Editing The Pathfinder Society (section)

=== Quest Rewards ===
The PFS scenarios have a sterile but useful way of assigning loot rewards at the end of the scenario - everything you, as a Pathfinder Agent, find over the course of the quest is handed over to the lodge when you report in. There is a kind of subquest completion checklist the GM will track behind the screen, and based on what you, as players, do and accomplish in the scenario will determine how much the Society pays your characters in return. If you rush through a scenario, you won’t get the full gold piece “paycheck” than if you took the time to help resolve the side issues presented along the way.

Characters then presumably have access to the Society’s resources in some way to craft/buy whatever magic items you can afford, rather than just putting up with whatever items you come across and waiting for the next best thing to come along.

Much like an MMO, you also gain additional points/reputation currency to spend on smaller bonus stuff. If you’ve got a lot of reputation built up with one of the internal branches of the Society, you can dip into the Society’s reserves a little bit to equip yourself with some extra potions and other consumables between each quest.