Comment by vishnugupta | Hacker News Reader

Comment by vishnugupta | Hacker News Reader

I have a related observation, based on my own behaviour and my experience, which is near extinction of electronic/electrical appliance repair shops where I live. And I wonder if it's related to we getting used to instant gratification.

Growing up in India in the 90s, if I discovered a new song in radio/television buying a tape was nearly a month long affair. From that I went to instantaneous access to nearly any song in any language. I'm not complaining, I absolutely love it. However this need for instant gratification is sort of leaking into physical objects, so to speak. So if a physical device malfunctions I want to get it instantly working again which is almost impossible so I reach out for the next best thing which is to buy a replacement.

And in the 90s it was totally OK for our home appliances, like TV, mixer/grinder etc., to be taken to repair shops. However, I've seen a gradual decline of such shops. It could also be due to decreasing reliability and repairability.

I recently took a 4 year old space heater (in the form factor of a small wood burning stove with a fireplace effect) to be repaired. I guessed that the thermal fuse had blown and the blower was dirty.

It cost $45 (CAD) to have it opened and another $95 to complete the repairs, which is very close to the cost I paid for the device in the first place. Not that I'm complaining. The guy said he completely disassembled and cleaned the blower motor in addition to replacing the fuse. I wouldn't be surprised if it lasts even longer now. Plus I do like the way it looks and fits in my office.

My point is that I understand why there are few repair shops. When North American labour costs for repairs end up being the same price as buying a replacement off the shelf, no wonder people throw away working and nearly working devices.

Perhaps I could have repaired it myself. I don't know. I'm pretty nervous about the idea of fiddling with 120 volt devices with zero training.

I think part of that reluctance to just tear into it yourself, or if not you then any number of ordinary people you know equivalent to yourself (ie, not an electronics repair tech by trade, anf if not you then your brother, wife, kid, co-worker, etc), is actively created by companies that sell stuff.

And if you're a bit too brave and self determinant, and overcome the soft pressure like the warranty sticker or the manual or peer pressure, then there is always the insurance based fear of liability for burning down a house and killing someone (by doing a dead simple repair on a blender or something) to keep you in line.

"Was saving that $30 worth killing someone?" Well in reality there is no such question and so attempting the repair is not answring "yes" to it. But for most people it's a real factor keeping them afraid to touch anything.

I'm saying, your reluctance isn't likely really just your own natural reluctance, it's pretty much instilled and reinforced in a bunch of indirect deniable ways.

Only a few years ago it was perfectly normal for almost anyone to do all kinds of things that are practically unthinkable to people from one or two generations later. The human animal didn't actually change that much to create such different behavior, so the difference must be explained some other way.

The N1500 VCR cost somewhere around $9500 in modern dollars on release in 1972. Of course you'd take that to a repair shop. It's not a device you'd buy on a whim, it was a major luxury you'd expect to use a lot for a long time.

Once mass manufacturing takes hold and you can buy stuff for $50-$100, it's just not worthwhile to repair.

On a $9500 device, 3 hours of technician's time to fix it is peanuts. On a $100 device, you might as well buy a new one, even before the parts are accounted for. You better hope it's something simple to replace and that it's not some sort of design flaw.

I think decreasing costs of (often overseas) manufacturing, increased costs of always-domestic repair labor, (related to the first) increased costs of spare parts as a percentage of new price, and increased reliability of electronics.

I’m a hardcore DIYer and try to repair a lot of things. What I find interesting is how few people even consider repairing something (either DIY or using a shop) and even when I show them how easy/cheap some things are to DIY, they can’t be bothered next time.

Repair or wear parts that sell-through a lot are often still quite cheap/cheaper than decades ago. I seem to recall paying $40-60 in 90s money for a set of brake pads in the 90s. They’re often $25-50 in 2020s money now. Yesterday, I ordered 3 sets of pads (F/R for one car, F for the other) which will be delivered to my house for $74 total.

Maybe it's just me but I almost always take apart a failed item. To see if it's fixable, and also to see how it works.

I also do the same, and I'm happy there are people like us who gives objects a second life :-)

The only appliances I had to recycle can't be repaired in any way or it cost about the same of a new one, but I rarely have that situation. Living 15 minutes apart from a appliance scrapyard, where parts are a lot cheaper than new, also improves that.

Repair services for consumer products were only ever economically viable in an era of cheap labor. Failure diagnosis and repair requires a higher degree of technical skill than assembly line production. The people capable of doing that work can now mostly find better jobs than doing retail repair work.

This is a positive change for society as a whole, but it does increase waste. Instead of repairing it would be better to use a system of refundable deposits to encourage consumers to return broken devices to manufacturers for recycling instead of throwing them into landfills.

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