Helping at a repair cafe

[Jacob]

Repair a lawnmower and the lawnmower business will be bankrupt. Every item that's repaired could be repaired by a business that exists(for now).

It's totally normal for people to repair lawnmowers and if necessary help others to do the same. It's known as DIY, maybe you have never heard of it? Stands for "do it yourself".
They always have, they always will. Friends, neighbours, even dodgy strangers!
I've never heard anybody arguing that people should not help other people.
We were even taught to do it in the boy scouts! Could the Scout association have got into trouble? Helping old ladies across the road too risky - call an insured expert ?
This is a very weird and ridiculous thread!

 

[MF1000]

Too many handbags being waved about imho

 

[spanner48]

I think of them as "agitated nay-sayers" in partnership with "barrack-room lawyers".
Or literally; "reactionaries".
It's a personality trait.

How about "Mimsers"?

 

[johnnyb]

Bike shops disappearing garment repair disappearing sharpening businesses still around, small electrical repair is disappearing.
Maybe if you thought of small businesses as charities with 100 per cent of the profit going to a good cause that would help. The repair cafe is now big business (thousands of workers)and it will kill small business some of which has been there years. THINK

 

[Jacob]

Bike shops disappearing garment repair disappearing sharpening businesses still around, small electrical repair is disappearing.

But this is not because of mutual DIY. THINK!

 

[johnnyb]

Thousands of free workers organised into a well promoted business is a huge threat. Leek bike solutions, pj's garden machinery, Mr sharpy, on the mend and so on and so forth all competitors of the repair cafe. And that's only my town

 

[MF1000]

Whilst not wanting to drift off the OP’s thread …whatever happened to that era of doing a mate a favour cos your experienced at it etc …knowing you’ll get similar in return etc

 

[johnnyb]

I'm failing to see the repair cafe as doing a mate a favour. It's highly promoted. With thousands of staff.

 

[Jacob]

I'm failing to see the repair cafe as doing a mate a favour. It's highly promoted. With thousands of staff.

In Leek? Thousands of staff? Are local services really suffering from the competition?
There's usually about 3 in our local repair cafe. Wirksworth. Perhaps 5 maximum. Once a month for 3 hours.
If they get overwhelmed maybe they should go to Leek instead.

 

[johnnyb]

I can't say it in any other way so I'm finished on this. People are being very dismissive about these small businesses like they don't matter like its just a joke. But there real and they won't survive. Would the repair cafe staff go and work for one of these companies for free? Unlikely

 

[John Brown]

I should know better than to get involved in this somewhat crazy thread, but isn't it possible that the demise of the local repair business has led to the rise in volunteer staffed repair cafes, rather than the latter forcing the former out of business?

 

[Just4Fun]

I get fixing stuff for no reward. It's admirable in every way. But once it becomes en mass and organised dare I say businesslike it kills any potential for a meaningful enterprise whilst it exists. Every aspect of every trade could be offered as a free service to all using the huge free retired workforce most still qualified and able.

How do you account for the large number of successful software developers, from 1-man bands to the likes of Microsoft, who have for decades competed successfully against people & organisations who create software for free?

 

[johnnyb]

Try how would long would free software guys last if they charged a living wage but Microsoft were operating for free without regulation.

 

[Stuart M]

How do you account for the large number of successful software developers, from 1-man bands to the likes of Microsoft, who have for decades competed successfully against people & organisations who create software for free?

Can you give 2-3 of your best examples?

 

[paulrbarnard]

Can you give 2-3 of your best examples?

Linux, Tensorflow, GIT.

 

[nickds1]

Linux, Tensorflow, GIT.

To be completely fair, Linux (in the true sense of just the kernel) and GIT were created by the same person (*). Plus, Tensorflow was created by Google as an internal tool and then open-sourced.

These projects (and many others) have, in turn, created huge ecosystems of businesses with well paid jobs providing consultancy, add-on tools and support. i.e. rather than competing with these projects, businesses are co-existing by providing paid support and developing extensions. Everyone wins.

It's very very difficult to commercially compete head-to-head with open-source/freeware if its any good. However, IMHO, there is an awful lot of simply bad and barely adequate software out there on both sides. Companies want/need reliability and fit-for-purpose above gimmicks and bells & whistles, so for businesses the "free" software comes at a cost of paying professionals for support.

(*) I use the noun/adjective "person" advisedly. He's a one-off. I mean, the first version of GIT was written in a weekend (allegedly).

 

[Norman Boyes]

Bike shops disappearing garment repair disappearing sharpening businesses still around, small electrical repair is disappearing.
Maybe if you thought of small businesses as charities with 100 per cent of the profit going to a good cause that would help. The repair cafe is now big business (thousands of workers)and it will kill small business some of which has been there years. THINK

Do you understand conflation and correlation?

 

[Stuart M]

Linux, Tensorflow, GIT.

The question was asking for organisations that have competed against free software creators.

 

[spanner48]

@wurglesnash357 Ive had a good read of the Repair Cafe WEB site, when the first post was made I thought what a brilliant idea, I’d not heard of it. I assumed they would organise to train and assess people’s abilities before inflicting them on the public. No so, anyone can start a cafe and just need to pay €49 and they are off!! Insurance, well maybe, but not required. Expertise? None, no training or assessment. Safety? Not mentioned. But it does say ‘All Repair Cafés often need new, handy volunteers to act as repair experts during the repair meetings’ now, it might not register with volunteers what putting yourself as an ‘expert’ really means!

So, let’s take fixing battery goods. Nothing with just batteries in it has ever caught fire…..or has it!

The Repair Cafe WEB site mentions fixing bicycles…..well, don’t do it right / make an error and someone can have a very nasty accident…..and your the person who was the ‘expert’ who fixed it! No training, no insurance and you put yourself up as an expert. Good luck!

Fixing something for yourself and doing stupid stuff is fine, your own risk. Doing it as an ‘expert’ for someone else, a whole different legal minefield.

"No training, no insurance and you put yourself up as an expert." ???

When I first worked on a bike [actually, a trike] in May* there WAS no "training". It was assumed that anyone could do the simple things involved in bike maintenance. It's still broadly true today.

* that's May 1953

 

[spanner48]

I'm failing to see the repair cafe as doing a mate a favour. It's highly promoted. With thousands of staff.

Have you ever actually BEEN to a Repair Cafe? It's typically around half-a-dozen old farts [and fartettes] sitting at tables in a hired room or outdoors for 2 or 3 hours; with a lady to do the teas/coffees/biscuits.

£10 for you, johnnyb, for each one of the "thousands of staff" you can see here . . . . .