Item avaiability on station

[Cropsey]

I don't see a problem with people starting out with kit. Artificial scarcity is how, as others have said, tiding happens. What's in a department doesn't always add up to meet the demands of how many people are in it. You'd end up with situations like John Botany hoarding all the plant analysers and then popping in cryo. It just slows down the gameplay loop for no apparent reason.