People using secure containers as the argument for pay to win are missing the fundamental flaw - that's only there as an insurance policy to mitigate losses if you die. If you don't die, you don't lose out. The biggest benefit of the more expensive editions are short- to medium-term lived in the higher trader standings by default, and increased stash size. Once you're up and running with a standard account, and above level 15, you shouldn't need to store anything more than quest items - especially with the flea market in use. I haven't put many hours in this wipe on my PMC, but I make/made very profitable runs as a scav early on which means I can buy most things I need. Investing in a lucky scav junkbox should be the first "big" purchase any standard account makes. Then it comes down to being smart with inventory management.
Don't keep pistol grips or magazines on guns to save space, you can buy those for not much outlay. Try to keep bags stacked inside each other - never much point keeping any bags smaller than scav backpacks in my opinion. With the changes to hydration and energy it's probably worth keeping some food lying around if you want to jump from one PMC run to the next; although I generally find enough in raid to keep my at a reasonably high level unless I'm staying in the raid until the dying minutes. Keep good ammo that you can't easily purchase - things like 5.45 BS, 7.62 BP, 5.56 M995, M61 and M80. Different play styles also help with this. Once you get a bit more used to the game you can always "trade up" through the raid. You can jump in with nothing more than a hunter, a scav vest and a couple of spare 5 or 10 round mags loaded with M61 or M80. If you hit your shots, you'll kill anyone in the game in 2 or 3 hits to centre of mass. All for the expenditure of what, 40k? You then take the spoils of the kill and use that until you lose it.
Obviously everyone dies eventually and money can run out, but that's where scav runs really shine. A good scav run on interchange, reserve or shoreline can net hundreds of thousands of rubles worth of loot, and you'll always find PMC bodies lying around that haven't been picked clean. Heck, a couple of times I've loaded in as a scav on interchange in Idea and found someone's dumped equipment right in front of me behind a box - instant upgrade from a makarov to a kitted AK, armour, rig, backpack and headset.
Don't forget mission rewards do not time out for collection like insurance returns - I still have painkillers and bottles of water as rewards from one of Therapists first quests sat there, I just pull one out as and when I need to which saves a ton of space.
