EU Parliament calls for longer lifetime for products

Post by xxs » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 3:34 PM UTC

briandear wrote: post #30

conradk wrote: post #3

The 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…

A law requiring a particular material? Unless it’s health or safety related, no way. The last place I want to see government is regulating how a product must be constructed (unless it’s health or safety critical obviously.) If you want a device without plastic screw holes, pay more money and find one or make one yourself, market it and sell it to other like-minded people. If I have a toaster that breaks, the time it…

Post by whatshisface » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 3:39 PM UTC

pizzetta wrote: post #22

lumberjack wrote: post #8

Wages 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?

Advertising, including Google, will feel the effect of a slower purchasing cycle. Fewer designers (in all industries) to design a lower volume of products. Less money to promote fewer items being sold. On the flipside, larger per-item transaction values. To add, It doesn't seem like we could go on indefinitely with ephemeral product cycles consuming increasing amounts of natural resources considering the increasing p…

Post by EGreg » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 3:41 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #40

EGreg wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait. Wages have gone up? Where and source?

Purchasing power has gone up for those who can take advantage of cheap goods, but as your question insinuates, wages have not gone up; they've been stagnant for decades.

Post by yorwba » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 3:48 PM UTC

peoplewindow wrote: post #24

illys wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You probably do not live in Europe (or maybe you just like trolling?). First I am a voter and I do take the EU parliament seriously. I also consider what the groups and candidates voted in the past before giving them my vote - especially on topics like world trade giant agreements (TTIP, TATFA, CETA... - yes they also vote on that and it is very meaningful for our future). You may also read some documentation on the…

How is he trolling by stating the facts? You might wish it were different but the EU Parliament doesn't have any real power. It can call for things all it likes, but it can't make law, which raises the question of why it calls itself a Parliament. The single purpose of a Parliament is to make law, after all. The wiki page you link to does say that. Voters have been figuring it out. Turnout for EP elections has been f…

Post by toomuchtodo » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 3:59 PM UTC

EGreg wrote: post #45

toomuchtodo wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Purchasing power has gone up for those who can take advantage of cheap goods, but as your question insinuates, wages have not gone up; they've been stagnant for decades.

Purchasing power for many non-subsistence goods has gone up. Not so for rent, food etc. as far as I know. Purchasing power for subsistence goods would't go up due to the malthusian trap. The same way you have induced demand from wider roads to have more cars.