Merchant Archive

One of the most important features in any society with trade, is missing : Basic package post delivery.

Suggested implementation :

- New city building in all static cities ( with player city versions as well ) :

Building features :

• Static vendor selling specialized containers for package post. Different sizes at different prices ( reduced by Merchant Efficiency skill branch ), depending on number of items to be sent ( immersion / minor money sink ). Containers have radial menu choices for setting : Recipient name, destination planet, destination post office. Interplanetary freight cost depending on number of planetary "hops" the regular shuttles must do on the trip.
  
• Optional setting of price to pick up the package ( mail order ), for a fee ( reduced by Merchant Efficiency skill branch )
  
• Mail notification that you have a package waiting
  
• Clerk allowing pickup of waiting packages and collecting money for mail order packages.

Packages not picked up within, say, 7 days are returned to sender.

Problems the post office would alleviate :

- Delivery of custom orders as one complete package, to wherever the recipient lives.
- Delivery to players in different time zones.
- Sending presents to people you might not be able to hook up with for various reasons
- Effectively increasing the market of all merchants, making it more feasible to live on non-central planets.
- Adding to the sense of immersion as this is a feature any advanced society would have.
- Additional feature for player cities, adding to the status of any city when packages show they city as the origin of the package, and another source of income for the city, especially in cities with many crafters.
- A money sink, however minor, siphoning some of the ever growing cash pool back out of the game

My two cents,

Introduce a new resource called delivery droids, they could be to vendors what power is to harvesters. A Master DE could make them and a Master Merchant could use them(delivery droids should be a consumable resource).

Example:
The vendor must be "powered" with delivery droids.
The customer must have a declared residence.
Under the retrieve item options is "Droid Delivery Service" (the Merchant sets the amount to charge for this service) the customer selects this option and then the droid appears on his front steps much the way the signs do now. Doubleclicking the droid drops the item into the player's inventory.
This would only be useful, however, if Merchant vendors are granted galaxywide visibilty like the bazaar currently does for nonprofessionals.

Barxalot Howler
Guild Merchant (Zen)
Tarquinas

I like this idea, I want a Post Office now!

Any new Droid is a good Droid! I've wanted some sort of "delivery droid", say a MSE droid with "Seeker" abilities. Put a message or an item in the droid, give the droid the name of the recipient, and away the droid goes.

/agree

Nothing is more annoying than traveling to coronet, waiting for a ship, traveling to another planet, and possibly taking a shuttle there, and then running to meet someone with something I want. Maybe make post office placalbe by MM?