“It’s a simple trick—make repairs too costly or too inconvenient and consumers will be forced to buy replacements.””

NARROWSBURG, NY — Volunteers at Repair Café Tusten want the things you might otherwise toss. They want your tired clothing, your small, broken appliances. Your electric toothbrush that doesn’t run. Your holey sock (or, more likely, your 25 holey socks, one of which matches nothing.)

They want you to bring all of these items to the newly launched Repair Café Tusten, which has its start Saturday, January 26 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Tusten Town Hall. The Repair Café, founded by Martine Postma 10 years ago in Amsterdam, is an international organization, a facet in the repair revolution—a sustainable movement meant to encourage fixing our old stuff, rather than buying new. Jill Padua (at right) founded Tusten’s local branch last year, joining 1,600 cafés worldwide, and about 80 in the U.S. 

Repair Café addresses a growing problem: our mounting pile of waste, especially things that could be fixed, if we only knew how. 

“It’s a community organization that helps to reduce waste and helps to bring people together,” Padua said.

Volunteer coaches are crucial to Repair Café. And they are coaches, not Mr. or Ms. Fixit for You. The Café volunteers want to spread the joy of repairing. As the Repair Café Hudson Valley says on its site, “Most things get fixed. And even when they don’t we have a good time trying!”

The coaches come with a range of skills, from electrical repairs (that fan you’ve been meaning to get to) to mending to renovating old clothes and turning them into something else. 

Mending, rather than trashing, evokes earlier times, when the idea was to make our stuff last as long as possible. Padua said starting the project was just a matter of reaching out. “The interest is huge,” she said. The Tusten Town Board has been extremely supportive, she added, as has the Tusten Energy Committee and the Chamber of Commerce.

Padua said she’s noticed that people don’t often take the time to fix broken items, not only due to a “throwaway culture,” but also because of a lack of knowledge and tools. Replacement items are, sometimes, cheap. Repair skills aren’t passed on by the previous generation. For some, repairing isn’t a priority, or they just don’t care.

They should, says Padua. Here’s a fun activity: do an internet search on “do appliances last as long as they used to?” The answer seems to be a resounding “No.”

A 2007 report from the National Association of Home Builders called “The Life Expectancy of Home Components,” found that most appliances last no longer than 15 years, and refrigerators, per USA Today, can last as little as six years. Replacement costs can now run more than $1,000.

Getting something fixed at Repair Café is free, although donations are encouraged. Padua stresses that the item needs to be small enough to carry in, so leave the fridge and sofa at home. At check-in, the rules are outlined and paperwork filled out, and then you sit down with your coach, who will work with you to repair your item. If a special part is needed, like a zipper, bring it. If it’s a time-consuming repair, discuss with the coach.

The Western Sullivan Public Library, Tusten-Cochecton branch will have a reading table at the café, full of books. “We have so many resources,” said Claudine Luchsinger, adult services program coordinator. “There are DIY [books], building, repairs.” And if it’s not on the table, visitors can get it through interlibrary loan. The library’s 3D printer will even print parts.

Tusten’s Repair Café is not the only one in Sullivan County. There’s one at the Mamakating Library in Wurtsboro, too, which will hold its next event January 19 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the library.

In the end, of course, Repair Café Tusten is about avoiding landfills. But, says Padua, it’s also about the community. It’s about talking to one another. Sharing knowledge, before the know-how of repairing is gone.

Padua and the others on the Repair Cafe committee, Brandi Merolla and T. Martin Higgins, plan three more Repair Cafe sessions this year. You can reach Padua at jpadua@frontier.com to volunteer or to learn more. Put REPAIR CAFÉ in the subject line. Limit of two items per attendee. Still needed: someone with fine jewelry repair skills. Professional repair people who volunteer are encouraged to bring their business cards.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story mentioned that there would be a children's table and a fashion whisperer, which have since been postponed for this event, and removed from the story.

Fair repair and the right to fix our devices

The repair revolution sounds righteous, until you come to a major stumbling block: smart technology.

Repairing a toaster, a car, or a bicycle seems simple compared to working with microchips, wireless tech and systems built to be mended by “Geek Squads” and “iFixers.”

