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from the Use-it-up.-Wear-it-out.-Make-do.-Do-without. dept.
Fixers Know What 'Repairable' Means—Now There's A Standard For It - Ifixit:
[Earlier this year], three years of arguing with industry finally paid off, as the European standard EN45554 was published. This official document with an unexciting name details "general methods for the assessment of the ability to repair, reuse and upgrade energy-related products." In plain English, it's a standard for measuring how easy it is to repair stuff. It's also a huge milestone for the fight for fair repair.
We want to repair the stuff we own, so we can use it for longer. This is not only important because we want our money's worth out of the things we paid for, but because manufacturing new products is a huge and underestimated driver of climate change. So if we want to avoid cooking our planet, we need to stop churning out disposable electronics and start repairing more. Like, right now.
The problem is, industry won't do this by itself. Managers get ahead by showing quarterly sales growth, not increased product lifespans. Hence we need the government to step in, banning unrepairable products and helping consumers—that's you!—to identify the most durable products out there, so as to empower them to make better purchasing decisions. And in the EU, our political leaders are getting ready to do so.
But here's the rub: those leaders don't know what a repairable product is. If you ask manufacturers, they will all tell you their products are repairable. If you ask us, some devices clearly are more repairable than others, and some are frankly just not repairable at all.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday July 08 2020, @03:49AM (3 children)
So what? You already noted actions that are legally actionable - that is, can be sued in court. So why are we to go through a greater waste of time and resources to fight lesser wastes of time and resources?
Well, why don't you try for starters? First, we have an European body defining to a ridiculous degree of detail some idea of repairability. Then we're going to pass laws that mandate some sort of repairability from this dubious foundation. Assuming generously that this doesn't lead to dysfunctions like suitcase sized cell phones or a protectionism exercise like the usual standards generation from that part of the world, we still have that the scheme forces vast numbers of people to buy and make stuff a certain way just because you want something.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday July 08 2020, @06:06AM (2 children)
Sorry, but I truly have and am worn out. I had started a lengthy and growing reply, but I'm struggling to understand your position. Your points have merit, but are all negations and stop-actions.
I'm trying to be proactive, and I'm just glad to see someone doing something about a problem that I feel fairly strongly about. I'm about action. But also an ongoing process of learning and correcting laws, much like agile software development, and lawmakers fall on their faces in that department.
Why don't you just come out and state what the heck you think should happen, instead of this constant stupid game of cat and mouse? Seriously, I'm genuinely curious what you would do.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday July 08 2020, @11:26AM (1 child)
Needless to say, I don't agree that you have so tried.
At the government level? Nothing.
The demand that government fix this problem is of the same nature as what's causing these problems in the first place. People don't wish to expend their own time and energy to get better, more repairable products with better customer service. So they go for the magic solution, and use the power of government get those things. Well, the government with these increased powers is also managed by voters, leaders, and bureaucracies with the same attitude. It's just making the basic problem worse - a society that is a poor fit for us. There is a horrible futility to this whole exercise.
As a final remark, one of the more unrecognized powers of a democracy is that you have considerable power to solve your own problems. I grant it's not enough to solve every problem. But I certainly would be more conducive to supporting (or at least not opposing as strongly) things like repairability, if people were actually trying to get more repairable products. My take is that if you don't want to expend your own time and effort to get better quality of things, then you don't really want that better quality in the first place. And I won't support using government power to deliver things you don't want.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday July 08 2020, @03:41PM
I'm in a rush and will write a real response later but I want to thank you for what you've written and all you contribute here. I think you're (obviously) brilliant and want to inspire people, for many reasons, but in general to make the world a better place. I'm inspired, and as such have to pursue some job openings, and get to a place where I do gig work. Thanks!!