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The problem is the cost of labor. I just got a quote on fixing my old home movie projector. It needs two rubber belts (glorified rubber bands) and a cleaning. The quote: $150. The cost of materials $.10.
Some entrepreneur could make a living off taking in broken stuff shipping it off to a third world country for repair where labor is cheap and then shipping it back. This seems to work for fixing people and didn't I read that some fishery is Scotland is shipping local shrimp to Thailand for cleaning and then shipping them back to the UK?
Many items are made in automated factories and contain parts too small to be manipulated by humans, so fixing them is impossible.
The whole thing started with the demise (in the US) of the returnable glass milk bottle and has just gone down hill from there... Policies not Politics ---- Daily Landscape
If constructors gave away schematics and didn't sue reparators all the time (and try to control them), the situation would be very different.
Another negative effect of intellectual property.
Another howler was when drink cartons acquired a plastic spigot, making them a lot harder to recycle, this within the last 10 years. Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
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