RIGHT TO REPAIR

A big fight is happening world-wide to push governments to ensure people can repair the products they own.

“The right to repair refers to proposed government legislation to forbid manufacturers from imposing barriers that deny consumers the ability to repair and modify their own consumer products.” | Wikipedia

This is happening because of:

  • Planned Obsolescence: companies are purposely building their products to break faster, so you have to pay to replace them sooner.
  • Unfixable Products: some products will have their components soldered, glued, or riveted, to stop people from being able to repair.
  • Brand-Specific Parts: These parts may cost more than buying a new product. As well as that, some companies refuse to let independent repair technicians purchase their parts to try and force costumers to only use the product company for repairs.
  • Restrictive Programing. For these, the programs refuse to let you fix your own products (a large example of this happens to farm equipment, where farmers have to hack their own equipment if they want to repair on their own).

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REPAIR CAFES

Repair cafes are typically community-run events where volunteers gather to fix the broken items of strangers for free. My town started doing it a long time ago, and it was so popular that it now happens several times a year.

People bring in stand mixers, vacuums, computers, items that need sewing repairs, and more. Often, the person is very willing to explain the repairs as they do them.

In other places, repair cafes have become more permanent. For example, in Austria, the government started paying those who repair.

Repair cafes not only save people money, but they also can greatly reduce the amount of waste produced by saving those repaired items from the landfill.

More Info on Repair Cafes: