Re: (4015) Free traders, again...

Steve Higginbotham writes:
>
> Nonsense.  If they get the "more unprofitable" cargos, they'll go
> broke.  And most people seem to agree that the speculative market is
> most of the interstellar shipping there is.  It's also the most
> profitable.

Right.  Now, it looks like spec trade can make money, so the big companies
have all the good spec trade routes tied up.  In game terms we can use this
to generate adventures, since finding a good load can take quite a bit of
work.  (Left as an exercise for the reader (-: ).

> >Free Traders get their vessels from say a fellow free trader whose
> >retiring, a bankrupt orgainization, etc .
>
> Then why are they mostly brand new?  At least you pay new prices for
> them.

Well, a slight quibble: Many are multiples of 10 years old.  It's not that
uncommom to be able to roll 'trader' more than once while mustering out.

> The payments are too large to achieve breakeven.  And I always assume
> that these guys want to be merchants to make money, not to lose it.

Hmmmm....I don't recall this conclusion from before.  I do recall lots of
backup for the notion that wilderness refueling is an emergency only
measure, and that passenger accommodations are a losing proposition
compared to cargo space.

> Interesting.  My calculations show that starship loans run 5.575%
> annual interest.  Hardly back-breaking.  And, last time I looked, big
> corporations usually pay LESS interest than little guys.  Last time I
> tried to get a loan, the Prime Interest Rate was 11%, but the bank
> wanted 17% from me.  If the loans are riskier, you usually charge MORE
> interest, not less.

Agreed.  I've got the number I calculated written down somewhere, and
that sounds about right.  Figuring that that is the rate on a _risky_
loan, I tend to agree with...

> Or dropping MCr6 of the
> down payment into a bank at 3%, and buying a Travellers' Aid Society
> membership with the other MCr1 is a good way to achieve independence.

your estimate of consumer interest rates on savings.

Rob Dean