They dont need to throw away assets at all just move them around a bit. Like lets do it this way:An armored caravan, or them throwing away assets they already made should be out of the question but connecting a network of radio towers, which already exist and could be found through exploration (without quest pointers), or equipping the post with workstations and helping it "develop" (like a colony mini-game) e.g. to expand the traders' stock etc, is already more interesting than what we have now and could be done with minimal effort. I expect the people whose job is to design this game, will plan this thoroughly and think of better and more involving mechanics than these.
At any case, whatever TFP decide to do, besides more types of quests etc, imo, these things have to happen:
-The back-and-forth thing has to go away. Traversing distances should be promoted, but not in this bland fetch-return way.
-Traders have to be gated, but in a way that connects them with the main gameplay loop (tech, exploration etc), not an arbitrary meta number or quest tier grinding.
The trader bases are abadoned and rundown fortresses, the players can use them as they would do on regular POI's. They also have a radio somewhere what you can connect to the emergency channels.
The trader audio is now played throught the radio as if someone just picked up the call. The trader models are now the drivers of the truck, they take the money from you, open the back and let you handle the deal.