(not that we know where to repair it or how much it’d cost, we just throw it)
Edit : I can understand why taking two hours to repair something worth 20€ isn’t worth it though, e.g. a computer mouse, but even in such case we could standardize a minimum and have enterprises specialized in ensuring that spare parts are always available(, each costing a few euros).
Then instead of the longer task of repairing a circuit board, the consumer could easily swap it by h·er·im·self, or leave it to a pro who’d take less than 5mns.
(And the older circuit board would be sent for free and either repaired or stripped for parts)
(Transportation costs will be greatly reduced in the very near future with automation, but warehouses should exist less than 12h away)
Funny you use a computer mouse as an example. I have repaired my computer mouse recently, and they make switches and some of the hardware pieces and sometimes button kits that you can swap out heavily worn stuff. It’s worth it to me, often if others would say it’s not worth the money. It feels good to fix something. My mouse was probably only $70 when I bought it over a decade ago, but they really don’t make them the same any more. My buttons show hardly any wear because of the material they’re made of, and the plastic is still in good condition. And now they’re like over $200 which makes me want to barf especially considering it feels like a downgrade to me.
Anyway, my point is that if you open something up, you often find it is made of parts you can replace. That’s not to say that it’s easy, and it would be great if it was easier. E waste is a huge problem for sure.
I looked into buying a DIY kit for making a mouse recently in order to easily repair it(, and eventually improve/customize it i.d.k., at least understand it better), but there’s not much choice so i gave up and bought one at 30€.
But good luck to find these parts, they have a serial number but from my experience with a computer screen, the circuit board is really expensive and takes a long time to ship, so they told me to just buy a new screen(, it was only one of its ~4 circuit boards, and a small component of it furthemore, but everything was thrown out).
That’s probably why most objects are just thrown away and people don’t even attempt to repair them(, if it was cheaper that practice would probably be more widespread)
You opened it and found a spare part online for a cheap enough price ?
It must be a big(&unusual?) brand if they sell parts for their mouse online.
I’d have to look at the specs to see if the difference with a $40 mouse is worth paying 5 times more 🤷
You don’t always need to replace the part with something the manufacturer offers as a replacement. Something like a screen board might be hard/ impossible to find an alternative for, but things like buttons or sensors inside of mice are rarely something made specifically by the mouse manufacturer. They can almost always be replaced by an equivalent generic part. Hell, my 3D printer motherboard took a shit on me a couple years ago, and I bought an aftermarket board and installed 3rd party firmware on it to get it up and running again.
Like you said it’d be great if it were just easy for everyone to do these things, but as devices get more advanced they’re gonna require more advanced knowledge to work on, and not everyone has the time, interest, or resources to learn how to diagnose and repair stuff.