The Week in Repair: Feb 27 - March 5

Farmers unions ask FTC to end Deere’s “unfair methods of competition and unfair and deceptive trade practices.” Soft Ice cream start-up Kytch sues McDonald’s for $900m.

Mar 07, 2022

🇪🇺 EU lawmakers to accelerate adoption of circular economy package

The European Parliament is currently pushing legislation to move markets in the direction of circular production and to reduce extractive practices. “Over 90% of biodiversity loss and water stress comes from resource extraction and processing. And we know that half of all greenhouse gas emissions come from resource extraction and processing,”

“We need an incentive framework [for circularity], but there is no one-size-fits-all solution; we cannot assume that the sustainable products package will solve everything,” said MEP Delara Burckhardt, who sits on the Environment Committee (ENVI), who also called for “a clear regulatory framework for the sectors” and “regulatory proposals that work well with each other”. (euractiv.com)

Extended Warranties & Right to Repair

Are extended warranties worth the cost? For cars, the question becomes complicated by a wide variety of options, prices and incentives. For other items, ranging from appliances to cell phones, the choices are simpler.

The logic behind extended warranties are as follows: manufacturers offering a warranty anticipate the average cost for the average person to repair an appliance during the warranty period and generally charges enough to cover costs. Since the manufacturer’s costs are lower than the cost would be for a consumer without a warranty, the warranty is, on average, a good deal, according to Stoli. (vcreporter.com)

📚 Upcoming: U.S. PIRG Resource Guide on Repair

Nobody walks into an electronics store and thinks, “I’m going to buy something unfixable.” But how do you know which products you’ll be able to repair to last? We've compiled repairability rankings for 186 phones and laptops, grading manufacturers on whether they are Failing the Fix.

As part of U.S. PIRG's Consumer Protection Week, a new resource guide will help consumers who want to purchase easily repairable products – from companies who do not fight to prevent your Right to Repair. (uspirg.org)

Right to repair groups petition FTC to investigate John Deere

Farmers and advocacy groups filed a 40-page complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), asking federal regulators to take enforcement action and investigate John Deere for engaging in “unfair methods of competition and unfair and deceptive trade practices.” The National Farmers Union, along with local farmer unions in some of the largest agricultural states—Missouri, Nebraska, Montana, Wisconsin, and Iowa—are petitioners, alongside Farm Action and repair advocacy nonprofits. (civileats.com)

Valve supports right to repair - but recommends pros for Steam Deck

This was reinforced by Valve engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais in an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun. “It’s best left to professionals,” Griffais responded when asked about at-home repairs. “At the end of the day, it’s a PC that that you own, but we recommend repairs are left to pros or returned to Valve for anything that goes wrong.” Griffais’ words seem to be for more inexperienced folks, and it is a fair warning. (gamepur.com)

Eye on the environment: extended warranties and the right to repair

For consumers without warranties, it sometimes makes more sense to work with local repair shops, even if those shops are not authorized by manufacturers. However, not all manufacturers make it easy to work with unauthorized repair shops.

For example, William Shifflet, the 28-year-old owner of Gizmo Wizards in Oak View, told me, “Some companies whose devices I service are intent on putting me out of business.” He explained, “With every new generation of iPhone, there are more booby traps, so you can end up damaging a phone if you are not an expert.” In contrast, “For computers, HP replacement parts are easy to buy and HP is easy to work with.” (vcreporter.com)

John Deere faces mounting anti-trust suits

What started as a single lawsuit in Illinois against John Deere over the right to repair farm equipment has now spread like wildfire to three additional states, prompting Deere to ask a federal court in Illinois to transfer all the cases to that state. (dtnpf.com)

Start up Kytch sues McDonalds for $900m in dispute over Flurry machines

In its complaint, Kytch alleged that the company sent emails to every franchisee in November 2020 in which McDonald's advised that they stop using Kytch’s devices immediately. The emails, which Kytch claims, were detrimental to the startup’s sales, allegedly said the devices violated the machine’s warranties, could cause “serious human injury” and give Kytch access to "confidential information.” Kytch argues in the complaint that these safety warnings were inaccurate, aiming to discredit the startup and give more business to Taylor.

"Taylor has intentionally created 'equipment reliability issues' for years, and its repair and maintenance business has earned hundreds of millions of dollars in fees for repairs that Taylor itself caused," the complaint reads. (protocol.com)

🇩🇪 ‘Department Store for Reuse’ Diverts Goods From Landfills

Launched in 2001 as an initiative from the sanitation department, "Stilbruch" has gone from having one full-time employee to 70, and from being a largely non-profit orientation to bringing in €300,000 to €500,000 ($330,000 to $550,000) per year in profit.

It’s not every day that a municipal waste department spends more time thinking about saving things than dumping them. In Hamburg in Germany, however, there’s money to be made in the second-hand market, and who better to capitalize on that than the people who haul the city’s trash? (goodnewsnetwork.org)

West Virginia Bill Cuts Out Ban on Over-The-Air Updates

West Virginia's House Judiciary Committee has stripped bill HB 4560 of a provision which would have explicitly prohibited OEMs from making over-the-air (OTA) recall repair. The provision had been strongly opposed by auto industry groups since the bill's introduction, with them warning that “restricting software updates would needlessly harm consumers and potentially create safety risks.”

In the “committee substitute” version of the bill has been shortened to prohibit firms from making "warranty and recall repair work to be performed by any entity other than a new motor vehicle dealer.” (repairerdrivennews.com)

☕ Keurig Punished for Greenwashing

Instead of continuing a court battle in California, Keurig agreed to pay $10 million to settle a long-running class action that alleged the coffee company deceptively advertised its K-Cups pods’ recyclability by misleadingly labeling and marketing them as “recyclable” when the pods were in fact not accepted for recycling in many areas.

The settlement bars Keurig from labeling, marketing, advertising, or otherwise claiming that its K-Cups are recyclable absent qualifiers. (natlawreview.com)

🎧 Listen: Repair Podcast Playlist

What is it about capitalism, materialism, and consumerism that compels us to keep acquiring more things, most of which—let’s be honest—we don’t really need? These episodes explore that question and propose a few ways forward, including minimalism and the repair economy. (podcastbrunchclub.com)

People Want to Get Phones and Appliances Fixed—But Often, They Can’t

One-quarter of people who had a phone that broke set out to repair it but ended up replacing it, our survey found. For many, the cost of repairs was too high; others said it was just too inconvenient.

“This tells a story about consumers who have an interest and a desire for repair, but feel frustrated and stymied by the market,” says Aaron Perzanowski, a professor at the Case Western Reserve University law school and author of a new book, “The Right to Repair” (Cambridge University Press, 2021).

Each failed fix adds to the staggering volume of harmful e-waste produced in the U.S., and stokes demand for new devices built with rare natural resources, Perzanowski says. Plus, it’s expensive for consumers: A new smartphone can cost many hundreds of dollars, while a simple fix might amount to $50 or $100 (consumerreports.com)

Here’s How The Massachusetts Right To Repair Battle Will Impact You

Right to repair is a concept that says consumers have the right to repair their own automobiles. It also means they have the right to bring their cars to independent mechanics, not an authorized dealer, for repairs that are beyond the competence of the typical shade tree mechanic. Much of the impetus for right to repair laws is a sense among the motoring public that dealers tend to charge outrageous amounts of money for repairs and parts, which is why many refer to them as “stealerships.” (cleantechnica.com)

How a Modular Laptop Could Be the Best Way to Build Your Own

The concept of modular computers isn't new. Most desktop PCs are easy to upgrade with easy-to-source parts and wide compatibility. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for laptops.

However, growing consumer demand and the increasingly powerful Right to Repair movement means the concept of modular laptops is growing in popularity. Both hardcore DIY open-source enthusiasts and regular consumers see the benefit of an upgradable computer that can be repaired at home.

Could modularity be the answer to building your own laptop? The answer depends entirely on your own philosophy and what kind of computer you need. Today we'll look at the options for modular laptops and how you can get started building your own. (makeuseof.com)

Repairable batteries are critical to the EV and Ebike circular economy

For all their green cred, most ebike batteries only last three to seven years, and cannot be easily recycled or their precious materials recovered. Currently, the glue or welding used in designing battery packs makes it challenging to refurbish or replace cells or components within a battery. Fortunately, this may change — because a French startup called Gouach has created a new repairable battery for micromobility vehicles. (thenextweb.com)

National Farmers Union Keeps focus on market concentration

Tester also touched on another bill of his that would require equipment manufactures to provide software to farmers to allow them to fix their own farm machinery. The senator noted he hasn’t been able to get bipartisan backing for that bill yet.

“All we’re asking the manufacturers to do is give farmers and ranchers the ability to do what they’ve always been able to do,” Tester said.

He added, “We’re not asking the software to jump up the horsepower. We just want to know the software so when a sensor goes out, we know which sensor it is. And we can go out with a three-quarter inch wrench and pop that sensor out and go buy a new one and pop it back in and our combine doesn’t sit out there in the field. Go buy the new one from the back end.” (agfax.com)

🎙️ Interview: How Conscientious Buying Can Enable a More Just and Sustainable Future

Right now, we have this one firehose of new cheap goods, right? We need a smaller hose of high-quality fair labor, sustainably produced new goods. And then we need access points throughout the system so that more people can have access to high-quality goods at different price points.

“If you just want to start small now with something, think of it as if you have two dials (like on a radio). One dial is for new goods, and one is for used goods. You want to turn down the volume on new goods, except for high-quality ones, and you want to turn up the volume on used goods.”

That’s your start. Then from there, you can advocate for the policy changes. You can host a repair café [an event focused on learning how to fix broken items] in your community. You can think about exactly where you’re shopping. There’s a really simple starting point that almost anybody can begin today. (news.climate.columbia.edu)

📱 Repair, not replace, is key to tackling e-waste

Authorities in the Thuringia region of Germany are offering residents up to €100 ($112) not to throw away their old smartphones but instead repair them and continue using them. A similar repair bonus is also offered for the prolonged use of other electronic consumer items, such as laptops, and even domestic appliances. The scheme is likely to be adopted soon in other parts of the country.

So far, the right-to-repair movement has gained traction and political capital in Europe, Canada and the US, partly because historically these areas have been leading per capita e-waste generators: About 20kg per person per year in North America and 16.1kg in Europe.

Although the figures in Asia and Africa are much lower, about 5.6kg per person, it is important that they quickly adopt similar laws mandating strict compliance with right-to-repair rules. There is no doubt that both of these regions historically have had a very strong, if informal, repair network, mainly due to the fact that buying new gadgets is still very expensive for many consumers there, and so there are ample numbers of professionals available that can fix a phone or a laptop for the fraction of the cost of replacement. (arabnews.com)

🚙 The Right to Control the Car You Buy

New automobiles are capable of gathering 25 gigabytes per hour. This is the equivalent of downloading five movies on your laptop or personal computer. Some of this information, including a vehicle’s location, is anonymized and sent to the manufacturers. The manufacturers in turn can sell this information to the highest buyer. Automakers are no longer just selling cars, but also engaging in a Facebook like practice of selling personal data for profit.

The loss of ownership rights has not gone unnoticed as several states have sought to balance the scales between owners and manufacturers. California and sixteen other states are expected to pass right to repair laws in the coming years. In 2021, the Biden administration instructed the Federal Trade Commission to draft new regulations making it easier for consumers to access their own data and repair tools. (lawblog.legalmatch.com)

Fight to Repair

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