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Ferengis are all about acquisition and making a profit. But, in the age of replicators, where everything you want can be produced instantly, what would be the point of their lifestyle?

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Replicators still require raw matter and energy to function, both of which can be charged for. Also, not everything can be replicated (latinum) and other items would be too big to replicate in your standard replicator system (such as a starship).

In other cases people may just prefer the "real" thing to something replicated. Food for instance; someone may prefer ground grown food over replicated food. This would be an especially lucrative market for food that can not be produced on the local planet.

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    Indeed, it seems in the Star Trek universe that "real" alcoholic beverages created in a traditional manner are almost always preferred over a replicated equivalent. Hence, Quark's Bar. Jan 3, 2012 at 19:46
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    Also, federation replicators are programmed not to replicate certain classes of items, the most notable being poisons.
    – HNL
    Jan 4, 2012 at 4:55
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    Even within the Federation natural food is prized. See Joseph Sisko's restaurant and Robert Picard's Vinyard.
    – DampeS8N
    Jan 4, 2012 at 20:38
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    Let alone services (like entertainment or tax shelters), which cannot be replicated.
    – Matt
    Feb 6, 2014 at 22:32
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    @BraveLilToaster You would be more correct to say that money doesn't exist within the Federation. The monetary structure of other sovereign nations within Star Trek, Ferengi aside, is unknown. As for the "dirty" jobs, we do see in the Voyager episode Author, Author that the Federation will use artificial labor (in this case holograms) to do undesirable activities.
    – Xantec
    Feb 7, 2014 at 17:17
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Before the Ferengi encountered the Federation, they were already an empire whose primary interaction with other alien civilizations was the establishment and continuation of profitable trade. This culture of trade is embodied within their Rules of Acquisition, which are a series of cultural mores built around what the Ferengi consider policies of successful, if not less than honest, trade agreements.

The Ferengi culture was centralized around the concept of greed and profit earning. As Quark once put it, "There is nothing beyond greed. Greed is the purest, most noble of emotions." Finally, the 10th Rule of Acquisition states that "greed is eternal." (DS9: "Prophet Motive")

Where most species developed warriors, the Ferengi developed complex cultures of mercantile advancement.

Unlike most other cultures who frequently idolize warriors or politicians, businessmen were the pillars of Ferengi society for millennia. This tendency led to the slow merging of business and political fields in Ferengi culture and that influence was evident in the near-universal application of the Rules of Acquisition, as both a personal and financial code of ethics.

Their interactions with the Federation would be more challenging because many of the more advanced races of the Federation would have access to replicators, a technology capable of creating material objects using replicator templates and an unnamed source matter.

A replicator was a device that used transporter technology to dematerialize quantities of matter and then rematerialize that matter in another form. It was also capable of inverting its function, thus disposing of leftovers and dishes and storing the bulk material again.

  • Replicators can create anything that is stored as information within their databases.

  • As a result, a person can get anything that has been described and stored as information including various foods from many worlds, machine parts or even completed devices if the entirety of the specification was available.

  • This was why when personnel are restricted to quarters, their replication capacity was either eliminated or restricted. Federation replicators cannot be used to replicate poisonous materials at any rare.

It would seem many people in the Federation would have no use for trade, but that is a misnomer. The process of replication requires an enormous amount of energy very similar to that of a transporter, since it is effectively manipulating matter at the atomic and molecular level.

Replicators were capable of producing something as fresh and tasty as non-replicated foodstuffs, inorganically materialized out of patterns used by the transporters. (TNG: "Lonely Among Us")

Most people found replicated foods and drinks to taste exactly the same as "real" food, although some people claimed to be able to tell the difference. Furthermore, Federation replicators could be programmed to produce foodstuffs of acceptable "nutritional value". (TNG: "The Price", "Sins of the Father", "The Wounded", "Relics"; DS9: "In the Pale Moonlight", "You Are Cordially Invited")

In addition to foodstuffs, replicators could be used for replicating machine parts, clothing or other objects. Although clothing can be replicated for general wear, replicators will not allow non-Starfleet crew members to replicate official Starfleet uniforms. Industrial replicators could even be used to replicate heavier machine parts. (TNG: "The Game"; DS9: "For the Cause"; VOY: "Caretaker", "Phage")

Replicators aboard Starfleet vessels would not produce fatal poisons. (VOY: "Death Wish") Furthermore, replicators had biofilters which automatically screened out all contaminants. (DS9: "Babel")

  • The process of replication still requires energy which must come from somewhere, even in the energy-rich Federation. While the Federation would appear to have a nearly limitless supply of energy given their matter-annihilation driven technology, in truth, such advanced energy technology is not available on every Federation world.

