11 States Now Considering Bills to Protect Your Right to Repair

[alxnet7227]

All the locations that have already implemented $15 minimum wage has already seen some of the effects.

Business charge more to pay the employees. As things cost more, people partake in less. Business get less customers, make less money. Less money, means profit they can cut into to pay employees. Some lose their jobs, some lose their hours, some jobs aren't created, etc. Then you have the other changes. So and so were making $15 before, now it's the minimum wage. They're going to want a pay increase. Business costs will just keep increasing. So..., business simply change locations or shutdown

As a former manager, I used to have migraines when minimum wage increases went into effect. After a while my motto became, f**k it, just raise the price to make up for it.

Interesting take on the minimum wage: Your average burger combo from say, Carls, follows the minimum wage fairly linearly. When wages were $7/hr, your mid-level burger combo would cost about that. When wages jumped to $10, so did that same burger combo. Well, $15 will yet again produce a $15 burger combo.

 

[Shadohh]

I think it was VW that a co-worker bought that when he went to change the oil, he couldn't find the oil filter. Turns out it is behind a door that requires a key you can only get from the dealership, just to open it up to change the filter. He asked the mechanic at the dealership if he could buy a key, they said sure, for $400. Seriously, you have to pay $400 just so you can change your own oil!

If people would just stop buying things because they are cool, or in fashion, or are supposed to be the best, and refuse to buy when they start doing things like this then the companies would stop doing it when they lose sales. I think United Airlines got a wake up call this week as far as customer relations are concerned, and John Deere and Apple may be awakening sleeping bears in their respective market segments too.

But if the trend continues, it might pay to be a little bit of a Luddite.

He shoulda asked the mechanic to leave it unlocked. Better yet....prybar + dremel.

If my car and I paid for it, I should have a key to the oil filter door like I do to all the other doors. Next thing they will charge you a premium for a special key to open the trunk.

 

[Teenyman45]

All the locations that have already implemented $15 minimum wage has already seen some of the effects.

Business charge more to pay the employees. As things cost more, people partake in less. Business get less customers, make less money. Less money, means profit they can cut into to pay employees. Some lose their jobs, some lose their hours, some jobs aren't created, etc. Then you have the other changes. So and so were making $15 before, now it's the minimum wage. They're going to want a pay increase. Business costs will just keep increasing. So..., business simply change locations or shutdown

Yes because when Henry Ford increased the wages he paid to his factory workers so they could afford to buy his cars and better contribute to the local economy, history shows what happened... ?

 

[c3k]

If you plot college tuition costs alongside government/taxpayer funded tuition grants/loans, there is an almost 1:1 correlation. As you flood "easy money" into a market, the cost of the product in that market will escalate.

 

[Draxanoth]

Yes because when Henry Ford increased the wages he paid to his factory workers so they could afford to buy his cars and better contribute to the local economy, history shows what happened... ?

Henry Ford didn't have to compete with globalization and robots. If Clinton had made him compete with Mexico he wouldn't have given them anything.

 

[BloodyIron]

I can't wait till it's legalised... No, not pot, I mean repairing your own property.

 

[olendorf]

The "right to repair" would be a good thing to have. But what we really need is mandatory warranties. A $2000 item like a refrigerator or TV should have a 5 year warranty. That will stop them from using really crappy cheap parts and expecting you to just throw them away when they break after 6 months. I know people that have had $2000 items break after the very short warranty and the items were not fixable for less than a replacement would cost.

Over $500 = 2 year warranty
Over $1500 = 5 year warranty

 

[cjcox]

The new Apple Macbook comes encased in a opaque plastic shell just so you don't go exploring it's aluminum unibody design.

 

[MrGuvernment]

I (the company i work for) provide I.T services for a large Agriculture company. The things "end users" are doing to their devices to get around items is scary. There is one (and many other) farmer who chips their JD tracktor's to get more HP out of it, then complain when they have to rebuild there engine. Before they bring it in, they remove said "chip" and claim they did nothing. This is the reason they lock down these systems requiring specific software to diagnose them.

The few ruin it for the many.

It is the same sob story we @ [H] hear about when some newb OC's a chip, kills something and then wants to RMA it...

 

[MrGuvernment]

The "right to repair" would be a good thing to have. But what we really need is mandatory warranties. A $2000 item like a refrigerator or TV should have a 5 year warranty. That will stop them from using really crappy cheap parts and expecting you to just throw them away when they break after 6 months. I know people that have had $2000 items break after the very short warranty and the items were not fixable for less than a replacement would cost.

Over $500 = 2 year warranty
Over $1500 = 5 year warranty

Bingo.. Why was it devices of 20 years ago, lasted 20 years, now you spend $2k on a washer / drier and get a 1 year warranty?

 

[krotch]

Yes because when Henry Ford increased the wages he paid to his factory workers so they could afford to buy his cars and better contribute to the local economy, history shows what happened... ?

Henry Ford didn't have to compete with globalization and robots. If Clinton had made him compete with Mexico he wouldn't have given them anything.

Aside from what Draxonoth said, Henry Ford didn't give a damn about paying his workers more money, so they could buy a Ford. Henry Ford increased wages, cause his employees kept leaving. He needed 14,000 people for his work force. Yet was hiring over 50,000 people a year. It was simply cheaper to increase wages, than to constantly hire new employees and train them. It was a cost cutting measure. Which he repeated again by going to $6 a day.

What happened when he increased wages to $7 to boost the economy? Lower order of vehicles, lower production, cutting hours for employees, etc.

