It is a matter of perspective and you are still missing the basics. It's a RCE and you have to work with the community anyway, for amps, finders etc. Last event all you had to do was to do what you love most + spend 37 and sell for 57 - 100% success rate, no exception. You would have made 20 ped per box. Almost the same as the mining box. EXCEPT the mining box is (was for me at least) a lot rarer.
If I would have applied your logic on my profession during FEN (or any major event where there is markup) I wouldn't have used enhancers or limited amps nor pills, because I don't want to pay markup - I would have turned half of what I did leaving me behind a lot.
Your fear of paying markup is not justified. You don't pay markup to make tt shit but you do pay markup to get more markup. And you should go for markup, not stay after tt, and be upset at MA for removing your chosen title...
Hard work, taking some risks, investing time and money in your character should reward you, not a raffle. Ok, I can understand you have no interest in hunting, I get that, but some of the materials that make mining amp come from hunting too and you pay for that markup, why does it suck in this case? Especially when the reward is much higher than usual? How is it different than what you do? You mine stuff not for collecting the stones for you but to sell it to other professions, with markup. You knowledge would have given you a much higher advantage than the newbie miners, like myself...