A fix-it, doing-more-with-less community
economy can create decentralized, localized, non-state, non-corporate
employment and trade.
My long-time friend G.F.B. recently
suggested that the widening income/wealth disparity in the U.S. might
drive a broad-based cultural Renaissance of the once prevalent “don’t
replace it, fix it” value system and the small-scale economy of
repair shops that enabled the repair of household items.
The popularity of the “Maker” shows,
culture and magazines certainly supports the contention that at least
one segment of the populace has a renewed enthusiasm for crafts and
fixing/re-using things. The rising sales at auto parts stores
(Autozone, etc.) (and the delivery of parts via the Brown Truck
Store, a trend noted by correspondent Mark G.) also support the view
that as the real incomes of the “middle class” decline, more
households are turning to fixing vehicles on their own rather than
replacing them.
The
average age of vehicles in the U.S. continues to rise, offering
evidence of this trend:Average
age of U.S. car, light truck on road hits record 11.4 years.
In other words, the continuing decline in
purchasing power will leave an increasing number of households with a
choice: either buy low-cost, low-quality replacements of
broken items that will need to be replaced themselves in short order,
or repair a higher-quality item–the ideal of the Degrowth movement
I have been covering for the past year.
Degrowth,
Anti-Consumerism and Peak Consumption (May 9, 2013)
Looming
U.S. Retail Implosion: DeGrowth 2014 (December 4, 2013)
Two other trends support this return to
repair: the availability of a staggering number of spare
parts via the Internet, delivered to your door, and the rise of 3-D
printers/fabrication devices. As G.F.B. noted in our conversation on
this topic, the Web, software and 3-D printers enable
do-it-yourselfers (DIYers) to download the software bits that define
a specific part to a 3-D printer and then push the button to
fabricate the part in metal or plastic.
The feedstock for 3-D fabs is not free, of
course, but it is certainly cheaper than fabricating parts by hand.
The rise of a fix-it, small-scale economy of
repair shops and community 3-D fabs that can be rented by individuals
would be a welcome expansion of what I call the Community Economy,
the parts of the economy that are neither owned or controlled by
global corporations or the Centralized State.
Such
localized repair venues are already proliferating; I have seen
stories on such community shops in Germany, where people can either
borrow tools to fix their broken appliances or pay a repair person a
fee to help them effect the necessary repair. Here in Berkeley, there
is a bicycle shop operated by a non-profit that lets the public
borrow bike-repair tools for free (it’s open to the public on
certain days). It also has paid staff who make repairs and teach
bike-repair skills to teens: Waterside
Workshops.
We all bemoan the loss of quality in many
household appliances and electronics. The possibilities for repair
are not unlimited, but they are certainly broad enough to enable the
rise of a localized, small-scale fix-it culture and economy. Doing
more with less can create decentralized, localized, non-state,
non-corporate employment and trade.
This essay was drawn from Musings Report 50,
one of the weekly reports sent exclusively to subscribers and major
contributors (i.e. those who contribute $50 or more annually).
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