Okay so it's not a bug but more of I think I'm misunderstanding something.

So I have five settlements that are linked in one way or another. So that means all resources should be shared. Which they seem to be so no problems their.

The problem is now I have between 20 work stations. You'd think that 20 could get you a healthy amount of resources. However I wait days looking at my inventory. I've been looking at steel and nothing else, but my steel does not go up. I think it went up once after several days.

Am I understanding things wrong or do work stations svck that much even with 20. My idea was eventually just by waiting I could gather enough resources to build more besides the rare components.

Build Scavenging Stations, found under Resources, Misc., and assign a settler to each station you build. Mark them with distinctive clothing or a named item so you'll know they're assigned.

Workstations only store and transfer resources(with a supply line); with enough Scavenging Stations, you'll never worry for materials.

Yea I have all of that. And 20 of them and not getting anything.

Workstations don't actually have any visible increase outside of crafting mode. Only in crafting do you have full access to your scrapped materials. That means even if one settlement is creating purified water the other won't show it unless it is during crafting.