In the search for a business model I challenged the circular economy, going through the cycle of entrepreneurship through the decision of whether or not to replace the vacuum cleaner in my house. Is appliance repair still a business or is the route to buy new?

Open to explore business models, I reflected that few people these days consider repairing their household appliances and prefer to buy new, discarding the old models they own – after the manufacturer’s commercial warranty has run out, of course. I remembered that during my adolescence while studying at an electrical technical institute I learned to repair household appliances such as showers, dryers, radios, televisions, refrigerators, and I developed a «freelance» work model hired by friends and family who entrusted me with their appliances and gave me the opportunity to develop in the profession, and of course, I received fees that served to pay for my hobbies and leisure time, movie tickets, a book or perhaps a «long play».

Is it useful to repair today? will it be a profitable industry? Thinking about circular economy, could we design a business model that replaces vital parts such as the electronic controller, and maintain the structure of the refrigerator for example?

Within my first analysis I remembered the theory of consumer economics and the «global consensus» of planned obsolescence, the basis of the modern economy, consumption activates the economy and thus the cycles of production and consumption generate participation of many people in society and thus generates welfare and prosperity; we have become accustomed to throw things away, and with naturalness we say «things are not as good as before» and we decide to buy new ones because they are accessible, of course this has economic benefits for humanity – according to the theory of consumption – but it involves externalities and negative social and environmental effects along the value chain of production and consumption, from the extraction of raw materials to the garbage generated when we discard them.

Following my hunches I decided to investigate further and experiment, I found an initiative in the Netherlands that was similar to my idea, a circular design concept that is something like designing modularly and only replacing the parts that are technologically renewed, leaving the shell intact – like keeping an old VW car but designing each innovation in such a way that you remove a module from the car, and upgrade it, instead of buying another car – this confirmed my suspicions, conceptually I was not completely lost.

Later, knowing that my vacuum cleaner – 10 years old – was damaged in my house, I decided to start a crusade to see if it could still be repaired or if it is better to buy something new. I found a workshop – which reminded me of my early youth, by the way – full of electronic gadgets and enthusiastic technicians. The deal is that I agree to pay for the diagnosis for $13, this estimate is discounted, – the $13 is a credit if I decide to repair it. – but if it is not repairable they charge me this diagnostic fee – a sort of «pay as you go», the other option is that they receive the device for $7 and they take the risk and the opportunity to repair it and eventually use the parts to repair it or use it in another device the parts from this one.

In other words, YES, there is a repair industry.

What’s wrong with my vacuum cleaner?

The first indication of how the consumer economy and technology works came when I compared purchase prices, the vacuum cleaner at the time was priced at $3,000 and today they cost $1,000 cordless, with advances in ergonomics, rechargeable lithium battery and other technological advances – remarkable price reduction indeed! – . At the repair shop they gave me a repair estimate of $ 100, they offered a week’s delivery, but I have not received any concrete news that they repaired it for two months now, the last thing they told me was that a «motor bearing comes from China and with the crisis in the world supply chains it is not known when that spare part will arrive». In the meantime the family «time» window of opportunity ran out at home and I had to buy a new one since postponing the decision and repair already affected in the housework.

Even so, trusting in finding a solution to the repair and insisting on exploring the business model, I made a commitment to my family to continue investing in the repair and find a destination for it when it is repaired – at least recover that $100 investment it makes if it is repaired, because there is no point in having two vacuum cleaners at home.

I hope someday to have good news of the vacuum cleaner repair and finish the business exploration cycle, meanwhile I sent to the shop the inquiry if they receive a 750 VA protector-UPS that is failing, they still do not answer me, it will be another interesting line of exploitation since the acquisition cost was $100 at the time and the price in square today is similar.

See the continuation: Go to the second part