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Ugh. Another bill whose largest effect, to be understood only 10 or more years from now, will be to make sure that very large companies stay very large and very

Ugh. Another bill whose largest effect, to be understood only 10 or more years from now, will be to make sure that very large companies stay very large and very small companies have a hard or impossible road to growth. -- Someone who likes repairability as much as the next guy.

ng-user 9y ago
Care to explain what exactly you mean by this?
- ChristianBundy 9y ago
  I can't speak for GP, but it looks like the usual "regulation hurts small business" argument, often used by stakeholders in large businesses.
  - ocdtrekkie 9y ago
    It's amazing how this discrepancy always seems to pop up. The five corporations with the largest market cap in the United States say SESTA will hurt small businesses more than big ones. Those same companies tell us that net neutrality is important for protecting small businesses. And these giant corporations are investing millions of dollars to fight these changes. Whenever the largest corporate entities are talking about how bad something is for "small businesses", it really means it is bad for them.
    - pas 9y ago
      Do you mean Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, ... are against certain regulations because it's cost them too much?
    - maxxxxx 9y ago
      "Whenever the largest corporate entities are talking about how bad something is for "small businesses", it really means it is bad for them. " Yeah. "Small business" and "family farm" are nice words for the big guys to hide behind.
  - Spivak 9y ago
    I mean it does, which is why small businesses are exempt from a lot of them. In our ops unit we employ three full time regulatory compliance officers who make upper-middle tier salaries. Just in terms of compensation it adds half a million annually to our budget. And that's before the cost of the actual compliance. No small business can afford to just eat that cost so it's either going to be paid in risk or out of the productivity of existing staff.
kbenson 9y ago
> will be to make sure that very large companies stay very large and very small companies have a hard or impossible road to growth. Do you mind connecting the dots on this? Apparently you think it's self evident why it would have those effects on companies, but it's not, at least to me.
- wooter 9y ago
  Guaranteeing repairability costs money. As does understanding/compliance with the law, the paper work, the legalities if someone tries to sue, ... i could go on and on Big companies can afford it, start ups can’t. The alternative for an incumbent is less profit and a higher barrier to entry for ne competitors. The alternative for the start up is not existing
- Cshelton 9y ago
  Not OP, but I believe he means the following: As a small company/startup, right now, you design, make, and sell a product. It may just be you or a small team. The design of your product may be complicated, but the usability from the user perspective may be simple AND FOOLPROOF. There are no other considerations generally other than the product works, and people like it and my margins are good. With more regulation, like requiring the right to repair, the task above just became a lot more difficult. You now have to design a product that can be repairable, which can be more expensive from your design/production side. You have to make sure there is documentation to go with that for consumers to repair every aspect of your product, an incredible amount of time. And then you have to have a way to "rescue" a user if they really screw up the product and "brick" in in a sense. This will add to the total cost and the time it takes to go to market and/or iterate on the product. Small companies in many ways, can't afford this. not to mention being in compliance of the regulations and the additional cost/time that will take. On the other hand, a larger company will have no issue complying with these regulations as far as documentation, user support, return and fix issues, etc. Making sure consumers have the tools available to "repair" the products as well. Because larger companies have economies of scale, both with supplies, manufacturing, and labor costs, it is much less of a burden for them than a small company barely trying to survive.
  - 9y ago

ng-user 9y ago

Care to explain what exactly you mean by this?

ChristianBundy 9y ago
I can't speak for GP, but it looks like the usual "regulation hurts small business" argument, often used by stakeholders in large businesses.
- ocdtrekkie 9y ago
  It's amazing how this discrepancy always seems to pop up. The five corporations with the largest market cap in the United States say SESTA will hurt small businesses more than big ones. Those same companies tell us that net neutrality is important for protecting small businesses. And these giant corporations are investing millions of dollars to fight these changes. Whenever the largest corporate entities are talking about how bad something is for "small businesses", it really means it is bad for them.
  - pas 9y ago
    Do you mean Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, ... are against certain regulations because it's cost them too much?
  - maxxxxx 9y ago
    "Whenever the largest corporate entities are talking about how bad something is for "small businesses", it really means it is bad for them. " Yeah. "Small business" and "family farm" are nice words for the big guys to hide behind.
- Spivak 9y ago
  I mean it does, which is why small businesses are exempt from a lot of them. In our ops unit we employ three full time regulatory compliance officers who make upper-middle tier salaries. Just in terms of compensation it adds half a million annually to our budget. And that's before the cost of the actual compliance. No small business can afford to just eat that cost so it's either going to be paid in risk or out of the productivity of existing staff.

kbenson 9y ago

> will be to make sure that very large companies stay very large and very small companies have a hard or impossible road to growth. Do you mind connecting the dots on this? Apparently you think it's self evident why it would have those effects on companies, but it's not, at least to me.

wooter 9y ago
Guaranteeing repairability costs money. As does understanding/compliance with the law, the paper work, the legalities if someone tries to sue, ... i could go on and on Big companies can afford it, start ups can’t. The alternative for an incumbent is less profit and a higher barrier to entry for ne competitors. The alternative for the start up is not existing
Cshelton 9y ago
Not OP, but I believe he means the following: As a small company/startup, right now, you design, make, and sell a product. It may just be you or a small team. The design of your product may be complicated, but the usability from the user perspective may be simple AND FOOLPROOF. There are no other considerations generally other than the product works, and people like it and my margins are good. With more regulation, like requiring the right to repair, the task above just became a lot more difficult. You now have to design a product that can be repairable, which can be more expensive from your design/production side. You have to make sure there is documentation to go with that for consumers to repair every aspect of your product, an incredible amount of time. And then you have to have a way to "rescue" a user if they really screw up the product and "brick" in in a sense. This will add to the total cost and the time it takes to go to market and/or iterate on the product. Small companies in many ways, can't afford this. not to mention being in compliance of the regulations and the additional cost/time that will take. On the other hand, a larger company will have no issue complying with these regulations as far as documentation, user support, return and fix issues, etc. Making sure consumers have the tools available to "repair" the products as well. Because larger companies have economies of scale, both with supplies, manufacturing, and labor costs, it is much less of a burden for them than a small company barely trying to survive.
- 9y ago