Quote:
Originally Posted by Anh_Minh
There's only that much money in the world. And their plan, it seems, is to hoard food, presumably to sell it at huge prices afterward. That's not going to endear them to the population.
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The inflation they create is not just because of them storing things, but because others are copying them. They're basically selling the idea to to store wheat to every merchant. Even market merchants unaffiliated with a guild are going "wait a minute, if the price keeps rising, I can just keep things in storage and make even
more money later!"
Meanwhile, the Merchant's Guild keeps buying wheat at lower prices because of their contracts. This is an important detail, because it allows them to sell wheat not for high prices, but for
lower prices, undercutting the market and making them the go-to source for wheat.
To illustrate with a theoretical example: The merchant's guild buys sacks of wheat for 5 silver a bag, while creating an artificial shortage. The price of wheat begins to rise. This spreads to the other merchants, who also begin storing wheat in anticipation of further price growth, which further increases the price of wheat. Then, as the price of wheat reaches... say... 15 silver a bag, suddenly the merchant's guild releases its stock and sells their wheat for 10 silver a bag. Since they bought the wheat for 5 silver a bag, they still make a massive profit, double their cost even, but in the eyes of the public, they're good Samaritans selling wheat way cheaper than anyone else.