[Themaintainers] Request for Data for FTC's Nixing the Fix: A Workshop on Repair Restrictions

[brandon benevento]

It's only anecdotal but I figured I would share: I've definitely seen this
first hand in managing commercial/retail property. One of the tenants, a
sewing machine and vacuum repair store with 60 years of history, in its
third generation of family ownership, is on the brink of going out of
business. I've done my best to work with them by lowering rent and utility
costs, but the current owner has made it clear the writing is on the wall.

On Tue, Mar 26, 2019 at 10:24 AM lee vinsel <lee at themaintainers.org> wrote:

> Hey, folks!
>
> I didn't want to make my initial email too long, but here's a research
> project I've been thinking about: it seems that one important historical
> question is about the rise and fall of local repair stores. The Ngram
> pasted below suggests what you'd expect: that we see waves of repair around
> new technologies, and then for a variety of reasons - including prices no
> doubt - repairs recede. (Note: this is likely highly US/Euro centric -
> David Edgerton, Lara Houston, Phil Scranton, Fabian Prieto-Nanez have found
> very different trends in other places.) I believe that we do not have a
> good historical picture of these trends yet, however. One thought I've had
> is to use city directories to track #'s of repair shops. My first thought
> was to use the collection at the Library of Congress, but some friends have
> said this might be able to be done online (I can't remember - maybe it was
> using ancestry.com).
>
> I'd be happy to hear thoughts about this idea. But I'd also love to hear
> about potential research projects others can dream up. Highly speculative
> is fine!
>
> Lee
>
> [image: Screen Shot 2019-03-26 at 10.15.45 AM.png]
>
> On Mon, Mar 25, 2019 at 6:30 PM lee vinsel <lee at themaintainers.org> wrote:
>
>> Hey, everybody.
>>
>> As some of you may have seen, the Federal Trade Commission is holding a
>> workshop on repair restrictions titled "Nixing the Fix
>> <https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/events-calendar/nixing-fix-workshop-repair-restrictions>."
>> The FTC has articulated a series of questions related to this topic, which
>> I've copied below, but may not even know what it is looking for.
>>
>> The good folks over at iFixit - which calls itself "a global community of
>> people helping each other repair things" and has been an important force in
>> the right-to-repair movement - have been leading the charge to pull data
>> together.
>>
>> I wanted to write to see if anyone has existing data that might help. (To
>> give one example, perhaps you've run some repair cafes and have kept data
>> on the kinds of repairs individuals are seeking.) But this also seems like
>> a germane moment to brainstorm some collective research efforts that might
>> shed light on repair, corporate repair restrictions, and related topics.
>>
>> Please feel free to reply to the list with any thoughts, questions,
>> ideas, etc. If you'd like to reach out to iFixit directly, you can drop a
>> line to Brittany McCrigler, iFixit's Director of Education Services:
>> brittany at ifixit.com
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Lee
>>
>> *Nixing the Fix: A Workshop on Repair Restrictions* will focus on how
>> manufacturers may limit repairs by consumers and repair shops and whether
>> those limitations affect consumer protection, including consumers’ rights
>> under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. The workshop will discuss some of the
>> issues that arise when a manufacturer restricts or makes it impossible for
>> a consumer or an independent repair shop to make product repairs and
>> whether such restrictions undercut the Warranty Act’s protections.
>>
>> Questions from the FTC:
>>
>> The prevalence of the certain types of repair restrictions
>>
>> The effect of repair restrictions on the repair market in the United
>> States, and the impact that manufacturers’ repair restrictions have on
>> small and local businesses
>>
>> The effect repair restrictions have on prices for repairing goods,
>> accessibility and timeliness of repairs, and the quality of repair
>>
>> The effect of repair restrictions on consumers’ ability to repair
>> warrantied products or to have the products repaired by independent repair
>> shops
>>
>> The relationship between repair restrictions and the sale of extended
>> warranties by manufacturers
>>
>> Manufacturers’ justifications for repair restrictions and the factual
>> basis for such justifications
>>
>> The risks posed by repairs made by consumers or independent repair shops
>>
>> The liability faced by manufacturers when consumers or independent repair
>> workers are injured while repairing a product
>>
>> The liability faced by manufacturers when consumers are injured after
>> using or coming into contact with a product that has been repaired
>> improperly by a consumer or independent repair shop
>>
>> Whether consumers understand the existence and the effects of repair
>> restrictions
>>
>>
>> --
>> Co-Founder
>> The Maintainers
>>
>
>
> --
> Co-Founder
> The Maintainers
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-- 
Brandon
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