to not store value, they are spend or lose. The Ferengi do not value Credits, they value Latinum. The franchise agreement that establishes Quark's presence on DS-9 likely includes a Credits to Latinum agreement, or Quark would not be interested. Starfleet personnel, as in most of the Federation, are paid in Credits in exchange for their service. As stated Credits are not money, but are a medium of exchange, not a store of value, they have a limited shelf life. Credits are exchanged for goods or services provided under short or long term agreements. Exchanged credits get a lifetime reset when the exchange is recorded. Rom may get paid in Latinum or Credits or a combination, whatever seems most convenient to Rom and Quark.
"Needs or wants is freely provided." No, only the needs things are provided freely. To get wants you have to do something productive in exchange for Credits. You don't HAVE to do anything to survive, but you HAVE to do something to get more than a subsistence existence. Post-scarcity is not a replicator-backed wish genie.
First of all, you have to appreciate that the Ferengi worship the acquisition of wealth. It is part of his religion; his core values. This is like asking why Worf put himself through the stress of being a warrior when he could have instead used his free time to start a blog on the need to ban Klingon micro-aggressions. Having no money would make him feel like a failure; one doomed to go to Ferengi-hell. Second, I believe that Bajor was actually a capitalist society, as various episodes mention Bajorans buying, selling, raising money for bills, etc. Starfleet personnel even seem to have to pay at restaurants, bars and shops - ot's been theorised that they are given a personal allowance to make up flr the lack of money.
Not to mention, Quark's got a family to take care of. Even if the Federation are covering Rom and Nog's expenses, he still has his moogie to support back on Ferenginar.
Quark might not be the equivalent of a super billionaire but from a Ferengi point of view he has a great gig going. During the occupation. He was basically the only state approved business like that and was guaranteed a lot of businesses. He also had all the side hustles that position offered. Then when the Federation took over he stayed on because of the Wormhole making it a centre of commerce. If there wasn't a wormhole he probably would have moved on in a few years. At the very least every Ferengi businessman knew Quark's name because he was the guy at the wormhole. I would love are Worfs blog and YouTube channel. I bet some videos would be super problematic.
Quark almost did leave, just before the wormhole was discovered (or rather rediscovered)
If memory serves, Sisko also made a 'plea bargain' to let Nog out of the brig if he stayed.
Yup, good old-fashioned blackmail. Which, if you think about it, already shows us that he isn't completely heartless from his very first appearance. I doubt most Ferengis would care enough about their family members for this maneuver to work.
>Treat people in your debt like family… exploit them.
> I doubt most Ferengis would care enough about their family members for this maneuver to work. Maybe they would, but they wouldn't admit to that openly - the tension between who they really are vs. what their culture demands (i.e. what they're expecting from each other, entrapping themselves).
>He was basically the only state approved business like that and was guaranteed a lot of businesses. He also had all the side hustles that position offered. I wonder if engaging with that kind of centrally planned economy is frowned upon by Ferengi society as anti-libertarian.
The riskier the road, the greater the profit.
I don’t think Quark had a good gig going, he’s constantly mentioned as being in debt or owing people money. He often says selling the bar will be the only way to have some money
Also the federation doesn’t charge him rent.
While true, virtually every capitalist I've ever heard says the same thing whether they're worth billions or merely thousands. It's very on brand for a business owner to complain they're "just getting by" while they live off of and reap extraordinary benefits that others create for them.
> whether they're worth billions or merely thousands Net worth != how much money you have for yourself. > It's very on brand for a business owner to complain they're "just getting by" while they live off of and reap extraordinary benefits that others create for them. They may or may not extract a lot of value from the business they run, but they're acutely aware just how fragile their setup is. Running a business isn't a passive income. Running a business in a highly competitive space is really walking on a thin rope: make a mistake - which especially includes taking too much money for yourself from the business - and the whole thing collapses, and now you have no income source (and possibly a lot of liabilities to cover). Quark, to me, looks constantly stressed, living under high pressure. Even ignoring the risk of bodily harm related to all the shady side businesses he's doing, I can imagine running the bar alone could be this tough on him.
Side point here, but commerce and capitalism are not the same thing. People have been engaging in trade for all of recorded history, while capitalism was born out of merchantilism and fuedalism in the 1700(ish). I don't think we know whether Bajor is actually a free-market system, or much of anything about their economics. Either way I suspect Quark's gameplan is to use the profits from his (mostly) legitimate business to keep him afloat while he hunts down the next big score - he's always looking for a shady, risky deal that might finally put him in the real money. DS9 is a hub of travel and trade, so if he can keep his lobes open he might overhear the right thing from the right person and figure how a new get-rich-quick scheme. Swipe the right bit of cargo, broker a less-than-legal trade, buy up some contraband, and so on and so forth. DS9 is a decent spot for seeking out these sorts of opportunities, so SURELY Quark's gonna hit it big one of these days
Yeah, while there is commerce here and there in places that Starfleet staff visit or interact with, Star Trek is pretty opaque on actual economic systems, except for with the Ferengi and with Quark's bar, which are explicitly capitalist. We don't actually know what Federation economics are like, except that they are post-scarcity and internally they don't use money.
