It's really disgusting/disheartening to have seen society move from a generation of "buy once, service/maintain forever" to "throw out, buy another one".
It's made it increasingly hard to repair everything from household items to personal digital devices - manufacturers only letting "official" depots carry replacement parts, voiding the warranty if you "work on it yourself" (not that that's legal in the US), etc.
Manufacturers of smart devices like Apple/Google/Samsung offering "mail-out" kits with tools/instructions to "do it yourself" is a lame, stop-gap solution for these companies to continue to extract every possible bit of capital out of you - it would be much more environmentally friendly and cost effective to just allow third party repair companies to either repair devices themselves or be contracted out by manufacturers - but they won't because they're able to extract even more money from you.
Planned obsolescence, electronic parts/chips that have been designed to be irreplaceable with firmware locks/serialization that only manufacturers can authorize, it's all just plainly anti-consumer behaviour under the guise of "security" and "safety".
It's safe to replace the handle, plastic cowlings, mechanical parts on your fridge - it's safe to replace the screen/digitizer/battery on your phones (if it wasn't safe, why do we carry them around in our pockets all day?) - it's safe to replace the motor or belt on your washing machine/dryer. Give people the documentation and _EASY_ access to the parts - and let third-parties make your parts too - and I'm sure you'll see a bunch of small businesses rise up to the task of making sure your GE washer doesn't need to be thrown into the landfill because of a $500 circuit board that "they just don't make anymore!"
Readit News
It's made it increasingly hard to repair everything from household items to personal digital devices - manufacturers only letting "official" depots carry replacement parts, voiding the warranty if you "work on it yourself" (not that that's legal in the US), etc.
Manufacturers of smart devices like Apple/Google/Samsung offering "mail-out" kits with tools/instructions to "do it yourself" is a lame, stop-gap solution for these companies to continue to extract every possible bit of capital out of you - it would be much more environmentally friendly and cost effective to just allow third party repair companies to either repair devices themselves or be contracted out by manufacturers - but they won't because they're able to extract even more money from you.
Planned obsolescence, electronic parts/chips that have been designed to be irreplaceable with firmware locks/serialization that only manufacturers can authorize, it's all just plainly anti-consumer behaviour under the guise of "security" and "safety".
It's safe to replace the handle, plastic cowlings, mechanical parts on your fridge - it's safe to replace the screen/digitizer/battery on your phones (if it wasn't safe, why do we carry them around in our pockets all day?) - it's safe to replace the motor or belt on your washing machine/dryer. Give people the documentation and _EASY_ access to the parts - and let third-parties make your parts too - and I'm sure you'll see a bunch of small businesses rise up to the task of making sure your GE washer doesn't need to be thrown into the landfill because of a $500 circuit board that "they just don't make anymore!"