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>It may also push prices up It doesn't look like the EU care if prices go up. They are more concerned with waste then consumer rights. Also, let's say a microw

>It may also push prices up It doesn't look like the EU care if prices go up. They are more concerned with waste then consumer rights. Also, let's say a microwave now cost £50 and lasts 5 years. let's say the price under the new laws goes up to £70, 2 things will happen; a) the consumer will be more motivated to get his machine fixed and b)the microwave will last 10 years, ultimately saving £30. My math may be badly wrong, feel free to correct me. I just plucked all those figures out of thin air.

mytailorisrich 6y ago
Well, again I'd really like to see hard stats on how long appliances actually last now and how long they will actually last after this. My guess is that they will last exactly as long but they may be simpler to repair and/or parts will be available for slightly longer (the new regulation only states that they should be repairable for up to 10 years), which may have a cost for the consumer and in terms of resources needed to build the appliance. And again the actual cost of repairs is key: If we take the numbers of your example, I am pretty sure that it is always never worthwhile to pay someone to repair a £70 device if you consider all costs (time, plus labour, plus parts). In my view, for anything that costs less than £300 it very quickly becomes uneconomical to repair, even it is repairable. And appliances are already repairable so we need to see an incremental benefit with this policy. Let's also be realistic, a TV these days is one screen connected to one PCB with one or two SoCs. Not sure exactly what the expectation of 'repair' is and replacing either of these components will likely cost almost as much as buying a new TV however you look at it. IMHO there should be an analysis of the net benefits they expect. Policy should be data-driven but sometimes I feel it is based on untested assumptions.
- marshmallow_12 6y ago
  politicians don't get elected based on solid data sets showing how they made their voters lives better. They won't make policy based on solid assumptions

mytailorisrich 6y ago

Well, again I'd really like to see hard stats on how long appliances actually last now and how long they will actually last after this. My guess is that they will last exactly as long but they may be simpler to repair and/or parts will be available for slightly longer (the new regulation only states that they should be repairable for up to 10 years), which may have a cost for the consumer and in terms of resources needed to build the appliance. And again the actual cost of repairs is key: If we take the numbers of your example, I am pretty sure that it is always never worthwhile to pay someone to repair a £70 device if you consider all costs (time, plus labour, plus parts). In my view, for anything that costs less than £300 it very quickly becomes uneconomical to repair, even it is repairable. And appliances are already repairable so we need to see an incremental benefit with this policy. Let's also be realistic, a TV these days is one screen connected to one PCB with one or two SoCs. Not sure exactly what the expectation of 'repair' is and replacing either of these components will likely cost almost as much as buying a new TV however you look at it. IMHO there should be an analysis of the net benefits they expect. Policy should be data-driven but sometimes I feel it is based on untested assumptions.

marshmallow_12 6y ago
politicians don't get elected based on solid data sets showing how they made their voters lives better. They won't make policy based on solid assumptions