何谓短缺和过剩_维修权可以帮助解决学校计算机的严重短缺

何谓短缺和过剩

In many places across the United States, school has begun, with much of that schooling actually remote learning. We’ve found out we have a big problem: There are not enough computers for every student stuck at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to an AP investigation, America is some 5 million laptops short of what we need.

在美国许多地方，学校已经开始，其中许多学校实际上是远程学习。 我们发现有一个大问题：由于COVID-19大流行，没有足够的计算机供每个留在家里的学生使用。 根据美联社的调查，美国目前缺少500万台笔记本电脑 。

Whether or not you or your child can access a computer and the internet could mean the difference between getting an education this fall, or not. The stakes have perhaps never been higher for equitable computer access in the U.S. But thanks to disruptions in the supply chain, even though schools and businesses have ordered new computers, they aren’t showing up.

您或您的孩子是否可以使用计算机和互联网可能意味着今年秋天接受教育与否之间的区别。 在美国，获得平等的计算机访问权可能从未有过如此高的赌注。但是由于供应链中断，即使学校和企业已经订购了新计算机，也没有出现。

California is short 1 million computers. Denver’s public schools are lacking thousands of computers, while waiting for orders to be fulfilled. Delays are threatening remote learning for school districts in Nevada, and Louisiana. All across the country, schools are scrambling, from Savannah to Austin.

加利福尼亚缺少一百万台计算机 。 丹佛的公立学校缺少数千台计算机，只能等待命令完成。 延误正威胁着内华达州和路易斯安那州学区的远程学习。 从萨凡纳(Savannah)到奥斯汀(Austin) ，全国各地的学校都在争夺。

Sample of results from an exclusive Associated Press report on school computer shortages

美联社关于学校计算机销售 的独家报道的结果样本

“Sales have been up 20 percent to 40 percent every single week,” Stephen Baker, a consumer tech analyst with The NPD Group, told Axios.

NPD Group的消费者技术分析师斯蒂芬·贝克(Stephen Baker)告诉Axios： “每星期销售量增长了20％至40％。”

翻新计算机满足关键需求 (Refurbished computers meet critical need)

We likely already have all the computers we need to meet this shortfall. While new computers are hard to find, there is another solution: collecting, refurbishing and distributing computers that no one is using.

我们可能已经拥有了解决这一不足所需的所有计算机。 尽管很难找到新计算机，但还有另一种解决方案：收集，翻新和分发没有人使用的计算机。

Given that Americans bought 48 million laptops and 17 million desktops in 2019, and that globally, the combined production of laptops, desktops and tablets has been fairly steady for the last 10 years, there are more than enough devices, especially if you add in tablets.

鉴于美国人在2019年购买了4800万台笔记本电脑和1700万台台式机 ，并且在全球范围内，笔记本电脑，台式机和平板电脑的合计生产在过去10年中一直相当稳定，因此设备数量足够多，尤其是如果您添加平板电脑。

“We have a majority of what we need,” said TechDump CEO Amanda LaGrange, citing that businesses and households often retire “outdated” computers to the back of their closets when they can easily be fixed and updated. In any case, if a PC or laptop is unredeemable, refurbishers can extract the parts they need for other repairs.

TechDump公司首席执行官阿曼达·拉格兰奇(Amanda LaGrange)表示：“我们拥有所需的大部分东西。”他说，企业和家庭通常可以在容易修复和更新时将“过时的”计算机退到他们的衣橱后面。 在任何情况下，如果PC或笔记本电脑都无法赎回，翻新者可以提取他们需要进行其他维修的零件。

Our problem is that while the production and shipment of new computers is, under normal circumstances, streamlined, the same can’t be said for how we treat reuse and refurbishing.

我们的问题是，在正常情况下，虽然简化了新计算机的生产和运输，但是对于我们如何处理重复使用和翻新工作却不能说相同的话。

According to goTRG CEO Sender Shamiss, refurbishing is critical, but the lack of trust between manufacturers and refurbishers makes it difficult to establish a line of communication. More often than not, manufacturers malign independent refurbishers as inferior even though the independent evaluators have determined that the quality of their repair is comparable to that of authorized refurbishers.

根据goTRG首席执行官Sender Shamiss的说法，翻新至关重要，但是制造商和翻新商之间缺乏信任，因此很难建立沟通渠道。 即使独立评估师确定其维修质量可与授权的翻新厂的质量相媲美，但制造商常常会贬低独立的翻新厂的质量。

“Almost everything is refurbished by third parties,” said Shamiss. “There is no difference between an authorized refurbisher and a non-authorized refurbisher.”

