4 ms·

I'm pessimistic too. However, the labour cost is so huge that it will offset some of your points and only give a slight edge to repair and second hand shops. I

by gutnor 10y ago

I'm pessimistic too. However, the labour cost is so huge that it will offset some of your points and only give a slight edge to repair and second hand shops. If you don't have a top of the range, almost new fridge or TV, even phone, repair will almost always come close to replacement cost. And replacement give you back a 2 years guarantee with faster turnaround.

mikepurvis 10y ago
Right, but the point of this legislation is to adjust the incentives so that repair becomes possible/economical in a greater number of cases.
- thrownblown 10y ago
  Aren't we about to be abounding with mechanical inclined labor? Like aren't all truck drivers and car drivers about to be automated? This seems like a nobrainer. Relocating that labor surplus towards supporting a repairable mechanical/technological industry and commercial future seems really plausible. That sounds like a decent job, troubleshooting and repairing the machines, designing machines to be repaired. Better than driving trucks.
  - marcosdumay 10y ago
    How much is is worth? Assuming every "fixer" is competing with some industry robots somewhere, what is the ceiling on the fixer salary?
    - thrownblown 10y ago
      I was assuming in our little hypothetical utopia that most consumer goods are designed once again to be repaired and upgraded. I was also imagining a bunch of truck drivers looking for jobs, since the robots took them all. Further along in my thought experiment, I imagined that if I owned a sizable fleet of robot cars I'd rather repair and upgraded than replace them. So I figured if you're into trucks, have basic the mechanical skills required to drive a truck (tire chains, flat tires, oil change, spark plug change) that a new job maintenaning, repairing and upgrading the new fleets of robot taxis and trucks might be right up your alley. For some reason self repairing robots seem a bit further off.
ryandrake 10y ago
> If you don't have a top of the range, almost new fridge or TV, even phone, repair will almost always come close to replacement cost. I tend to repair everything, and let me say that's not true for the vast majority of my possessions, including cars, appliances, electronics, etc. It highly depends on the nature of the failure, but generally parts are cheaper than replacement. Here are a list of things I've recently repaired around my house + the parts to repair. I don't recall the parts costs, but all were far lower than replacing the entire thing: Dishwasher: Control board Garage door opener: Broken gear and sprocket Hot tub: Two pumps and a pressure/flow sensor AV receiver: Three capacitors Rear projection TV: Convergence ICs Attic fan: Fan motor And probably tons more that I'm not recalling at the moment. The key is to stop throwing money away on labor costs. Even getting someone out to your house can cost $50-100 and that's before he even does anything. Total scam. I disagree with a lot of replies here--DIY repair is still a viable option for most things around the home.
- Roboprog 10y ago
  I suspect I will do much more of that after I retire. It's hard to motivate myself to spend much time on most such activities now. Now saying you don't have a point, just how the day flows sometimes.
  - ryandrake 10y ago
    Each of these repairs consisted of: an hour or so of diagnosis/research + order the parts online + go on with your life until delivered + a few hours or so to do the repair. I spent more time finding the cheapest (+shipping) online source of garage door opener parts than I spent on actually repairing it.
  - digikata 10y ago
    I find that repairing it myself is often faster than getting a tech out to repair things. It seems to be a minimum of two appointments, one to diagnose things and order the part, another to come back to fix it. With the wait windows the repair services want, it's less time to do it myself.
- 10y ago

by gutnor 10y ago

mikepurvis 10y ago

Right, but the point of this legislation is to adjust the incentives so that repair becomes possible/economical in a greater number of cases.

thrownblown 10y ago
Aren't we about to be abounding with mechanical inclined labor? Like aren't all truck drivers and car drivers about to be automated? This seems like a nobrainer. Relocating that labor surplus towards supporting a repairable mechanical/technological industry and commercial future seems really plausible. That sounds like a decent job, troubleshooting and repairing the machines, designing machines to be repaired. Better than driving trucks.
- marcosdumay 10y ago
  How much is is worth? Assuming every "fixer" is competing with some industry robots somewhere, what is the ceiling on the fixer salary?
  - thrownblown 10y ago
    I was assuming in our little hypothetical utopia that most consumer goods are designed once again to be repaired and upgraded. I was also imagining a bunch of truck drivers looking for jobs, since the robots took them all. Further along in my thought experiment, I imagined that if I owned a sizable fleet of robot cars I'd rather repair and upgraded than replace them. So I figured if you're into trucks, have basic the mechanical skills required to drive a truck (tire chains, flat tires, oil change, spark plug change) that a new job maintenaning, repairing and upgrading the new fleets of robot taxis and trucks might be right up your alley. For some reason self repairing robots seem a bit further off.

ryandrake 10y ago

> If you don't have a top of the range, almost new fridge or TV, even phone, repair will almost always come close to replacement cost. I tend to repair everything, and let me say that's not true for the vast majority of my possessions, including cars, appliances, electronics, etc. It highly depends on the nature of the failure, but generally parts are cheaper than replacement. Here are a list of things I've recently repaired around my house + the parts to repair. I don't recall the parts costs, but all were far lower than replacing the entire thing: Dishwasher: Control board Garage door opener: Broken gear and sprocket Hot tub: Two pumps and a pressure/flow sensor AV receiver: Three capacitors Rear projection TV: Convergence ICs Attic fan: Fan motor And probably tons more that I'm not recalling at the moment. The key is to stop throwing money away on labor costs. Even getting someone out to your house can cost $50-100 and that's before he even does anything. Total scam. I disagree with a lot of replies here--DIY repair is still a viable option for most things around the home.

Roboprog 10y ago
I suspect I will do much more of that after I retire. It's hard to motivate myself to spend much time on most such activities now. Now saying you don't have a point, just how the day flows sometimes.
- ryandrake 10y ago
  Each of these repairs consisted of: an hour or so of diagnosis/research + order the parts online + go on with your life until delivered + a few hours or so to do the repair. I spent more time finding the cheapest (+shipping) online source of garage door opener parts than I spent on actually repairing it.
- digikata 10y ago
  I find that repairing it myself is often faster than getting a tech out to repair things. It seems to be a minimum of two appointments, one to diagnose things and order the part, another to come back to fix it. With the wait windows the repair services want, it's less time to do it myself.
10y ago