GreyEagle, have you actually found any of the new rare stuff?

For example, take my first find--6 master quality stainless steel long metal boards. It doesn't take many of these to put you over your encumbrance, even with a high strength. So I dragged these home and they can be used to impart a speed bonus to (wait for it) a building. If I use these rare puppies to make a tepee, it better look like Geronimo's Delorian.

To take the death taxi, you have to:
1) find a willing player or bear, and
2) do it before the death penalty.

As you say, stats matter, and if you loose stats on death the nearly all trades will not be worth the death taxi fare.

With the current scavenging tables, the rare items will become the things that can't be found now--feathers, old saws, knife blades, etc. Since these can't be replenished, no one will be willing to part with them, so no trade.

Ravelli