The barter system. Maybe a credit swapping arrangement.
In Star Trek Generations How Does Kirk Sell His House
- Thread starter tim0122
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Well, things were a little less convenient in TOS' era, than in TNG. There were no replicators, so one can imagine that both product and service would contain some form of value. By the time of TNG, if you want anything, the replicator makes it for you. With the cost of products nearly non-existent, the cost of living would plummet, effectively rendering money useless and devaluing most services in the process. By the time TNG comes around, I imagine people probably earn some kind of energy credit (like in STO) to "purchase" larger items (vehicles maybe) requiring time or resources from specialized replicators, while pretty much everything else is free from their home replicators.
This oft-quoted line from "The Neutral Zone" is more ambiguous, but also helps to set the ground-rules:
"A lot has changed in the past three hundred years. People are no longer obsessed with the accumulation of things. We've eliminated hunger, want, the need for possessions."
By extension, of course, we might read into that whatever we wish. Picard talks about how nobody has an 'obsession with the accumulation of things', but it still doesn't rule in or out the necessity to use currency on a grander, galactic scale.
Maybe we might retroactively attribute that world view to TOS as well (really, the only instance where we see our crew 'buy' anything is on space station K-7, which makes sense for a space trading post where many different races come and go, just like Latinum is used as a go-to currency on Deep Space Nine.) But there are other instances that might reasonably contradict it and suggest that the Federation still uses money at this time.
The poster above who talks about replicators being the moment when currency becomes completely irrelevant to the Federation is probably right to say that was the changing point in terms of dropping currency, although likewise it still could be said that TOS humans may not have been as 'obsessed with the accumulation of things' as we are, even though they hadn't yet abandoned money.
On a side point, was it ever established whether the Starfleet officers ever had to pay for services at Quark's Bar? I can't imagine him letting them drink there (or consume holosuite time) on some kind of non-existent 'tab'.
"A lot has changed in the past three hundred years. People are no longer obsessed with the accumulation of things. We've eliminated hunger, want, the need for possessions."
By extension, of course, we might read into that whatever we wish. Picard talks about how nobody has an 'obsession with the accumulation of things', but it still doesn't rule in or out the necessity to use currency on a grander, galactic scale.
Maybe we might retroactively attribute that world view to TOS as well (really, the only instance where we see our crew 'buy' anything is on space station K-7, which makes sense for a space trading post where many different races come and go, just like Latinum is used as a go-to currency on Deep Space Nine.) But there are other instances that might reasonably contradict it and suggest that the Federation still uses money at this time.
The poster above who talks about replicators being the moment when currency becomes completely irrelevant to the Federation is probably right to say that was the changing point in terms of dropping currency, although likewise it still could be said that TOS humans may not have been as 'obsessed with the accumulation of things' as we are, even though they hadn't yet abandoned money.
On a side point, was it ever established whether the Starfleet officers ever had to pay for services at Quark's Bar? I can't imagine him letting them drink there (or consume holosuite time) on some kind of non-existent 'tab'.
The Dabo tables were rigged so that the Starfleet officers won more easily, which gave them the currency to buy the drinks and consume holosuite time. At least that was the impression I got.
O'Brien and Bashier, two successful guys, seemed to only be able to rustle up five measly strips of latinum to play tongo. So if the Federation does have currency the exchange rate seems terrible. On the other hand, they both drank and played a lot at Quark's so maybe they just spent all their ill gotten latinum.
Or, perhaps Quark treats O'Brien well so the engineering staff on which he depends for replicator repairs and whatnot are available when needed.
As for Bashir; well everybody likes to keep their doctor happy.
There were also those miners hoping to strike it rich in "Devil in the Dark," Flint owning his own planet in "Requiem for Methuselah," and I hope to God Kirk tipped their waiter on that night club on Argelius in "Wolf in the Fold."
Granted, those instances may have been outside the Federation's jurisdiction, but TOS was never about the utopian economics of 23rd century Earth; it was about exploring the Final Frontier, where apparently people still had to make a living.
On the other hand, we do know from "Catspaw" that certain formerly precious gems are no longer valuable because they can be easily replicated. But dilithium crystals and pergium are apparently a whole other story.
Also, Ben Childress and company from "Mudd's Women".
Just from the examples of San Fransisco and Paris the population is likely far beyond that. However the nine billion figure does seem to give Data pause.
Fat stacks of that Earth "real money" that McCoy spoke of.
But then while vacationing on Risa, Picard purchases a statue.
Perhaps people swap units of value, for items of merchandise?
Yeah, but how much does that cost you?
In Requiem for Methuselah, Kirk offers to buy natural resources from Flint.
Yet it's from the minds of the original landing party that Korob gets the idea that the jewels are valuable in the first place. Kirk was lying to Korob to throw him off balance.
There again, Kirk offers to buy natural resources.
In Operation Annihilate, it's stated that the Deneva colony was originally set up as a base for the movement of freight
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Kirk put his house on Federation Craigslist. Of course, he "mistakenly" put it in "missed encounters."
I think we aren't meant to dissect and over-analyze the economics of the Trek universe. The stuff about "no money" is just some vague background to indicate that things in the future are different and more enlightened than what we are used to today. I'd rather move on to more substantial things like story and character.
Kor
Kor
I don't think that was the intent. I doubt the original landing party also believed in witches and haunted castles.
The idea, as elucidated in the episode, is that Korob went too deep and tapped into primal human myths and archetypes, which he then took far too literally. Fabulous treasures and priceless jewels are just as ubiquitous in human folklore as ghosts and witches, so . . . .
There's no indication in the episode that Kirk is lying. Only that Korob is dragging old, outdated archetypes out of the humans' unconsciousness minds, not realizing that they're not terribly relevant in the 23rd century.
Kind of like Trelane being several centuries out of date in "The Squire of Gothos."
I'd actually forgotten about "Requiem for Methuselah". In that instance, isn't it even implied outright that it isn't just humans that use money, but that the Federation themselves are capable of bankrolling whatever price Flint wants to name? Further proof that, at least in TOS's time, they don't yet live in a "no money" future. 
There's a line in there that Flint (under another name) bought the planet he lives on.
I can see that coming from Scotty.
Kirk asked Spock how much does he think Starfleet has invested in his training, and Spock began to quote a number which could have been monetary units or "man"hours.
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