Micromanagement? What *you* speak of is micromanagement. I never, ever toyed with my purchase prices according to what caravans where on their way.
Rather, I was simply the one sending all of the caravans all of the time. 95% of caravans that delivered food or gold in Paisly were sent by myself. And there was absolutely nothing complicated about this. Set and forget, once per week or so. I got used to which regions usually have food and good prices, and ended up sending them caravans every week, regardless of whether they were showing as trading or not. It was a routine, and a rather simple one that really didn't take much time or require much thinking to pull off. No need to think of when others produce, or when others are ready to buy, or when stocks are arriving. THAT is micromanagement. I couldn't be arsed with such details. All I needed was to check my send caravans page once per week, for about 4 minutes.
Then it wasn't really preferential, since anyone could have purchased the food before your caravans arrived. What have you lost? The fact you had to wait days for the food you purchased to actually be in your warehouse and being used? You are really going to need to explain how the system is affecting you in the way you stated earlier.