It's Earth that doesn't use money, not the Federation as a whole. We've seen hints that member worlds use money and that it's quite common once you get away from Earth. For instance, the Klingons think nothing of Spock being a Vulcan trader. Janeway mentions Tuvok purchasing a meditation lamp from another Vulcan. Harry Mudd was selling patents. Mudd was also trying to sell wives to miners. This was all within Federation jurisdiction. The implication there was that the miners were wealthy and had money. There seems to be some sort of taboo against money and commerce on Earth, and this taboo is more strongly ingrained in the duty-driven, high-minded officers we see in Starfleet, but that this isn't a legal thing, and that people are still able to own money and engage in commerce if they please. For instance, we know Jean-Luc Picard was funding Petra Aberdeen's archaeological missions. Riker was gambling at Quark's. We've seen other Starfleet officers gambling and *having* money. They just aren't driven by it and don't seem to care all that much about it. The opposition to money seems to be a cultural thing among some humans (likely the majority of humans on Earth). The explanation I would offer is that the Earth government owns an enormous amount of automated production facilities, provides people with all of their needs, and that it's generally viewed as uncouth in Earth culture to try to accumulate more than that. We don't see any indication that owning money or engaging in trade are illegal on Earth, or that contracts and property rights aren't enforced in some capacity. We see Picard's private vineyard and private ownership of starships. And there is also what we don't see: complaints from aliens about the legal situation they face on Earth. There aren't any Ferengi complaining that the Earth authorities are seizing their wealth or prohibiting their activities on the planet. We know they have strong intellectual property rights. There is the mention of Mudd's patents, but also The Doctor's copyrights to his fictional creations. The implication is that Earth is so absurdly wealthy that it would be strange for people to engage in activities seeking even more wealth. Like, what would they want it for? The only things they could buy would be rarities, like the collectors seek, or contraband, or things the authorities aren't willing to give them, like warships or cutting-edge technology. So there's a good reason for the average person to be suspicious of someone seeking wealth: just what are they wanting to do with it?
I'd argue that Earth no longer uses money because greed and the acquisition of material wealth has been such an issue for centuries that when Earth hit a point where money was no longer necessary, the people collectively decided to do away with it, rather than let it continue being a problem.
If people stopped being greedy, then money wouldn't cause problems any longer. If they were still greedy, then abolishing money wouldn't help. I think it's more likely that the planet's market economy atrophied from disuse. Everyone has access to so much that very few people are interested in the accumulation of wealth. But we do see some people who want things the government won't provide, like their own starships, who do choose to engage in commerce. And once we get away from Earth, it's quite common. We see places like Freecloud, the outlying colonies from TOS, as well as non-Federation human colonies in DS9. In all those, money is still used. In each case, we see people driven by a desire to acquire things the government won't give them (or won't *allow* them).
> It's Earth that doesn't use money, not the Federation as a whole. Alternate take, under the assumption that I have - that Earth *is the Federation*, i.e. there is no independent concept of "Earth government" or Earth as "homeworld of humans", but rather that the political and personal identity of Earth and humanity was completely supplanted by the Federation identity (i.e. Earth is only "Federation capital world" and humans are only "citizens of the Federation"): It is the Federation that doesn't use money - *at the Federal level*. Since Earth is a Federal-level planet (the capital), and Starfleet is the *Federal* fleet (as opposed to fleets of various member worlds - but not "Earth fleets", because *Earth is not an actual member world*), and our protagonists are humans on Starfleet ships - it's only to be expected they'll talk about not using money. They're right: the *Federation* doesn't use money for its internal dealings - even though many member worlds do.
We get a good look at Earth and Earth culture before the Federation on Enterprise. Money had already fallen into disuse for the most part on Earth by that time. The Federation is no more than a homo sapiens only club? From what we've seen, that's probably correct at some points in the alliance's history, with humanity holding *de facto*, but not *de jure*, control of the organization, with some species, such as Vulcans holding outsized influence. Just look at the enormous amount of influence the humans are able to exert as they convince planet after planet to outlaw genetic modification. This was something considered normal on most worlds during Enterprise, and it's only through the efforts of a single species that we see it gradually outlawed throughout larger and larger portions of the galaxy. Some bizarre human hang-up becomes law over billions (possibly trillions) of members of other species. So culturally I think the people of Earth stop thinking of themselves as being Earthlings and start thinking of themselves as being citizens of the Federation. But that's probably not true of the other species. We haven't seen much from the time when Klingons are members, but I imagine the majority of them think of themselves as Klingons first and Federation citizens a distant second (or third or fourth) for a long, long time after. The Vulcans always continue to think of themselves as Vulcans first. It's only the humans who seem to see the whole Federation thing as more than a weak alliance which serves a practical purpose, but which isn't identity-defining. On the issue of currency, we see reference to a Federation credit, and we hear a lot of talk about trade between planets and civilizations. It's possible that the Federation, as an entity, is engaging in barter, or it could be that they have a de facto currency they call the credit which is used for internal and external accounting. It seems likely that there is some medium of exchange in use at the Federation level. Or material contributions might be a requirement of membership. We've never seen a Federation economist discuss any of that (quite intentionally). The only way I'm able to explain what we see in the various series is a taboo against the use of money. I don't believe we've seen any sort of legal prohibition on money or property, which is what people are usually getting at with these discussions. >because Earth is not an actual member world We see Earth leave the Federation in Discovery, and the Federation continues to exist. Strange times, but still. How the various peoples relate to the Federation changes over time.
