Whenever a good newbie shows up, they have no problem rapidly acquiring merit and ranking up. I don't think the issues is the lack of merits for newbies, but rather the lack of newbies making good posts.
This. Most of them tend to be looking for earning opportunities so it's best to avoid allocating MS's for these ranks.
If they don't bother to learn the ropes, then they don't deserve the Merits.
Still, I still see Merits dropped on lower ranks from time to time, so there's no shortage.