I have an idea for a new type of pseudo-forge. I'd call it a hopper or a bin.
The purpose of the hopper is to facilitate juggling raw materials between
boxes and forges.

Plain hopper features:
purchase from standard shops selling forges
lists contents the same way as a standard forge does
holds up to 750 raw materials
items do not save over boot

Pro hopper features:
purchase from pro forge shop
may have a quest to unlock it
lists contents the same way as a pro forge does
items do NOT save over boot (too suffeli)
Level one holds up to 500 raw materials
Level 2 holds up to 750 raw materials
Level 3 holds up to 1000 raw materials

I won't suggest pricing beyond saying that a standard hopper would be about as
useful as a standard forge whereas a pro hopper would be considerably less
useful than a pro forge while being a substantial upgrade from a standard
hopper.

Beliar

Okay, I received two excellent questions regarding this:

Why would you want a pro hopper that holds 500 raw materials over a plain
hopper that holds 750?
The reason is that the pro hopper lists contents like a pro forge. So, it does
all of the weighing, counting, and checking of refining status for you. In
verbose mode, it lists the weight and condition of each piece. In brief mode,
it lists the count and combined weight of each material.

And the other question is why not just use a standard forge for it?
Well, a standard forge has a fairly low capacity. By my count, it can hold 150
items while a Level 1 pro forge can hold 100, a level 2 can hold 150, and a
level 3 (I hear) can hold 200.

The lower capacity of the Level 1 forge compared to the plain forge is also
why I'm suggesting that the Level 1 hopper have a lower capacity than a plain
hopper. The display and sorting functionality of the pro forges/hopper add
enough value that the lower capacity on the Level 1 version is reasonable.

Beliar

And one more clarification. It looks like I neglected to define "raw
material". One benefit of hoppers would be that even pro hoppers can handle
materials of all types, unlike pro forges which discriminate to a single type,
e.g. metal. Preferably, they would discriminate down to materials, so your
cloth robes would not go in, but both your cloth pieces and your duraluminium
pieces would co-habitate with your alexandrite, laen and chalk.