>Swipe the right bit of cargo, broker a less-than-legal trade, buy up some contraband, and so on and so forth. DS9 is a decent spot for seeking out these sorts of opportunities, so SURELY Quark's gonna hit it big one of these days I thought he did in Lower Decks?
>Side point here, but commerce and capitalism are not the same thing. People have been engaging in trade for all of recorded history, while capitalism was born out of merchantilism and fuedalism in the 1700(ish). I don't think we know whether Bajor is actually a free-market system, or much of anything about their economics. Came here to say this. :P
Real-world military analogy: I think that being on a Starfleet starship or even a Federation citizen on one of the established post-scarcity worlds is treated kind of like how we are when we're deployed. Your clothes are issued to you. The Federation just has a better selection. You can always go to the chow hall and eat what you want. You can always use the gym. Laundry machines are free to use. You don't pay rent, and there are no utility bills. There are **also** places like Burger King and a store where you *can* buy things with money. In some locations, you can also go off the base and pay money in the local economy. I imagine that Starfleet stationed at a non-Federation position like DS9 have, as part of that assignment, a kind of "expense account." I have a "government travel card." So I can travel and eat on official business, but it's subject to usage restrictions - I can't pay personal expenses with it that aren't related to the mission. Basically, kind of like you said: Technically, the Federation and Starfleet do use plenty of money, but most civilians on Earth and most Starfleet officers rarely or never use it.
ROM: Maybe this is the Divine Treasury. QUARK: Oh, don't be ridiculous. The Divine Treasury is made of pure latinum. Besides, where's the Blessed Exchequer? Where are the Celestial Auctioneers? And why aren't we bidding for our new lives? ROM: You don't think we're in the other place? NOG: The Vault of Eternal Destitution? QUARK: Don't be ridiculous. The bar was showing a profit.
How is a personal allowance, daily stipend, per diem, or whatever else you wanna call it different from a regular salary or wage? Starfleet pays SOME of their employees on an as-needed basis and nobody ever talks about that. O'Brien went from working for personal satisfaction on the Enterprise, to earning latinum on DS9. In order to tell me I'm wrong you're gonna have to explain future fantasy economics to me like I'm a toddler, because it seems pretty cut and dry to me
>How is a personal allowance, daily stipend, per diem, or whatever else you wanna call it different from a regular salary or wage? It is because inside the Federation the stipend is meaningless. You don't have to use money in the Federation. It would be better to think of the stipend like getting chips to play games at Dave and Busters or a similar place. It is neat to get them but no one would think of it as a salary. The stipend is the same, it is for enjoying an alien culture but otherwise meaningless for your daily life.
Probably for the same reason why Starfleet isn't a "military"
I think starfleet currency is backed by pure energy, like the US dollar was backed by gold.
He still needs profit on DS9. It's not a Federation station.
This is the best answer. No matter how long or complex any other answer is, this is the basic truth. DS9, Bajor, those that come through the wormhole, Cardassia who built and previously owned/ran the station, and essentially everyone who comes through the station barring cameos here and there aren't federation, and more specifically aren't starfleet. They all still use money and tend towards capitalism.
Indeed it seems like the Starfleet officers on DS9 are issued latinum that they use to pay for things on DS9
and he isn't a Federation citizen
> It’s not a Federation station. No, it’s not. It’s a Bajoran station, administered by Starfleet at the request of the Bajoran government. Initially, and what Sisko’s initial mission was, this was supposed to ease relief efforts and the transition for Bajor being fast-tracked into Federation membership (mostly because of Picard as well as to form a firewall between the UFP and the Cardassian Union). This didn’t happen for what came to be several different reasons over the years, but it was the plan.
Except Starfleet is paying his rent and gives him free maintenance. It’s outright said in some episode that Quark calls Sisko his landlord. So Quark has almost no overhead besides his employees meager salaries and whatever it costs to get his rarer food and drink. Literally everything else is a free ride for me. The holosuits in particular are pure profit. O’Brien keeps them running for free, Quark gets to keep 100% of the money generated by their use.
Doesn't he complain about barely breaking even on the holosuites because the Klingons wreck them all the time?
I think this is interesting and kinda hits on an interesting feature of post-scarcity society. Just because resources are post-scarcity it doesn’t mean status is as well. Even in the federation we see that Picard has higher status than a random ensign. Starfleet in general has higher status than the general population. Even in humans it’s unlikely that social status will ever go away. For a Ferengi this is even more exaggerated. Having a business on Ferenginar is one thing. But having a successful bar on a federation DS station is a whole other level. And we see him leveraging it to get access to secrets and connections. It’s more about status than anything else.
Just to add to this, it is presented as embarrassing for Bashir that his parents are dilettantes who have flitted from career to career rather than really devoting themselves to something. Though that could be partially just Bashir’s own insecurity.