 

[ep0x73]

No offense, but it sounds like you haven't been to college in a long time. My dad worked his way through college. Now, even at state schools, good luck trying to do that. College tuition has risen at twice the rate of inflation thanks to many things, most notably state budget cuts.
http://www.businessinsider.com/this...ege-tuition-has-skyrocketed-since-1980-2015-7

It's been well over a decade but the point remains, if you choose a state college and work you CAN afford it even if you need some assistance, now private forget about it.
I did not opt for room and board, I drove to school and saved a huge chunk of $$, R/B costs more then tuition.

 

[Teenyman45]

Aside from what Draxonoth said, Henry Ford didn't give a damn about paying his workers more money, so they could buy a Ford. Henry Ford increased wages, cause his employees kept leaving. He needed 14,000 people for his work force. Yet was hiring over 50,000 people a year. It was simply cheaper to increase wages, than to constantly hire new employees and train them. It was a cost cutting measure. Which he repeated again by going to $6 a day.

What happened when he increased wages to $7 to boost the economy? Lower order of vehicles, lower production, cutting hours for employees, etc.

Actually Ford tied the wage scale to how "American" a line employee was. To get the full wage increases people had to take English and civics and live a lifestyle Ford approved of.

 

[Teenyman45]

The "right to repair" would be a good thing to have. But what we really need is mandatory warranties. A $2000 item like a refrigerator or TV should have a 5 year warranty. That will stop them from using really crappy cheap parts and expecting you to just throw them away when they break after 6 months. I know people that have had $2000 items break after the very short warranty and the items were not fixable for less than a replacement would cost.

Over $500 = 2 year warranty
Over $1500 = 5 year warranty

And then you get companies like Vizio that will simply refuse to repair TVs still under warranty. Many people on the forum are also well aware of how Asus handles warranty work.

 

[Lith1um]

It would be awesome if the legislation included making all OBD II PID's open instead of proprietary. Right now some are open, but many are proprietary and the auto makers make money by charging license fees to diagnostic equipment manufacturers like Snap-On.

 

[jedijeb13]

$15 minimum is great... for older people. Who would hire anyone young and dumb with no experience, when $15 will attract older more experienced workers?

Free college sounds good. Until you realize your parent's property taxes will skyrocket and housing cost surrounding the college will go through the roof.

New York is also mandating that you work in the state a number of years after graduation. If your employer wants to relocate you out of state, NY will send you a tuition bill for the 4 years.

Free college isn't free, you just spend the rest of your life paying for it in increased taxes

The "right to repair" would be a good thing to have. But what we really need is mandatory warranties. A $2000 item like a refrigerator or TV should have a 5 year warranty. That will stop them from using really crappy cheap parts and expecting you to just throw them away when they break after 6 months. I know people that have had $2000 items break after the very short warranty and the items were not fixable for less than a replacement would cost.

Over $500 = 2 year warranty
Over $1500 = 5 year warranty

A better option would be to require sellers to repurchase any item that fails at a pro-rated price over a five year period. Then you would see products that lasted at leas five years.

Companies just want repeat customers on as short of a cycle as possible is why things are designed to have short lives. The down side is that just increases the junk that goes into landfills.

 

[MarkVI]

It's been well over a decade but the point remains, if you choose a state college and work you CAN afford it even if you need some assistance, now private forget about it.
I did not opt for room and board, I drove to school and saved a huge chunk of $$, R/B costs more then tuition.

Your math doesn't quite add up. I have three degrees from state schools ('04, ,07, and ,13). It was borderline whether it would have been possible to work through the first one (I also lived with my parents for that one). With constant tuition hikes on the next two, there was no way. My wife was on an 80% scholarship for her doctorate and, after fees, we were still forking over $5k/year to the school (again, in state).

I just checked my alma matter, and it's currently $12k/year for an undergrad degree. You would need to work 33 hours per week 50 weeks per year to cover that at a mc-job, and that's just tuition (no housing, no transportation if you live at home, no food, no books, etc.). Not many majors are light enough that you could work basically full time and be a full time student successfully.

 

[ep0x73]

Tuition has gone up but it all depends on the state too. You can go to ISU [Idaho State] for 7k per year and that might be one of your better deals.
Basically if you work PT or even FT you might still need some assistance [grant] or simply take out a loan.

Still states should not just hand out free college, it waters down the system, increases classroom size and the truth is not everybody is intelligent enough to even attend college.

A better route, how about the military? You learn a skill, defend your country and in return the government, not the state helps you will college.
You give them your time, they return the favor, it's not a free handout.

 

[Ducman69]

So far this year, tech company lobbying looks like it will defeat right to repair bills in Minnesota and Nebraska; lawmakers in Tennessee recently decided to defer voting on its bill until 2018. Legislation is still pending in New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Kansas, Wyoming, Iowa, Missouri, and North Carolina.

Why no Texas?!?!

Nanny state is one thing, but this is literally the opposite and a simple no-maintenance law that says people can fix their own crap. I can't think of any downside to this from a consumer standpoint, so what is the other side of the argument?

IMO, we should also have minimum two year warranties by law on all electronics, because if electronics are designed to fail in less than two years, they are just contributing to land fills and e-waste, which isn't good for the environment or consumers. I would think this is something Democrats and Republicans could agree is a no brainer win-win, as who benefits from more trash and more toxins in our environment?

I'm going to pre-preemptively blame lobbyists.