'Right to Repair' law

[Harry Bloomfield]

I seem to recall that Black and Decker used to run a string of high street repair and refurb shops. Why not eh?

When a basic electric drill cost more than a weeks wage, it was worth having one repaired, but even then the repairs were relatively expensive. Now such a drill costs a fraction of a weekly wage, the repair costs can be many times the cost of a replacement - so now there are no such outlets.

A big contribution could be made into making things repairable, if the manufacturers simply made the replacement parts much cheaper. What sensible person will pay half the original cost of an item, for a minor part, then the labour on top? Vehicles have much cheaper pattern parts available, but the working life of such parts tends to be much worse than the original manufacturers parts. Ideally, you should be able to buy a complete set of manufacturers parts, to enable you to build the car (with free labour), within the cost of buying the vehicle from the showroom.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The new law won't work for tech products such as phones, tablets, computers, watches and smart stuff, where they may not break but don't get updated after a few years and then become unusable and obsolete forcing a replacement.

I've been with Windows since Win V3 and before that DOS and DRDOS. The whole process does seem to be slowing down generally and OS's last much longer, as does the hardware. The laptop I am typing this on is around five years old, that would have been unheard of at one time. I fancy the same will happen with phones and etc. too. There is a limit to how many extra feature you can add, before it becomes pointless.

 

[wobs]

Aim is to tackle things like built-in obsolescence and lack of parts availability to consumers. Government want appliances to last up to 10 years longer. Also new supposedly simpler energy labeling to be introduced.

'Right to repair' law to come in this summer - BBC News

Key sentence in link:
"They are keeping a promise to implement EU rules aimed at cutting energy and bills – and reducing the need for new materials."

It comes from the EU, as they are also pushing for a circular economy.

A long way to go as you said, but a step in the right direction.

A year or two ago I tried to repair a power plane, as I had gone through teh cable. Spent about two hours trying to replace said cable, and gave up. So this can't cone soon enough for me.

 

[wobs]

I've been with Windows since Win V3 and before that DOS and DRDOS. The whole process does seem to be slowing down generally and OS's last much longer, as does the hardware. The laptop I am typing this on is around five years old, that would have been unheard of at one time. I fancy the same will happen with phones and etc. too. There is a limit to how many extra feature you can add, before it becomes pointless.

True. Our PC is also about 5 years old (if not more), and still doing ok. I think with computers, its that there is now less need for more powerful machines.

As a counter exmple though, I recall touring the Star Trek Experience in Vegas (now gone ) about 11 years ago, and their effects etc were run on PC that ran on Win 3.11. It still worked so they never replaced it.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

True. Our PC is also about 5 years old (if not more), and still doing ok. I think with computers, its that there is now less need for more powerful machines.

As a counter exmple though, I recall touring the Star Trek Experience in Vegas (now gone ) about 11 years ago, and their effects etc were run on PC that ran on Win 3.11. It still worked so they never replaced it.

..and in the banking world, last time I was involved - they were still using it on there servers. They had no one able to fully understand their software, so from time to time, as it became essential to patch it - they just botched it enough to continue to work. One day....

 

[diy_fun_uk]

I agree that many original parts are too expensive, some ridiculously so. The top hinge on mum's built-in fridge failed a couple of years back. I was shocked to discover an original replacement was something like £70 or £120 if you bought top and bottom hinges together. So I bought an equivalent from somewhere like eSpares for £15-£20, expecting to receive a flimsy piece of rubbish. Couldn't have been more wrong, to my untrained eyes it looked fine and coming up for two years later it's not showing any sign of failing.

 

[EFLImpudence]

if the manufacturers simply made the replacement parts much cheaper.

They do.

They just charge a lot for them.