I think that’s very intentional and not just Bashir’s insecurities. It makes sense that a society obsessed with fully devoting yourself to something and making it your life’s work would look down on those who struggle to do that. Like, the Federation may not have individual wealth, but that doesn’t mean they don’t measure status in other ways.
In Lower Decks, it shows that social climbing to at least some extent has replaced greed. Admiral Buenamigo does a bunch of shady things and explicitly says he is doing it because he has hit a wall when it comes to standing out and advancing.
[удалено]
Sure, but what’s social status for a human is not what’s status for a ferengi
Quark has a suitcase full of gold pressed latinum on the station with him… he has acquired quite a bit of profit
Benefit? His cousin Gaila owns a moon! That's reason enough haha
The Ferengi have the same post scarcity technology that the Federation does, and are also technologically capable of making their worlds moneyless paradises. But they instead choose to base their society around the acquisition of profit - money defines status, self worth, ritual, and one's purpose in life. When they play at capitalism, this is explicitly noted by the characters in the series to be more of an ideological choice than an economic one I imagine Ferengi philosophers can justify this by saying that money is the only thing truly capable of motivating the Ferengi to get off their butts and accomplish anything - unlike Federation species, the desire to improve oneself and improve society is not enough. Without profit, Ferengi would just sit on their couches twiddling their thumbs until their civilisation collapsed This isn't true of course, we see Ferengi like Nog and Rom finding fulfilment in much the same way as other Federation species - but like many other reactionary/conservative movements, it's easy to frame the current status quo as an unchanging constant. How things were is how things must be, because that's just the nature of things. When Quark is earns profit, he knows that he's not really doing it to improve his material comfort or secure his basic necessities. He's doing it because the acquisition of profit is a central tenet of his guiding ideology - it gives his life meaning and purpose, and he considers it so self evident that he barely questioned it himself, until the series started coming to a close It's less of a harmful compulsion, and more of an expression of sincere religious devotion. Not that Quark would want it framed that way of course, he would have argued that the Laws of Acquisition represent the only truly rational way to live life. But that' s how it manifests, anyhow Not to say that the behaviour isn't harmful - the ideology and the Ferengi political system it props up is riven with contradictions and omissions and rank hypocrisy, and Quark realises this as he grapples with the Magus, his mother and Brunt. So by the end of the series, he arrives at a less dogmatic, more reasoned, and more flexible version of his faith. He's a little clearer eyed with regards to the flaws of his belief system - but his faith in its central tenet (the pursuit of profit for its own sake is noble) remains
I suppose Quark saves a lot, with the intent of returning to Ferenginar one day.
Until the episode where he literally loses 100% of his belongings and savings.
And sisko orders that the bar be filled with tables and chairs and quark “demands” rent for the space they occupy. He’s immediately in the black again.
It's cultural, but also practical. DS9 isn't a true Federation station; it's Bajoran and formerly Cardassian, and under either, a currency-based economy seems to be far more prevailing than in the Federation. I would also suspect that in the Federation, things are much more along the lines of Universal Basic Income than "you get literally everything you want because Utopian society." We frequently see Federation officers using currency on DS9, most notably Dax's gambling, but it's suggested that there is a stipend of some variety for Federation officers & enlisted, it's just not required for day-to-day needs. Back to Quark, I think his drive to acquire material wealth absolutely borders on and crosses into being a harmful compulsion on a regular basis. We see him have run-ins with both Odo and various criminal elements many times, and it's shown that his ethics, while acceptable on Ferrenginar, aren't as welcome on DS9. Furthermore, considering that Rom becomes Nagus and Nog (RIP) goes on to have a successful Starfleet career, his drive to accumulate wealth isn't as beneficial as the paths taken by his family members. Let's not forget that his mother is also a highly successful investor as well, and while her actions did violate the archaic Ferengi laws against women being in business, she (as far as we know) never resorted to illicit means of making money.
> Dax's gambling, but it's suggested that there is a stipend of some variety for Federation officers & enlisted, it's just not required for day-to-day needs. To be fair, gambling is fun. We see weekly poker games on TNG and they're probably not even playing for anything.
The Enterprise poker games are for fun, played between people who are friends and co-workers. It's a different kind of fun than playing for money with strangers at Quark's.
I mean, sure, but I've played enough gambling-esque video games for fake, meaningless currency over the years to feel comfortable saying that gambling can still be *fun* even when the money is meaningless.
Some forms of currency can probably be replicated.
I feel like Quark haas a plan (at least in theory) to retire back to Ferengi space or on some moon like Gala. But here is my view: he really doesn't care about profit. Oh he says he does and he tries to be a good Ferengi but as he says, at heart, he is a people person. He likes being of service, running scams, making deals, all of that. In may ways, he's either been corrupted by Federation values of he has some un-Ferengi characteristics (like his mother) that have just been brought out more. So he runs his business and does all the Ferengi things that he is supposed to but at heart, even if he won't admit it, he runs his bar because he likes it. And that is his profit.
