If this is the case as you say, then i'm sure we should all stray away from mining. In hunting, as your grow in DPP your TT return grows; this is a byproduct of the loot pool theory. However in mining, there is no "efficiency", meaning we are kinda just giving MA money it seems (90% return) if what you say is true. You are a veteran miner so I do believe what you say. Could this also be for crafting as well?
I used to hear a famous mining theory in my soc that all three professions have loot pools. In mining, if you drop a probe and it is NRF, the system will create a claim with random size (taken from the pool) and place it in the "server" with exact coordinate and depth. I always believed this was true as it makes the most sense.
1) yes I believe crafting operates the same way. I'm not a crafter so I don't know much. There is no way to realistically increase efficiency as mining. MA makes money from decay.. they take 10% on average to be exact. How ammo and proves factor in is unknown to me, but they certainly don't take a full 10% of that or hunters would be broke.
2) no the server doesn't replace resource coordinates. As we know, resources are on waves.. or the resources worth anything are on waves.. all that means is you get a fixed TT of these resources per hour. That's obviously affected by the amount of that resource turned over/crafted in the last hour.
This is why you see 10k narc/cald towers as the markup skyrockets and there's little availability on auction. When huge volumes of a resource is crafted, hofs are produced on that resource soon thereafter.
Regardless here's a balancing mechanism that should result in every avatar achieving 91% TT in mining regardless of their decay. Even using decay heavy tools like a mod exc only alters TT return in theory by 0.52%.. which is negligent in relation to the speed boost you get. Of course, in mining, turnover speed directly correlates to profit.
I'm not sure how the balancing mechanism works. But EU utilizes parimutuel wagering.. so in order to best that 91% figure, you have to be consistent. This means always using the same amp or ped/drop setup and always being indoors or outdoors.
You can't lose 20k TT indoors and make it back outdoors over months.. I tried and it doesn't work that way. If you don't have the bankroll to endure the losses indoors until you hit your 300x multis, don't go indoors.
Of course cycles/balancing mechanism/sine waves... or whatever you want to call them. Can be relatively predictable and you can exploit this by "going indoors at the right time."
In sum, there's two mechanisms of return in mining.. personal cycles (aka 91% theory).. and parimutuel wagerin jackpots (think ATHs and 5-digit that aren't kickbacks and put a miner over 91% TT). The former is predictable if you're diligent and consistent.. the latter is based on universe-wide input vs output (hence the 115k ATH I attempted to predict but was off by one day).
Edit: inb4 hate/disagreement.
Disclosure: my hypothesis is based on my 5 years of tracking on spreadsheets (obsessively) and my own experiences in game.
... just a feature of the dynamic loot 1.0 system 
