Trading information (Making Merchant runs profitable)

[aramis]

Simply put Hans: GTFT has totally different baseline costs; any GT Econ analysis is thus explicltly and only the GTU, not the OTU.

In any case, the cost of 3j2 is so much less than 1j4 for goods, going by a pure cost basis... very little that ships is going to ship J4; only people and information justify such speed. It's too long for emergency supplies already, and realisticly, it's too far for delicate fruits at 1 jump.

 

[boomslang]

I don't know about what is required for a mail contract, but if its required then I guess the ships would have to meet those criteria.

If you have not had the opportunity to look it up by now, the bar is set pretty low.

Any merchant that enjoys a subsidy may also be awarded a Mail contract; this contract is usually, but not necessarily part of an assigned route.

To qualify to hold the contract, the merchant must set aside (for the duration of the contract) a dedicated 5 dtons of cargo capacity to carry the Mail -- this capacity may not be used for freight, speculative cargo, vehicle stowage, magazine space, or any purpose other than Mail.

The ship must be armed. Presumably this means with more than just sandcasters. (It also goes a long way towards justifying the ubiquity of armed private spacecraft in most TUs.)

A Gunner must be part of the crew roster. No double-duty; it should be a full-time position.

But that's it; ships that qualify and are awarded the contract get KCr25 per Jump in guaranteed income for the duration of the contract (regardless of the actual percentage of the reserved volume that gets used on any particular trip).

It should be a simple matter for governments to also award Mail contracts to non-subsidized, non-scheduled vessels with stipulations that the contract only pays on trips to/from the issuing world, requires some set minimum number of local visits per year, et cetera... IMTU, fee-based "Mail Societies" have formed as sort of a guild clearinghouse to vet (and as necessary, bond) independent vessels holding various regular and irregular Mail contracts.

In setting Mail rates, I charge business and the public a modest Cr1 per parsec fee to send something the size of a DVD through the Mail. The Postmasters see most of this revenue, of course, not the carriers...

 

[aramis]

The basic costs of shipping at CT/MT/TNE/T4/T20 book rates are Cr0.1 per KG or Cr0.07 per Liter, given the (TNE FF&S) 10T mass per Td limit (which is the recaculation limit, BTW, but it doubles nicely as a lading limit for a Displacement Ton of Cargo).

So IMTU I use Cr1 per L or per KG for port-to-port mail for the first parsec, +Cr0.5 per additional parsec needed.

 

[boomslang]

So IMTU I use Cr1 per L or per KG for port-to-port mail for the first parsec, +Cr0.5 per additional parsec needed.

That pricing model might be better suited for a higher-TL situation where the labor costs would be lower due to more-automated local uptake and delivery, I expect...

 

[robject]

The ship must be armed. Presumably this means with more than just sandcasters. (It also goes a long way towards justifying the ubiquity of armed private spacecraft in most TUs.)

With "paranoid players" making up the difference.

 

[aramis]

That pricing model might be better suited for a higher-TL situation where the labor costs would be lower due to more-automated local uptake and delivery, I expect...

It's based firmly on Starport-to-Starport; local delivery extra per local schedules. At any TL7+, IMTU, the starport will notify you of arrival if given a contact address (email, phone, radio freq & callsign). Keep in mind, we're talking a cost of shipping space of Cr0.1 per parsec or less, (due to most mail being below the full unit size; a 2L bottle forex would be charged at 3L due to packing space).

I should note that the mail route bins are 5x the cost, so I should probably up the cost to a flat Cr1 per parsec per L or KG.

 

[Shadowfax]

Yeah, that works too... although now that I think about it, "augmented" is probably the best choice of words.

Yeah! Augmented fits the bill nicely.