  • Worlds which utilize fusion energy (impulse power) may restrict the amount of energy spent for replication even though impulse power can be used for replication and even transporters if regulated properly.

  • It is believed the development of the highly sophisticated level of the replicator in the 24th century which would account for the post-scarcity perspective of the Federation. At this point the replicator technology was ubiquitous to most ships, most advanced facilities and could even be made portable to be sent on repair missions for making parts and other equipment.

Why wouldn't a Ferengi just use a replicator?

But one of the reasons a person might not want to use a replicator could be based on the idea they might want a particular product not found in the Federation replication database.

  • With thousands of worlds, and trillions of potential artisans, there is always likely to be someone out there producing a work of ART that is not within the replication database.

  • These objects may be made by without automation, often by hand having the associated physical, cultural and psychological baggage associated with making something personally.

  • Technically, any work of art could be deconstructed and recreated perfectly but it would lack the touch of the artist beyond what was originally created. (Yes, you could also use a computer to alter each piece, so they appeared to be unique but this would still not be a work of art in the classic sense that an ARTIST created it.)

Trade in materials not accepted or able to be replicated by the Federation

The Ferengi may continue to offer trade options in materials that are:

  • Difficult to replicate including heavy metals with unusual or unstable atomic or molecular models (such as Latinum), synthetic compounds, complex molecular structures, delicate organic compounds or even poisons might still be traded by the Ferengi to races within the Federation.

Latinum is a rare silver-colored liquid that was used as currency by the Ferengi Alliance and many other worlds. It could not be replicated. For ease of transaction, liquid latinum was usually suspended within "worthless" gold as a binding medium to produce gold-pressed latinum. (DS9: "Who Mourns for Morn?")

  • Such trade may be technically illegal within Federation boundaries but since it may originate outside the Federation it is harder to regulate or control.

  • Many Federation worlds may interact with species outside the Federation who may possess technologies or capabilities beyond current Federation science, art or technology. The Ferengi likely facilitate this trade to their economic benefit.

Trade is not dead in the Federation, it simply is more complex due to the inclusion of a science (replication) that allows simple objects to exist with no more effort than modern mass production. This still leaves plenty of room for artist expression, scientific advancement, or cultural drift to create new expressions for the Ferengi to trade in.

  • The Ferengi, of course, would prefer to trade with races who do not possess the ability to relatively easily, reconstruct matter into any shape they prefer, since it reduces their ability to create commodity markets where profits can be standardized and controlled/exploited.

  • The Ferengi likely consider the Federation as a whole, particularly where replication is easily available, a poor customer. Treaties with the Federation ensure there will always be somewhere replication is not easily had, thus allowing the Ferengi to create some Profit.

While it is not one of the known Rules of Acquisition, the Ferengi might say "Trade cannot be replicated."

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    Replication still requires energy which must come from somewhere, even in the energy-rich Federation, replication credits were part of most people's lifestyle. -- Do you have a source for this? The only time I can recall replicators being metered at all was on Voyager. (And the alternate-timeline 1701-D in Yesterday's Enterprise) Jan 3, 2012 at 20:46
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    While I called them "replicator credits" they might be better called "energy credits" which might also make them synonymous with "transporter credits." The operative issue here is the fixed amount of energy required to transport, move or replicate a certain amount of material. The discussion is pushed further right here at the Exchange: scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1151/… Jan 3, 2012 at 21:30
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    In DS9, transporter credits were mentioned when Nogg was coming to visit New Orleans when Jake was on Earth. So in an era where energy is readily available and matter is completely transformable, it makes sense to base the credit system around energy and call it "credit." Would it make purists happier if we called it the KiloCalorie or some other arbitrary energy value? In the Federation, work and pay have reached the conclusion started in the Industrial Age. We work because we want to, because it stimulates us, because it enriches us, not because society cannot afford us, because it can. Jan 3, 2012 at 21:35
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    The Federation credit is a bit of a controversy, and isn't really considered canon. Replicator credits only appeared in Voyager when rationing energy, and it's impossible to know if transporter credits are somehow different. Additionally, multiple references indicate that Star Trek is post scarcity, so it's unlikely that replicator credits are actually a thing.
    – thedaian
    Jan 3, 2012 at 22:09
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    There are lots of references to Federation credits in many different series'. But they're usually just used as a convenient excuse when the writers can't find a better excuse. In ST:NG, Worf once tells his son that they don't have the credits to do something that Alexander wants to do on some planet they were visiting. There are many references in DS9 as well. I fail to see how it's "not canon" when it's part of the series in many, many instances. Feb 7, 2014 at 17:22
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Maybe it helps to frame this question in terms of modern technology - we live in an age of printers. Most people have access to high quality printers at work,school or home. We also have photocopiers and scanners. Even with all these "paper replicators" there is still a huge market for materials like books, newspapers, artwork, notebooks, pens, papers, etc.

