I can definitely understand the design choice of wanting to put the 3500 wood/cannonballs/basic food pretty close to the Merchant where you can get them for 7500.
But why does the shipwright sell bait and captain voyages? I can't understand this as a design choice but rather a necessity of haste. Just give the captain voyage shop to the Sovereigns. If they're the ones who came to the Sea of Thieves and started commissioning captains, why dont they give us the jobs?
Also just let the various Rricks sell bait. It doesnt make sense to give Shelly gold for worms. She's got a hard enough job.