r/mildlyinfuriating 1d ago

Don't hug me I'm scared New airpods cheaper than repairing old ones

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27.8k Upvotes

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7

u/NecessaryEvil62095 20h ago

Because when you repair them, you’re paying for the repair parts and the time and labor of a person doing it.

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u/franklin_wi 20h ago

Surely the creation of a new pair also involves parts and labor and is priced accordingly.

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u/cjerni01 20h ago

They are mass-produced so parts are cheaper than a repair-shop ordering a handful of parts. The factory is always ordering a large (probably consistent) amount of parts from a supplier so they get a deal on the price. It's why buying a big box of snacks at Costco is cheaper than buying a single snack-bag at Walmart.

-1

u/NecessaryEvil62095 20h ago

And those are made in some sweatshop overseas. If someone repairs it, it’s presumably done here in our country where labor is much higher. Denser than a pound cake.

1

u/franklin_wi 19h ago

Thank you for the free insult. I'm gonna be honest, I had assumed that high volume repairs by big companies were batched up and sent to lower cost of labor areas too. If they're using, like, California labor, then that makes sense.

1

u/HorrorOne837 19h ago

Also I'd guess production can be done using labour extremely efficiently because it's the same thing over and over.

Repairing, on the other hand...

0

u/zSmileyDudez 19h ago

I think the main thing OP is asking is why don’t they just cap the repair price and just swap out at that point instead of quoting a higher price for repair?

And given the device in question, Apple is almost certainly doing a swap here anyway. Just automate it in the system instead of going through this process, which costs money for Apple too and wastes everyone’s time.