The bottom line: more and more of our stuff can’t be fixed by the average person. Mobile data and analysis company GSMA Intelligence found that there were five billion unique mobile phone subscribers in 2017. According to the Pew Research Center, 68% of U.S. adults have a smartphone, up from 35% in 2011, and 45% of adults own a laptop. Smart fridges, phones and high-tech tractors have increasingly complicated designs, and rely on software and special parts to work. A non-working super-thin phone can’t be soldered by the owner. Repairing a software-driven item can void the warranty.

Manufacturers cite safety concerns and consumer desire for new designs and improved technology. 

Gay Gordon-Byrne is the executive director of the Repair Association, an organization that supports a competitive repair market, one where the ability to repair is not concentrated in the hands of the manufacturer or a few approved facilities. “Manufacturers of ‘smart’ products are commonly blocking repair for their marketing purposes, not for any technological or legal reason,” she said in an email. “It’s a simple trick—make repairs too costly or too inconvenient and consumers will be forced to buy replacements.”

This is a common criticism—one that companies like Apple have faced for years, most recently when the company was forced to significantly lower the price of battery replacements in the last year, due to admission that it had purposefully “throttled” their power on older phones. A year ago, Apple was facing an investigation by the French Economy Ministry’s Consumer Protection Agency, following a complaint from a group dedicated to stopping “planned obsolescence,” the purposeful design of a product so that it will decline more quickly as it gets older, requiring replacement.

To be clear: this isn’t about Repair Cafés. Small appliances and socks aren’t at issue. The furor is around technology: mobile phones, the smart refrigerator, software in cars, e-readers. Companies like Apple warn that if you or an unapproved repair company attempt  repairs you will void your warranty. Plus the repairs can be challenging; for example, screws that can only be removed with special equipment, or difficult soldering in small devices, so even if your item isn’t under warranty it still might have to go to a company-approved store. Or, of course, get tossed or recycled and replaced with a new one.

Apple has defended its products against this claim time and again, and pledged more transparency. About the battery issue, the company said in a statement that “lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands... as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components.” Some techies back Apple up: We can’t make our technology more intricate—”smarter”—without accepting the fact that its inner workings will go above our heads.

These accusations aren’t just slung at mobile giants. The Repair Association has accused John Deere of not letting owners fix their tractors. In response, Ken Golden, national spokesman for Deere, said these claims just aren’t true. “When a customer buys from John Deere, he or she owns the equipment and can choose to personally maintain or repair the product,” he said. “John Deere technical, diagnostic, parts, and operator manuals are available and easily accessible to the general public.

“The ‘Right-to-Repair’ issue includes public debate concerning access to copyright-protected, embedded software in several products designed to ensure equipment will operate as the customer expects.” Some say that tools needed to fix more modern tractors aren’t widely available. John Deere now offers precision ag technology—tractors with touch screen capabilities and satellite receivers that allow farmers to collect data on their farms. “To the extent the owner has the right to lawfully repair his or her equipment, Deere recommends against unauthorized modification of the embedded software code,” Golden continued. “The embedded software code is designed and tested to ensure a positive and safe experience for customers.”

We can’t make our technology more intricate—”smarter”—without accepting the fact that its inner workings will go above our heads.

Organizations like the Repair Association say that what’s being forgotten are the mom-and-pop repair businesses: tailors, knife sharpeners, small-engine repair personnel and so on. As increased use of technology leads to companies fighting right-to-repair laws, and software turns up in more things, some worry that these small businesses will struggle.

Smart technology is spreading and doesn’t show signs of slowing. Computers and tablets need more memory as programs, including security software, devour more of the available RAM. So, you add RAM until finally you give up and just upgrade. There is pressure to grab the shiny new thing, but fixing the shiny thing yourself can be really difficult. (Take a look at the teardowns on iFixit.com.)

Individuals have to make the call and be sure to ask themselves what happens if the item they want to buy gets broken. Where do you take it? How much will it cost to be fixed?

Right-to-repair legislation has been introduced in at least 12 states, including New York. In some cases,  Apple has lobbied against it, claiming that it could make technology bulnerable to attacks. According to the Repair Association, 2019 could be the year that New York passes  fair repair law.

“It’s going to take legislation to restore the rights of equipment owners to repair their stuff,” said Gay Gordon-Byrne.  “Any and all stuff.”