The price era will require a change in the way the products are produced and reduced. Wiens says that he also talked to the workers of electronics recycling facilities and telling them not to harvest products thrown if they still work.
“Hey, whatever you go to shred, stop shredding it,” said Wiens. “Whatever the materials you are going to export, stop exporting it. This product will have more value than you thought.”
Despite fate and sadness that looking at the falling stock market could invoke in our collective psyche, defenders of the right to repair hope that this moment will help to keep the devices in working order.
“I do not have the impression that the sky is falling,” explains Nathan Proctor, who heads the campaign for the right to repair the PIRG consumer defense group. “First of all, the people of Wall Street are girls of 13 years of social comments. Everything is the drama all the time.
Like Wiens, Proctor thinks that reparation makes society more resilient and will help people pass through that where it can.
“It will be very disruptive in the short term,” explains Proctor. “I don’t know how long it will last or what will be the impact. But I know that a more resilient company is better. ”
Leo Gebbie, principal analyst of the CCS Insights research firm, says that another market segment that could benefit from higher rates are used markets that sell devices used, such as backmarket. They behaved very well before the prices are not announced, with occasionally bought and sold apparatus sold in the United States. Now this popularity is likely to increase.
“They are more profitable,” says Gebbie. “There is a strong supply of second-hand iPhones in the United States, so for us, consumers, it should not be necessary to import these devices elsewhere and to make them submit to prices.”
Backmarket in particular seems to be well aware of its place in this trend, because at the moment it offers a special recession where customers can use a code (Elon) to save 10% on their purchase. However, if the demand for used devices increases, there could be a training effect where more phones sold in the United States could lead to prices at all levels, especially in European markets which have tended to have a stronger demand for devices used than in the United States.
“Really, we will know (only) once we see the prices change,” explains Gebbie. “Obviously, consumers are then in a position where they have something to react.”
Rethinking the way we install and replace our devices already has a similar to guide this behavior. The automotive industry (which does not feel its own impacts of prices) offers an example of how to take care of long -term products.
“Do people buy new cars?” Of course, ”says Wiens. “Do they keep cars for 20 years?” Absolutely. Yeah. Does anyone throw a car because the windshield is broken? No.”
Unfortunately, even the repair side of things is required to feel the effects of price inflation. The spare parts and the tools necessary to repair things depend on the world manufacturers as much as the finished products. Wiens, which manages a company that sells tools to repair devices, says it will also directly feel the effects of prices and will be forced to transmit cost increase to customers. Even then, he hopes that a silver lining in price chaos will be consumers to modify their purchasing habits.
“Let’s stop buying cheap shit. Let’s have fewer more beautiful and more beautiful things, and use them for a long time, ”explains Wiens. “And then you say, well, if we want to stop buying new things, what do we do with things?” How do we take care of the things we have? Well, this is where the world of the right to repair comes into play.
