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Apple and John Deere Shareholder Resolutions Demand They Explain Their Bad Repair Policies - iFixit:
Apple and John Deere, primary antagonists of the Right to Repair movement, may soon have to explain their domineering repair programs to one of their most demanding audiences: their shareholders.
U.S. PIRG, working with its affiliated socially responsible mutual fund company, Green Century Funds, has filed shareholder resolutions with both Apple and John Deere, asking them to account for “anti-competitive repair policies." Both resolutions admonish the companies for fighting independent repair and ignoring the broad political shift toward Right to Repair laws.
Touch ID stops working if you replace the fingerprint sensor on your iPhone. This used to brick iPhones; now it’s just the sad reality of iPhone repair.
Green Century’s Apple resolution says that the company “risks losing its reputation as a climate leader if it does not cease its anti-repair practices.” Noting that internet-connected devices will account for 14% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, Green Century’s resolution demands the company reverse course to “mitigate regulatory and reputational risks and bolster the company's ambitious climate commitments.”
[...] The John Deere resolution calls out the company’s broken promise to make crucial repair software available to farmers. "Company representatives are quick to point out that less than 2% of all repairs require a software update," Green Capital Funds notes. "However, Deere does not disclose what percentage of the repair sales the 2% represents."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 16 2021, @01:53AM (7 children)
Politics are meaningless, when investors start pulling their investment money, and stocks fall.
Damn, this tickles me!
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 16 2021, @02:25AM
I assume this is the result of a small % of investors making a stink. You hear about these kinds of shareholder resolutions every year or two.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 16 2021, @02:25AM (2 children)
Are these guys investors? They certainly aren't showing up as large investors (here [yahoo.com] or here [yahoo.com]).
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 16 2021, @04:07AM (1 child)
Good point, but, that may not matter. The political climate regarding Right to Repair is favorable. So, if one group of investors does some squawking, other investors are likely to jump onboard. Besides, just how many people or investment groups are required to dump your stocks, before prices go into a nosedive? I realize that neither Apple nor Deere are especially volatile, but if people start dumping, it can hurt them.
There are decision makers in both corporations who are sitting up and taking notice, at the very least.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 16 2021, @04:15AM
How often can you buy a stock at a premium and then dump it before you run out? I'm reminded of the quote, "the market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent." If repairable goods are that valuable, it'd be better to invest in businesses that make those rather than try to force some alleged dinosaurs to behave contrary to their interests.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 16 2021, @07:30AM
The trick is not to pull the investments but to have just a large enough part of the shares that you can keep dropping nasty questions at the shareholder meeting and then see how the larger shareholders get annoyed with the boards crappy answers on how this is not hurting the company in the longer term
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 16 2021, @12:40PM (1 child)
It's weird to state that politics is meaningless when you're commenting on a 100% political action. Are you saying the shareholders' actions are meaningless, or do you think that somehow this is not politics?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 16 2021, @02:09PM
I'm saying that on the political front, they are employing loybbyists in the capitols, as well as lawyers in the courts. Winning the battles on the political and legal fronts may not mean much, if investors are busy pulling money. Lawyers and politicians can't force people to invest in a company with crap social reputations.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.