The Frustration of Modern Technician Repair-ability: A Call to Action
THOUGHTS
6/3/20255 min read
The concept of reparability has come under intense scrutiny in the past few years but seemingly exacerbated in recent times. The idea of planned obsolescence has become more and more widespread and depressingly accepted as part of business, from home appliances like washers and stoves, to cars, computers, phones and other items from our everyday life feel like they come with an expiration date. I can only speak for my clients and experiences here on the Island of Puerto Rico, but I have a feeling that the rest of the world is in a similar predicament where a cracked screen means either putting up with it or contemplating purchasing a new item because the repair is almost as expensive as the device.
Out with the old, in with the new
Throwing IT hardware to the trash is steadily becoming something of a concern that I think should be highlighted more. Approx. 62 billion kilograms of waste in 2022 is a mind-boggling number that is hard to comprehend, so to put it into perspective: the weight of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier is roughly 100,000 metric tons, so we’re tossing the equivalent of 620 of these massive ships per year and that number is only rising. Out of sight, out of mind, but what happens when our trash heaps turn into trash mountains? We’re fine if the trash remains behind the scenes, but the stench of garbage and leaky batteries will eventually make themselves known when that mountain comes tumbling down.
Nimitz-Class aircraft carrier: It BIG
Image source: https://www.seaforces.org/usnships/cvn/Nimitz-class.htm
The call to action
This is no immediate danger, but no less scary. I believe that manufacturers are purposely complicating our job as repair technicians to increase profit from buying a new device instead of repair, similar to the reliability of the old Ford Model T which was so simple to repair, people didn’t have the need to buy another car, so the company had to complicate the construction in order to get clients to buy newer models, or so the story goes. Today, the mentality is “what’s the point of repairing when for a little bit more I can get something newer?” This consumerist mindset is slowly seeping into the younger generation and normalizing the thought that buying new is ALWAYS better than repairing. This constant cycle of buying new and throwing out old is something that will impact future generations and that’s honestly my problem with the situation. Nobody likes the idea of a heart attack; nobody likes the idea of diabetes but like a heart attack or diabetes, just because you can’t see the danger doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
The idea of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle sounds nice, but I think the focus should be more into the Reuse and Reduce bit, since the little e-waste that does get recycled comes up to about 22.3% of the 62 billion Kg, pair that up with the cost that comes with an individual taking their old devices to a recycle center, along with the fact that most people don't like the idea of a refurbished product and rather buy new and we can be confident the problem won’t only grow, but speed up as time goes by. I think its ridiculous to not consider buying repaired/refurbished from independent repair shops, especially when it’s the large manufacturers who have the bad rep for nefarious practices, such as Lenovo who were caught installing bloatware and spyware on computers they repaired. If an independent shop were to be caught doing such an atrocity they would fined into oblivion... but to a $10 billion company, this same fine is just a slap on the wrist. This, along with the prices skyrocketing and increased difficulty sourcing quality parts, it leaves us very few choices in the matter. I think most repair techs would rather keep a client happy with a fair price, but the situation has forced us to charge astronomical prices because our own costs are astronomical.
Disagreeable generation
We as a collective that have to think about what really does matter. Lately I’ve seen the mindset has become more of a "Me and my group" style, where the only thing that matters is that circle and everyone out of that circle has to fend for themselves, which kind of makes sense if we lived in a world like The Hunger Games, but even in that setting victory came when that mindset was dismantled and everyone worked together. It feels more like the people who scream danger are silenced by the ones that have become complacent with the many warning signs and either decide to ignore them or don't care, what’s worse is that for some reason, these same people can’t formulate an argument for their own opinion, they just shout out repeating what company leaders and politicians say without regard of the effects 5 or 10 years down the line. Scream your soul out and fight for your rights and the future generations' but me mindful of other's own opinion and individual position in life, don't drown out another's thoughts just because they don't exactly line up with yours.
Like System of a Down's song Sad Statue: “[…] we'll all go down in history with a sad statue of liberty and a generation that didn't agree”. It’s easy to feel like an individual does nothing but never forget that rain is the falling of individual droplets of water and we can all agree and appreciate the ferocity of a river whenever it rains. We cannot forget the importance of any individual’s contribution; every single civilization was built with the efforts of the many that decided to put forth their individual contribution. We must all decide to start demanding easier access to quality parts for reparability, we must refuse designs practices that make reparability overly difficult and/or expensive. A government organization has its own agenda, just like a business has profits as a goal, so if we keep complying, we fulfill those purposes while forfeiting our own right to purchase and own our devices, which is what’s happening nowadays, where seemingly everything is a subscription, almost like renting an item and then trashing it when it stops working for us.
We must hold those companies and leaders responsible for this toxic behavior by not purchasing their offerings and looking for alternatives or even developing those alternatives ourselves. By finding alternatives to these mainstream programs and devices we are taking away the foundation of their massive towers, we become the rust in the gears of their money machine and with enough pressure we might even break through to something that’s cost efficient and makes sense; THEIR money is not YOUR money. We need to be courageous and plant the seeds of trees who’s shadow will be enjoyed by the next generation. Embrace the struggle of finding new solutions.
If you'd like to read more about e-waste, look into this report, which was the inspiration for this whole post: