EU Parliament calls for longer lifetime for products
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EU Parliament calls for longer lifetime for products
1–10 of 241 posts
Re: EU Parliament calls for longer lifetime for products
#2In other news, the parliament took a vote affirming previous decisions that TV shows should be funnier.
..I guess that was trite. The EU parliament is in a constitutional limbo state. It doesn’t have real power or a predefined legislative jurisdiction, so voters don’t take it seriously. They elect quirky, fring-ey members they wouldn’t elect to their own national parties.
I’m in favour of durable products, but I don’t see how this is en route to policies that affect this.
Re: EU Parliament calls for longer lifetime for products
#3The article says that consumers are discouraged by the cost of repair.
A few weeks ago, I repaired an eltronical appliance and was surprised to see that all screws were screwed into plastic. As I unscrewed them to access the inside of the device, the plastic around the screw broke.
I think there should be laws that prevent screwing into plastic. That just makes no sense appart from upfront cost. Once the plastic is broken, there is no way but to throw the broken device away. Unless you can somehow glue everything back together, but that seems unpractical.
It's like devices are not even planned to be repaired. They are designed to be sold and then abandoned. That's the real issue. Not cost of repair.
Re: EU Parliament calls for longer lifetime for products
#4It seems like a good idea to rule on this: I always used to fix my electronic products... Up to recently it was sometimes difficult to find the issue, but always fine with opening and closing.
I had my very first anxiety thrill ungluing an iPad window to replace the broken microphone; and I look with anxiety at my S7, thinking of when the battery starts aging.
Re: EU Parliament calls for longer lifetime for products
#5In other news, the parliament took a vote affirming previous decisions that TV shows should be funnier. ..I guess that was trite. The EU parliament is in a constitutional limbo state. It doesn’t have real power or a predefined legislative jurisdiction, so voters don’t take it seriously. They elect quirky, fring-ey members they wouldn’t elect to their own national parties. I’m in favour of durable products, but I don’…
Extending the minimum warranty can help to make more durable products.
Re: EU Parliament calls for longer lifetime for products
#6The article says that consumers are discouraged by the cost of repair. A few weeks ago, I repaired an eltronical appliance and was surprised to see that all screws were screwed into plastic. As I unscrewed them to access the inside of the device, the plastic around the screw broke. I think there should be laws that prevent screwing into plastic. That just makes no sense appart from upfront cost. Once the plastic is b…
It's not "like", they are and they've got a term for it; planned obsolescence.
Re: EU Parliament calls for longer lifetime for products
#7The article says that consumers are discouraged by the cost of repair. A few weeks ago, I repaired an eltronical appliance and was surprised to see that all screws were screwed into plastic. As I unscrewed them to access the inside of the device, the plastic around the screw broke. I think there should be laws that prevent screwing into plastic. That just makes no sense appart from upfront cost. Once the plastic is b…
> It's like devices are not even planned to be repaired. They are designed to be sold and then abandoned. That's the real issue. Not cost of repair.
Absolutely. Smartphones are the best example, the software makes the hardware unusable or insecure because of the lack of updates pretty quickly.
Re: EU Parliament calls for longer lifetime for products
#8Wages have gone up and consumer goods have gone down in price and build quality. It's not feasible to have a repair business any more. Growing up, there were still loads of repair businesses around. You could fix anything.
If build quality and price go up, you can revert to an economy where you would fix your broken appliance once or twice before you replacing it.
But what's the incentive for the manufacturers?
Re: EU Parliament calls for longer lifetime for products
#9I kind of want these rules to go into effect in the EU just to see what happens.
I don't expect good things to happen, but one way or another it would be instructive.
Re: EU Parliament calls for longer lifetime for products
#10Although I would welcome this, I can't understand how such broad demands can be enforced.
If the EU is really interested in increasing the lifetime of products, it's simple, just increase the mandatory warranty from 2 to 5 (or some other appropriate number) years.
That would right away, increase the lifetime of the products, but would also, put a strain on the manufacturers to make it easier to repair (after all, if you have to increase the number of repairs to your products, you are going to make it cheaper to repair it in order to save money).