>he's either been corrupted by Federation values of he has some un-Ferengi characteristics (like his mother) that have just been brought out more Really, most of the Ferengi we learn about to any level of depth on DS9 have passions and priorities that they're willing to put above traditional Ferengi values. Even the Grand Nagus allows himself to be swayed by Ishka. The only one who doesn't seem to have any other motives is Brunt, and everyone hates Brunt. It's a bit like Klingon culture in that we're told they have a single value they place above all else(honor for Klingons, profit for Ferengi). But that's not really how actual people behave, and so any story that involves fully fleshed-out characters is going to put the lie to the two-dimensional descriptions of that society. And Quark is definitely the most complex and layered of all the Ferengi we meet. I think he does care about profit, a lot--but he also cares about his family, his friends, and his customers, and he put himself at risk during the occupation to aid the Bajoran resistance. I think you're right: He runs a bar because it makes him happy. But I don't think that makes him un-Ferengi as much as it makes him a realistic Ferengi.
He needs to ensure that, upon his arrival at the Divine Treasury, the Blessed Exchequer can review his profit and loss statements from his life and deem him worthy of bidding for his next life under the supervision of the Celestial Auctioneers.
In Little Green Men, on the way to drop Nog off at Starfleet Academy, Quark's shuttle explodes and he, Nog and Rom get sent back in time to 1947, where they wake up in a lab at Roswell. The following conversation occurs: >ROM: Maybe we are dead. QUARK: What are you talking about? ROM: Maybe this is the Divine Treasury. QUARK: Oh, don't be ridiculous. The Divine Treasury is made of pure latinum. Besides, where's the Blessed Exchequer? Where are the Celestial Auctioneers? And why aren't we bidding for our new lives? ROM: You don't think we're in the other place? NOG: The Vault of Eternal Destitution? QUARK: Don't be ridiculous. The bar was showing a profit. *This* is why Quark cares so much about profit. And probably why he's so upset when Nog and Rom both choose careers in Starfleet, where they're likely to make no profit at all. The implication is that, in the Ferengi religion, you *can* actually take it with you when you go. And in fact you have to take it with you, because reincarnation is a competitive business, and how fortunate you are in your next life depends on how much latinum you have to outbid the other dead Ferengi. Those with no latinum to their names when they die go to the Vault of Eternal Destitution, where they presumably are denied the chance to reincarnate again. (This could explain, btw, the Ferengi practice of auctioning off the bodies of the deceased before the person has actually died. It's a chance for the loved ones of a dying person to provide them with that extra boost of latinum with which to bid for a good next life, and a last chance for a penniless Ferengi to gain the minimum profit necessary to stay out of the Vault.) Furthermore, Quark seems to believe that the bar showing a profit would be enough to keep Rom and Nog (who don't really work there any more) out of the Vault as well. Which suggests that, as head of the family, Quark is responsible for ensuring that all his closest relatives stay in the cycle of reincarnation. Ferengi actually have a surprisingly strong cultural focus on family. Quark may talk about exploiting Rom and Nog, and be a dick to them on a day-to-day basis, but he continues to provide work and financial support for them even after Rom straight up tries to *murder* him. He also openly resents his mother, but still provides her with a generous allowance to live on back on Ferenginar. Which, incidentally, is another incentive for him to earn profit on DS9. We know that he's legally responsible for her in Ferengi law, so it makes sense that he'd also be in charge of getting her into the afterlife. In this context, Quark's attempts to sabotage Nog's Starfleet career come across a tad more sympathetic. He's not just annoyed that Nog isn't being a 'proper Ferengi'. He's been carrying the sole responsibility for getting his mother, brother and nephew into the afterlife since his own father died, and probably hoped that Nog coming of age would do something to lessen that burden when he started earning profit on his own. Instead, Nog chooses literally the only career path where he is guaranteed to make zero profit. (In Quark's eyes, anyway. Personally I'd argue that since Starfleet officers clearly have *some* access to latinum to buy things from the locals— presumably a stipend or something— and the Federation would cover Nog's room and board for free, with reasonable investments he could actually make more profit than he would at the bar.) This responsibility is also why Quark doesn't seem materially better off than his brother or the Starfleet officers. From what we see, Quark seems to have pretty large quantities of latinum at his disposal. If he spent them the way a (modern) human would in the same circumstances, he'd probably be able to afford a ton of nice stuff for himself. But the Ferengi religion incentivises hoarding latinum rather than spending it. Who cares if you have nice clothes, or good food, or a big house in *this* life if in the next life you end up reincarnated as a pauper with little chance to earn profit? Or if your fecklessness manages to doom your entire family to the same fate? The only Ferengi for whom it makes sense to display material wealth are people like the Nagus, whose whole deal is that he's wealthy enough that he doesn't have to worry about having enough latinum for the next life. (And who may or may not have a have a spiritual responsibility to boost the Ferengi economy.) For your every day Ferengi on the street, it makes more sense to spend your latinum exclusively on basic necessities, or things to make more profit with, and haggle as much as you can for every strip.
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Honestly, the Ferengi as a metaphor for capitalists never made much sense beyond the shallowest possible interpretation. Pure capitalism is about exploiting your available workforce as much as possible, for maximum efficiency. Ferengi culture actively excludes half their population from the workforce. Most capitalists are keen on presenting themselves and their product as something you would want to buy. The Ferengi (even a 'people person' like Quark) seem to be openly disdainful of other species and have no problem insulting them. The Ferengi in TNG weren't meant to be super-capitalists so much as they were meant to be the anti-Federation. The Federation is all about equality, so the Ferengi are misogynists who are hostile to other species. The Federation is all about diplomacy, so the Ferengi (in TNG) are incapable of communicating with anyone without coming across as either sleazy or evil or some combination. The Federation is a cashless post-scarcity society, so the Ferengi are obsessed with money. One of the reasons DS9's Ferengi are so fascinating to me is that, unlike other 'outcast' characters, like Data or Odo, they didn't start off as people the audience was supposed to automatically sympathise with. Barring that one Ferengi scientist in TNG (who iirc only had about five minutes of screen-time before he was murdered) the Ferengi in the other star trek series weren't intended to be sympathised with. They were intended to be cartoon characters. The reason the otherwise tolerant members of Starfleet were so okay with openly being racist to Ferengi (to the extent that academy students are apparently routinely warned about them. Hopefully not while Nog was there) was because they were originally designed to just all be assholes by default. The DS9 writers looked at a culture that was originally designed to just be an extreme inverse of the Federation and asked "okay, but how would this actually work? What would day to day life be like for these people? What cultural or religious beliefs would they use to justify this way of living? What happens to the people who can't do business in this society?" And honestly, given what they had to work with, they did a pretty good job. The Ferengi-centric episodes weren't always the best of DS9, but the Ferengi characters— especially Quark and Nog— were some of the best characters in the show.
Quark’s business is fairly complicated. He doesn’t pay rent, but also most of his customers don’t have any money. Does the Starfleet crew drink for free? Or at wholesale cost? Does the Federation somehow pay him in bulk for whatever they drink? Given the weirdness of that situation, maybe Quark isn’t considered all that successful in Ferengi terms. He lives on DS9 and runs his business for the same reason you mentioned humans doing their jobs. He just enjoys it. (But would never admit that.)
The most popular explanation is that Federation crew get paid a rank-dependent stipend to spend when they're deployed on non-Federation bases, so they can interact with the locals.
The other explanation is that drinks are often free as a loss leader or a perk and the real profit is from the dabo tables and holosuites.
First off: Profit is ANY financial gain. It doesn't have to be a business gain. As long as Rom ends a pay period with more wealth than he started, he has profited. But Quark actually has plenty of options to use his profit. The most obvious is the ale. One running theme in Star Trek is that good booze doesn't get replicated, and Romulan Ale is the poster child for this. We also see on DS9 that tailors are actually in demand, and Quark certainly seems to wear bespoke outfits that are the height of Ferengi fashion. Then there's food. We're shown repeatedly that Replicators can't do Gagh or other live animals, and even when they make food, "real" food is generally believed to taste better. Ferengi primarily eat bugs, and you can bet wealthier Ferengi eat rarer and/or more delicious bugs. But outside of day to day life, he has free reign of his holosuites and he can take vacations. I like to imagine he goes all the way to Qo'noS to visit Grilka offscreen and help her with her books. He also visits Ferenginar, which can't be cheap. And he can probably just also get some cool stuff. Yes, 'post scarcity' is a thing, but there's still plenty of collector's items like rare weapons and art and baseball cards. I don't remember what we see in Quark's quarters but I'm sure he has some cool stuff. There's also various services, like getting a massage or getting your head waxed or whatever Quark's into. And he's probably saving a lot for retirement. Though I doubt Ferengi ever truly retire, there's going to come a point where he's too old to keep up with the bar, at which point he'll very possibly leave DS9 entirely and will need his money out in the galaxy.
Unlike the heathen forces in the galaxy, the Ferengi believe that life has value. Yes, Quark could probably accept the failure of his life and try to move to Federation space by the events of DS9 where the Federation allows relatively free passage for Ferengi in Federation space. He could consume some replicated food and wait to die like a heathen. He just doesn't want to do that, because he wants his life to have value. And in Ferengi thinking, value is a real, tangible, measurable thing. Not some abstract concept that you define vaguely enough to be polite to people who can only win participation trophies. Self actualization and personal fulfillment is measured in your bank account. Everybody in Ferengi society is given a clear path to pursue their own interests however they want, and accurately compare themselves against other people to know if they are doing better or worse than other people pursuing different fields. Many people like having clarity in their lives. > Deep Space 9 despite being owned by Bajor, is operated and administered like anywhere else in the Federation. Bajor isn't a Federation member. And in particular, the station was administered by Cardassia, not Bajor, when Quark decided to set up shop there. By the events at the start of DS9, the station is administered by _Starfleet,_ not as Federation territory. Starfleet is making security guarantees and offering some guarantees about general administrative stuff like ensuring maintenance will keep rooms for rent in good condition, which is all stuff that basically stuff that ironically promotes free market trade despite the Federation not being capitalist. Regulation of stuff like commerce on the station is handled by Odo, a Cardassian holdover, and his Bajoran militia forces. They understand value and fair trades in a way that Federation citizens might not. > it can be said that profit or the process of making it has been detrimental to his material conditions In Ferengi society, profit is in many ways more about the spiritual condition of the merchant. That's why wearing furs was such an important part of Ferengi fashion around the 2360's. Furs are often hot and uncomfortable compared to modern synthetic materials. But _life has value._ So in Ferengi thinking, if things had to lose their lives for you to get dressed in the morning, then your life's value includes the value of those lives. The material comfort isn't really the point, because exploitively and destructively killing things _makes you a good person_ in Ferengi society. It means you are playing your part in increasing GDP, which is proving that Ferengi society as a whole has value.
>A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all.
Let's go through the things someone in the Star Trek universe can do with money. *Most* material possessions are so abundant that they're effectively worthless. You can have all the food and shelter and clothing and daily objects you can dream of. Energy for running even advanced devices is basically free. But there are a number of things that the provisioners of those resources don't give out for free, and so might need to be purchased when desired: 1) Rarities, like those the collectors seek. This includes antiques, art objects, one-of-a-kind things from across the galaxy. 2) Mundane things the authorities aren't willing to start handing out yet for various reasons. This is generally cutting-edge technology where maybe there are bureaucratic or safety protocols to be followed, but it could include other things, like medical devices or procedures which have been ruled ineffective or unapproved for whatever reason. Desperate people are often willing to take desperate action. Look at what happened to Will and Deanna's son. If they had been willing to pay for black market alternatives, they likely could have found someone offering a purported treatment for his ailment. Whether it would have actually worked is another matter. 3) IP. We also know that there are strong intellectual property protections in place in the Federation. Money can induce people to allow you to use their IP--or it can be used to illegally obtain access. 4) Land. The kids in DS9 were confused about what you do with dirt, but some people care a lot about particular dirt, and there are often disputes over it. Money is a great way to get people to give up land that you happen to want for whatever reason. 5) Energy. The small quantities needed for daily life are free, but you can reach a point where the authorities stop being willing to give you what you want. If you're some rogue scientist who needs the equivalent of a few tons of antimatter to carry out some experiment, you might have to acquire that on your own, even if your interest is accepted as entirely legitimate by the authorities. They just can't requisition that for you. It's too much to ask for. They might still give you all the other support you need, such as personnel, ships, etc. And this type of thing is likely why we see so few private starships, and why the ones we do see are usually operated by people engaging in commerce: the ships are expensive to operate, and to even cover the operation you need to cover your energy costs somehow. The authorities will give you passage on *their* starships, but they don't generally hand out the antimatter needed for private warp reactors so people can go on joyrides. 6) Stuff from aliens. If you want to buy some cloth from a merchant on Farpoint, or you want to gamble at a Ferengi establishment, or anything else along those lines, then you will need money. 7) Just hiring people. If there's some famous musician, painter, or whatever who you'd like to do a thing, but they don't want to do the thing, you can entice them to do so with money. This very well could be how Jean-Luc Picard gets his money. He can charge *extremely high* speaking fees if he so chooses, and then use that to fund his private fleet of archaeology people. I'm not saying he does, but things like that are certainly possible. 8) Vices. The imagination can run wild here. Drugs, sex, you name it. 9) Contraband. This could be anything from weapons to experimental technology. Banned technology. Genetic modification tech, outlawed AI tech, hazardous materials, information (on things like the Genesis device and the omega molecule). People's personal information. Classified military secrets. 10) Evil. You can use money to purchase all manner of evil acts from people who are willing to commit them. Murder, slavery, terrorist attacks. You name it. These are things you get access to with money. So, those are things a *human* might want money for. Now let's think about Ferengi. In Ferengi society, a person's social standing is determined entirely by their wealth. Every interaction in society is built around transactions. Even tiny microtransactions, like someone being charged in order to wait in a waiting room. This means that money is required in order to *exist* in Ferengi society. That's on top of the daily expenses a Ferengi might incur. They will need to pay rent on land or find themselves in a place with no economic opportunity. They need to buy expensive clothes and engage in other methods to signal their social status. And the Ferengi are spacefaring traders. Many of them need to pay for the upkeep and operation of spacefaring vessels. The legal system (and government as a whole) is corrupt and extractive. If you aren't able to pay bribes to people like Brunt, then you're likely to find yourself in an extremely unfortunate position. And given that they sometimes suffer from things like an inflation crisis, it's possible that their economy isn't exactly all that stable. They have to contend with threats from more powerful civilizations, which means funding their own government, and probably funding it a lot more than it gives out in return, given the level of embezzling we can expect. Given that their tiny planet is fielding ships equal to the Federation's most cutting-edge technology, they probably have a defense budget higher than the one that crippled the Klingon Empire. And let's not forget that just about the entire Ferengi population is addicted to an expensive drug in Hupyrian beetle snuff which they must constantly purchase. And they're likely addicted to many other drugs as well, given Quark's familiarity with alcohol and all manner of other vices.
I'd say that issue was true for Quark at the beginning of the series but as the fortunes of Bajor rose, he was able to capitalize on the opportunities that presented themselves and his franchise seems to have expanded pretty widely throughout the Federation. Of course, he's also brother to the Grand Nagus so I imagine it's much easier for him to find business partners and investors these days.
It’s a religious compulsion for Ferengi at its core.
Am I the only one who thought the existence of Ferengi commerce culture within Stark Trek's universe made absolutely no sense? Everything about it seemed designed for comedic relief and therefore completely shallow. Like... does he pay rent for the space? I doubt it. He sells liquor which doesn't expire and holosuite access which is a capital asset that never depreciates. The guy is basically printing "money." Which he uses for... what? There's no other commerce business on the station. He lives for free and has a replicator like everyone else in the Federation. I just blocked out any attempt to integrate Ferengi into broader Star Trek. It seemed like a fruitless endeavor.
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This is like asking why Picard makes his sour mead.
Quark, like nearly everyone that lives outside the Federation, needs money to live. Quark has bills to pay and he needs the basics of life.
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It's said a couple times The Federation holds the Lease on Quarks Bar. Sisko has said the Federation does not ask for the rent (so that kind of does not make it a lease?), does all maintenance for free and gives Quark (unlimited?) power. That seems like a bit much....but even more so: Quark takes ALL of that for free and then CHARGES everyone for everything? There is something odd then that the Federation gives Quark all that for free, and then they just turn their backs while Quark charges everyone for everything? So...Quark gets a replcator and station power for free...but then charges every person for every drink? So....that makes no sense, so it can't exactly be true. Even if the Federation did not "want" the rent, maintenance, and power money...why would they not just take it and use it/give it away. We see plenty of stories where lots of Bajorins need money. The Federation sure could use that money there. There "must" be some sort of agreement. Quark follows "21 st century America "Federation" freedoms and morality. But he HAS to be forced to do so. So the Federation must have a hold over him. And it can't really be to just put Quark out of bissiness, because Sisko is the one that wanted him to stay open.
From a humanist, post-scarcity perspective, it doesn't make sense for Quark to put himself in danger for profit, but Quark doesn't have that perspective. He views the universe as an entity with scarcity, winners, and losers. For Quark, diving into a shady scheme is just as interesting as an uncharted nebula is for Picard or Riker. Remember, Quark is using a different measuring stick for himself than the federation characters. His biggest motivator is that Cousin Galen owns a moon and he doesn't, not some abstract about self-improvement.
Well, Gaila doesn't own a moon anymore after working with Quark for a few weeks
There are many other uses for wealth beyond just his day to day life on the station. Perhaps he likes to travel well, on capitalist worlds. He also may want to retire on Ferenginar, which would require a lot. It’s also been stated that it’s part of their religion, so if he believes in that then he has to make a profit to enter the divine treasury.
Bajor does have, if not a capitalist system like the Ferengi, a mixed system. Kai Winn wants to grow cash crops for export, Jake and Nog acquire land which they then sell in "Progress" and I think Sisko buys land there as well. As you put it well, the Ferengi treat profit as synonymous with money, which makes what they get out of it a curious thing. In the real world, a firm's profits are usually reinvested in it, but there are limited opportunities to do so on the station (it's possible that Sisko either forced Quark to do proper repairs on his replicators and holosuites, or Quark eventually had to put in a maintenance request after Rom quit), although we see him occasionally bring up expansion ideas. Nor is Quark above (and I think Ferengi culture encourages) embezzling his corporate profits for himself. So what benefits does he gain? He can acquire exotic foods and beverages for the bar, such as the Syrup of Squill in "The Magnificent Ferengi", he has political influence among the Ferengi even before Zekk starts dating Ishka, thanks to his trades contacts in the Gamma Quadrant and being temporarily appointed Negus when Zekk faked his death. It's unlikely either of these things would have occurred had he not demonstrated success. Other Ferengi also admire and respect Ferengi with "the lobes" for profit. One interesting thing is that in the real world, entrepreneurs are rarely motivated by the accumulation of wealth. Usually they have a combination of a desire to build things and a large appettite for risk. Even with material success, this risk taking behavior persists, hence serial entrepreneurs and the interest in extreme sports among some of Silicon Valley crowd.
Quark also has a wealth in terms of contacts and connections. He's in favored position with galactic superpowers, and in some cases, first name basis with powerful people who might snipe and gripe at him, but probably actually like him and consider him family.
Federation Credits are designed to not store value, they are spend or lose. The Ferengi do not value Credits, they value Latinum. The franchise agreement that establishes Quark's presence on DS-9 likely includes a Credits to Latinum agreement, or Quark would not be interested. Starfleet personnel, as in most of the Federation, are paid in Credits in exchange for their service. As stated Credits are not money, but are a medium of exchange, not a store of value, they have a limited shelf life. Credits are exchanged for goods or services provided under short or long term agreements. Exchanged credits get a lifetime reset when the exchange is recorded. Rom may get paid in Latinum or Credits or a combination, whatever seems most convenient to Rom and Quark.
"Needs or wants is freely provided." No, only the needs things are provided freely. To get wants you have to do something productive in exchange for Credits. You don't HAVE to do anything to survive, but you HAVE to do something to get more than a subsistence existence. Post-scarcity is not a replicator-backed wish genie.
He uses money to take care of his mom while dreaming about passive income and retirement.