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  • Only because it is cheaper to buy a book from a printer than print it out at home. And the formatting is better! Jan 4, 2012 at 16:17
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    Right. Replicators aren't magic. Perhaps it is cheaper to buy some items than it is to replicate it. We know that certain things are hard/impossible to make with a replicator. Jan 4, 2012 at 18:25
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    Perhaps some things are cheaper to make with slave labor than replicators, most Ferengi would have no qualms about using slave labor.
    – Caimen
    Jan 4, 2012 at 23:00
  • @Caimen Given what Quark said in Little Green Men on other topics, there's a chance they might actually be culturally opposed to slave labor. It's hard to tell with an alien culture until it's made apparent onscreen.
    – Izkata
    Feb 6, 2014 at 23:58
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Yes, and it's a plot hole you can drive a self-contained world five miles long through.

It's also an equally large plot hole that all Ferengi are all-consumed by their rules of acquisition. And that the Klingons are all-consumed by a need to die (not just fight, or fight bravely, or destroy all your enemies by hook or by crook, but die) in combat. Or that the Vulcans are all-consumed by the need to be logical. Or that an entire planet can be an all-inclusive resort filled with only the prettiest 20 year olds. No civilisation (nevermind a planet full of them, or worse, an empire of many different planets) can possibly be made up entirely of one class of people, even if that class is "businessmen". This kind of extreme specialization will inevitably result in the group being completely wiped out by someone who doesn't play by the same rules. Like humans with their replicators. Or Klingons and the first person that comes along that fights unfairly with the intention of surviving the battle at the expense of everyone else.

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  • ... or that everyone in the Federation is in the Navy. Remember Star Trek only ever shows a small fraction of each civilization - the ones whose occupation is dealing with other civilizations, in deep space.
    – Gaius
    Sep 14, 2015 at 6:50
  • Put it this way: what could you really determine about the contemporary US from a TV show set aboard a warship on a long deployment?
    – Gaius
    Sep 14, 2015 at 6:51
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In addition to all the great answers and comments: Ferengi also trade and provide... information. Things, that can't be replicated and that in many situations or contexts are much, much more valuable than all the latinum, replicator rations and energy to power these replicators.

I would even risk an assumption, that if at some point latinum would become replicable and when all the things you can get out of replicator would become as good as hand-make, so you couldn't say the difference, then the Ferengi federation would still exists and perform well on exchanging solely information.

In this matter, the 24-th century world does not differs too much from our own. As you can see on many examples, a proper information, obtained in a appropriate place and time, is more valuable than all the gold or money you can have.

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  • What canon examples are there of the Ferengi trading in information?
    – Gaius
    Sep 14, 2015 at 11:30
  • Very strange question... Do you mean, that you have watched entire Star Trek and never found any such example. Let's take Captain Picard on vacation and Vash on recreation planet (don't remember episode name) and Ferengi offering a lot for an information, where hidden treasure is.
    – trejder
    Sep 14, 2015 at 18:21
  • Not strange at all; it's the norm o this site for people to cite references, e.g episode names, in thei answers.
    – Gaius
    Sep 15, 2015 at 11:26
  • What are you talking about? People post episode titles and references, if this is necessary. Usually, when questions are about certain characters or episodes. This question / answer does not need one. It is a general-like question. You have four more answers, except mine. Do you see any episode title mentioned any way?
    – trejder
    Sep 15, 2015 at 11:29

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