I have an idea for a program to promote businesses that are good for the environment because they help people repair things.
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@futurebird I've been interested in that for a long time. Planned obsolescence is one of the many cancers besetting our society. Makes perfect sense from a corporate capitalist evolutionary standpoint, but it's solving for the wrong variables.
The environmental angle is critical, but so is the way that not being able to fix things, or have them fixed by people we know robs us of a certain opportunity for dignity. There is a young person walking the Bronx who could have been learning to fix shoes, who could have had a future doing something that people would thank them for. And there are several hundred people who will have shoes that make them sad as they toss them in the trash one after the other. Seems like a bad trade.
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There needs to be:
* incentives to manufacture things that can be repaired
* a general shift to see repairability as a sign of quality, luxury and responsibility
* training a new generation to do the work
* support for these trades so it's a viable way of lifeHaving a job fixing things is one of those types of work that can nourish the soul. But it needs to nourish the wallet too.
@futurebird you may be aware that last year the EU introduced the "right to repair" to address exactly some of the issues you raise. /1
Right to repair: Making repair easier and more appealing to consumers | News | European Parliament
The new rules reinforce the right to repair, aim to reduce waste and bolster the repair sector by making it easier and more cost-effective to repair goods.
(www.europarl.europa.eu)
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@futurebird you may be aware that last year the EU introduced the "right to repair" to address exactly some of the issues you raise. /1
Right to repair: Making repair easier and more appealing to consumers | News | European Parliament
The new rules reinforce the right to repair, aim to reduce waste and bolster the repair sector by making it easier and more cost-effective to repair goods.
(www.europarl.europa.eu)
@futurebird we don't (yet?) have the right to repair in the UK, but there is a movement towards it, with both national and local campaigns.
Locally there may be "remakeries" which take old tech and help fix it. 2/2
How to support Right to Repair in the UK - The Restart Project
The Restart Project are strong advocates for the Right to Repair in the UK. We explain why we need binding rules to allow us to repair.
The Restart Project (therestartproject.org)
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I think the disappearance of these kinds of trades feeds the feeling that the modern world is terrible and strange strains of nostalgia that right wing politicians seem adept at exploiting and turning in to much uglier things... without ever bringing back any of the things from "the good old days" that were actually good.
Like shoes that you could love and have for 25 years.
I've heard people suggest that products that last slow economies. That isn't true. They change who gets to make money.
"I've heard people suggest that products that last slow economies. That isn't true. They change who gets to make money."
This right here is probably the real driver of disposability. If things last, rich parasites don't make excess profits from people continually replacing manufactured goods. Instead ordinary people keep the income from repairs in their circles. Can't allow working class people to thrive, or they won't be willing to be pawns any longer.
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"I've heard people suggest that products that last slow economies. That isn't true. They change who gets to make money."
This right here is probably the real driver of disposability. If things last, rich parasites don't make excess profits from people continually replacing manufactured goods. Instead ordinary people keep the income from repairs in their circles. Can't allow working class people to thrive, or they won't be willing to be pawns any longer.
There was a time when manufacturers of appliances did a lot more in the way of trying to get themselves into the repair loop. But that was never as profitable as just selling a brand new appliance.
And their DRM like attempts to insist that all parts come from them, and desire to control the process made it less attractive to participate in.
And the skilled repair people might have a few "certifications" or not what matters is experience.
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@futurebird we don't (yet?) have the right to repair in the UK, but there is a movement towards it, with both national and local campaigns.
Locally there may be "remakeries" which take old tech and help fix it. 2/2
How to support Right to Repair in the UK - The Restart Project
The Restart Project are strong advocates for the Right to Repair in the UK. We explain why we need binding rules to allow us to repair.
The Restart Project (therestartproject.org)
Is clothing included in this?
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I think the disappearance of these kinds of trades feeds the feeling that the modern world is terrible and strange strains of nostalgia that right wing politicians seem adept at exploiting and turning in to much uglier things... without ever bringing back any of the things from "the good old days" that were actually good.
Like shoes that you could love and have for 25 years.
I've heard people suggest that products that last slow economies. That isn't true. They change who gets to make money.
@futurebird Agree. I work at the library to help people keep their older technology running and that helps somewhat. But then you get huge sea changes like Microsoft saying "We won't support Windows 10 after October" and suddenly a lot of people feel they have to buy newer (and often less good) computers. We swim upstream but we do swim.
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The environmental angle is critical, but so is the way that not being able to fix things, or have them fixed by people we know robs us of a certain opportunity for dignity. There is a young person walking the Bronx who could have been learning to fix shoes, who could have had a future doing something that people would thank them for. And there are several hundred people who will have shoes that make them sad as they toss them in the trash one after the other. Seems like a bad trade.
@futurebird @vivtek for all the environmental problems they cause, one thing which does regularly get repaired and reused are cars - but even here there's a problem where all the garages want to hire /trained/ mechanics but none of them want to invest in training the new generation (and often won't even hire those just out of college, they want experienced staff only, and apprentice wages are only sufficient for teenagers living with parents, which discourages older people who might want a career change).
Also many workplaces have a fairly stressful or even toxic environment..
This is something that is a problem across all skilled trades (at least here in UK, but could be across the entire "Western" world), and needs to change quickly.
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@futurebird @vivtek for all the environmental problems they cause, one thing which does regularly get repaired and reused are cars - but even here there's a problem where all the garages want to hire /trained/ mechanics but none of them want to invest in training the new generation (and often won't even hire those just out of college, they want experienced staff only, and apprentice wages are only sufficient for teenagers living with parents, which discourages older people who might want a career change).
Also many workplaces have a fairly stressful or even toxic environment..
This is something that is a problem across all skilled trades (at least here in UK, but could be across the entire "Western" world), and needs to change quickly.
@futurebird @vivtek as for the Austrian telephone in the article, pretty much every European country in the 20th century had a similar telephone set, easily repairable with a modular design - but they were often only available for rental via a nationalised telephone provider, who commissioned the devices to a strict technical standard (they were usually built by a number of private companies, but it didn't matter which one the telephone came from as it would always be the same specification and compatible with all the others).
(this is one of the British equivalents, a 700 series telephone)
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@futurebird The global corporate insistence on faster turnover and higher profit margins has led to nearly all products being made irreparable. That’s a big part of why repair trades have virtually died out. Why put new soles on shoes where the foam and fabric uppers are also worn through? And with TVs and other electronics they have made it so it costs more to buy the parts than to buy a whole new unit.
@futurebird People stopped learning how to fix cars themselves when electronic components became the main failure point. Something goes wrong in a car, it’s no longer just a hose or a belt, it’s a motherboard or an intricate and specialized subsystem unit. With each model year they change the specs slightly so parts are not interchangeable one year to the next.
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@futurebird @vivtek as for the Austrian telephone in the article, pretty much every European country in the 20th century had a similar telephone set, easily repairable with a modular design - but they were often only available for rental via a nationalised telephone provider, who commissioned the devices to a strict technical standard (they were usually built by a number of private companies, but it didn't matter which one the telephone came from as it would always be the same specification and compatible with all the others).
(this is one of the British equivalents, a 700 series telephone)
@vfrmedia @futurebird @vivtek Proof once again that multiple private companies are able to make mutually-compatible devices to meet specifications. Non-interoperable, non-repairable equipment designed for obsolescence is intentional. And it would be fraud if the laws weren’t written at the behest of the frauds.
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I have an idea for a program to promote businesses that are good for the environment because they help people repair things. Places like tailors, cobblers, electronics repair are all at risk of vanishing along with the skills required to do these things.
Right at a moment when we should be making repair and longevity a bigger part of material culture.
My cobbler is very old and isn't training anyone to take over.
Just telling people to repair things won't cut it.
@futurebird And the tailor isn’t just about repair. A tailor fits your new clothes or old to your body. Not just the loose, but weirdly-binding fit of “one size fits an entire category. I suspect this kind of service is available from lots of other repair-type technical fields, but clothes are particularly intimate and a ubiquitous discomfort.
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@vfrmedia @futurebird @vivtek Proof once again that multiple private companies are able to make mutually-compatible devices to meet specifications. Non-interoperable, non-repairable equipment designed for obsolescence is intentional. And it would be fraud if the laws weren’t written at the behest of the frauds.
@su_liam @vfrmedia @futurebird Oh, it's worse even than you think (maybe). I operate a farm (part-time, very part-time) and there's a lot of weed trimming involved. I particularly like the Ryobi battery trimmers. But the parts compatibility is broken *between releases*. The mounting screws are in different places in differently aged shafts - not because it's better, but because it means you can't reuse a shaft from a year-old trimmer.
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@su_liam @vfrmedia @futurebird Oh, it's worse even than you think (maybe). I operate a farm (part-time, very part-time) and there's a lot of weed trimming involved. I particularly like the Ryobi battery trimmers. But the parts compatibility is broken *between releases*. The mounting screws are in different places in differently aged shafts - not because it's better, but because it means you can't reuse a shaft from a year-old trimmer.
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@su_liam @vfrmedia @futurebird My son's a mechanical engineer, currently working on his doctorate. They actually teach planned obsolescence in design classes. It's not clandestine. It's market advantage.
I was taught the same during the two years I spent at University (studying electronic engineering), these attitudes were part of the reason why I became disillusioned and dropped out (and that was over 30 years ago)
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I think the disappearance of these kinds of trades feeds the feeling that the modern world is terrible and strange strains of nostalgia that right wing politicians seem adept at exploiting and turning in to much uglier things... without ever bringing back any of the things from "the good old days" that were actually good.
Like shoes that you could love and have for 25 years.
I've heard people suggest that products that last slow economies. That isn't true. They change who gets to make money.
❝ I've heard people suggest that products that last slow economies. That isn't true. They change who gets to make money. ❞
LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK!!!because it’s not the parasitic class making the money but the entrepreneurial working class.
forget the loss of shoe cobblers in NYC. mechanics were everywhere. they’re gone & all you see are ads for Autozone.
that’s class war: killing garage real estate so mechanics have to work in a Wall Street owned franchise
