Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

> Look at my comments in this thread: There are no reasoned replies to any of them...

You literally said "Greta Thunberg is not always there to tell you what to think"



This is a fact, isn't it? Try to think by yourself. The comment you're quoting from also contained 10 lines of arguments that you are ignoring, and instead you picked up that that line as if it was blasphemy. QED.


wait what? I (not OP mind you) have been concerned with the environment since before Greta was even born. You just got a convenient face that happened to be at the right time in the right place to blame now.


> I have been concerned with the environment since before Greta was even born.

Great, so hopefully we can have a substantial discussion on the topic at hand.


Surely it's completely uncontroversial that producing longer-lasting, repairable goods is more efficient than regularly throwing away almost-but-not-quite-working goods because of perverse economic incentives put on the manufacturers of those goods?


I'm not looking for controversy, I'm looking for evidence-backed facts.


Sure doesn't look like it. I can't even tell what your argument is supposed to be other than "nuh uh".

It's easy to stomp into a discussion and demand "stats", and then accuse people of irrational thinking when they don't immediately produce them. I'm sure someone has put together some statistics about repair costs, but I'd have no idea how to find them. The companies have no interest in helping compile numbers on their own service and parts, so good luck.

What I do have is lots of experience. As a property manager I've dealt with a hundred appliances. I work with a dozen dealers and repair people. I can get my old washers and fridges fixed easily; parts are everywhere, and every repairman knows how to change out a compressor on an old whirlpool compressor, or the tensioner on an old Maytag washer.

In contrast, my 15 year old Dacor range is a prime target for right-to-repair laws. It's built to last forever, but Dacor doesn't sell parts, and only makes schematics and repair manuals available to "certified" repair shops. There is only one in my city, and they wanted $500 dollars to replace my control board. Luckily I managed to find a used control board on ebay for $80 and did it myself. Took me a couple hours to do a job that would have taken minutes if only I'd had the manual. Easy stuff, should be totally accessible to owners and every repair shop, but Dacor likes to restrict the manuals to dealers so they can try to sell you a new one.

Then consider the nightmare of LG fridges. When the compressor went bad on my 2012 LG fridge, the cheapest repair estimate I could find was over a thousand dollars. There are only a few companies in my city who will do warranty repairs on LG fridges with linear compressors. There are a couple others who will no non-warranty work, but the repair won't be under warranty so if the new compressor goes bad (which is not unlikely on these new fridges), you're SOL. I have yet to find a used appliance reseller that sells refurbished LG fridges; when they haul away LG fridges, they are always scrapped. So what I have is a four thousand dollar fridge that lasted seven years. This is a common problem with LG fridges.

Washing machines are another whole world of pain.

So yes, I'll definitely be voting for every right-to-repair initiative that comes my way.

You know, you could easily read online about this stuff if you want. Try Yale Appliance's blog for a start. But then again, your comments make it seem like you didn't come here because you're curious.


I'm not demanding others here to produce stats...




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: