Today is international repair day, celebrating the idea that things should be fixable by the end user, and that we and the things we own should not be held hostage by the companies that manufacture stuff.
The idea of course, is that if something can be fixed and is useful, it should be fixed rather than disposed of and replaced.
Fixing things not only extends the life of the things we think are important to us, it also builds confidence and competence in society at large, and by doing so, extracts us from slavery to stuff and the folks who supply it. It also alleviates some of the burden borne by our landscape, which currently suffers from abuse.
Make, fix and create...
There are so many things wrong in commercial practices.
ReplyDelete- programmed obsolescence;
- non repairability;
- proprietary parts;
- laser printers where you in fact change nearly everything when changing cartridge;
- electric/electronic appliances with a separate power supply which one never turn down and appliances in stand-by mode. (to avoid a built in power supply for different voltages across the globe)
- computers and smartphones where the operating system updates render them unusable;
- anything whith a software where in fact you don't own it but you have an usage license;
- Repairability only by the manufacturer representative;
- ...
In general making the customer captive.