Scavengers reset equipped items but not merchants?

[GamerChas]

I am used to upgrading the traveling merchants: Doc, Crow etc. This time through I thought I would also try upgrading the random scavengers. Just because. I use the console command openteammatecontainer because it is a lot easier than reverse pickpocketing. But they lose everything whenever the cell resets after 3 days. I tried Grandma Sparkle, and some random traveling scavengers. They always lose everything after a reset time. I think it has to do with an inventory reset. An NPC I equip that does not sell stuff, like a group of ghouls that gave up going to underground, does not ever lose the equipment I gave them. But the named merchants reset their inventories without losing their equipped items. I am confused.