system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Fallout] How much is the average Wastelander living off, how do they get it and how much is the cost of living?

Wondering this as in-game players can make an insane amount of money selling items, but the prices they sell them for are unreasonable. It is 10 caps for booze for example, but 4000 for a decently repaired super-sledge with high barter - and the Gun Runners! They sell weapons at absurd prices, the kind no one should be able to afford - who are they marketing their weapons to?

How does the average Wastelander wandering around the Mojave or living in a town earn money? Do they just scavenge and sell it, do menial labour (what sort of stuff?) etc.
gpt
I suspect that most people only use currency to supplement hunting and gathering, and they only sell or trade away a meager surplus that they can't personally use--so any "cost of living" figure is going to be a little abstract.

Presumably citizens of strong centralized societies like the NCR or the Legion do more specialized work and thus participate in more market transactions.

And the Gun Runners' primary market isn't individual Wastelanders--they sell mainly to institutions with a lot more buying power. (Just as today, the average citizen can't afford a fighter jet or a tank.)