“几乎所有东西都由第三方翻新，” Shamiss说。 “授权的翻新商与未经授权的翻新商之间没有区别。”

Robin Ingenthron, founder of Good Point Recycling says that manufacturers create obstacles with the devices themselves to dissuade the reuse of tech products. “Technology may auto-lock (“brick”) devices sold to second-hand and third-hand consumers,” explained Ingenthron at an event about reusing products, hosted by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

Good Point Recycling的创始人Robin Ingenthron表示，制造商自己为设备制造障碍，以劝阻高科技产品的重复使用。 “技术可能会自动锁定出售给二手和二手消费者的设备(砖)”，Ingenthron在麻省环境保护部主办的一次有关产品再利用的活动中解释道。

重用有助于弥补不足 (Reuse helps meet shortfalls)

All across the country, refurbishers are stepping in to fill the gaps. In Delaware, a local non-profit called NERDit NOW is providing low-cost computers to students in partnership with local schools, and has ramped up its local operation. In Atlanta, New Life Tech Group, which normally refurbishes and donates 50 computers each year, ramped up its workflow and gave away more than 2,000. Both non-profits note that it costs about $50 to refurbish one laptop.

全国各地的整修商都在填补空白。 在特拉华州 ，一家名为NERDit NOW的当地非营利组织与当地学校合作，向学生提供低成本的计算机，并扩大了其在当地的业务。 在亚特兰大 ，通常每年翻新和捐赠50台计算机的New Life Tech Group扩大了工作流程，并赠送了2,000多台计算机。 两家非营利组织都指出，翻新一台笔记本电脑的费用约为50美元。

Necessity is the mother of invention.Two high school students started their own refurbishing program in Virginia, and as did an engineer in Florida to address the needs in their respective communities. In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, a local television station is running a used computer drive to collect and refurbish devices for students.

必要性是发明之母。两名高中生在弗吉尼亚州开始了他们自己的翻新计划， 在佛罗里达州的工程师也开始了翻新计划，以满足他们各自社区的需求。 在俄亥俄州的Cuyahoga县，当地一家电视台正在运行一个二手计算机驱动器 ，以为学生收集和翻新设备。

Most of these community-refurbished computers are going directly to families, and not through the school system, explained Erez Pikar, the CEO of Toxell-CDI, one of the larger computer refurbishers. “Schools don’t have enough IT staff,” explained Pikar to U.S. PIRG, and therefore can’t support too many dissimilar devices. The best products for schools to use are refurbished business computers which tend to come in lot sizes big enough to give each student the same computer. Unfortunately, according to Pikar, businesses have been reluctant to send computers to refurbishers over the last few months.

大型计算机翻新商之一Toxell-CDI的首席执行官埃雷兹·皮卡尔(Erez Pikar)解释说，大多数经过社区翻新的计算机都是直接送给家庭，而不是通过学校系统。 皮卡尔(Pikar)向美国PIRG解释说：“学校没有足够的IT人员，因此不能支持太多不同的设备。 供学校使用的最佳产品是翻新的商用计算机，这些商用计算机的批量往往足以为每个学生提供同一台计算机。 不幸的是，根据Pikar所说，在过去的几个月中，企业一直不愿意将计算机发送给翻新商。

维修权改革将降低关键计算机翻新的障碍 (Right to Repair reforms would lower barriers for critical computer refurbishing)

Even as refurbished computers are more and more mission critical, many barriers remain to getting them into the hands of students.

尽管翻新计算机的任务越来越重要，但将其掌握在学生手中仍然存在许多障碍。

Many usable computers are sitting in corporate overstock or empty offices, and perhaps even in your basement. But even when refurbishers get those computers, they can’t always get them working because manufacturers restrict access to spare parts or manuals.

许多可用的计算机坐在公司积压的办公室或空办公室中，甚至可能在您的地下室中。 但是，即使翻新者得到了这些计算机，他们也不能总是使它们工作，因为制造商限制了对备件或手册的访问。

LaGrange and other refurbishers describe bins of activation-locked devices in their facilities — devices that work fine, but are locked down because the original owner forgot to unlock her account when she donated or sold it.

LaGrange和其他翻新厂描述了他们设施中激活锁定设备的存储箱-可以正常使用的设备，但由于原始所有者在捐赠或出售帐户时忘记解锁帐户，因此被锁定。

We’d have a lot more computers available if the industry as a whole valued reuse and the secondary life of electronics.

如果整个行业都重视重复使用和电子产品的二次使用，我们将拥有更多的计算机。

According to LaGrange, manufacturers should use this as an opportunity to evaluate their positions regarding the right to repair and how lower barriers to repair could help address the digital divide.

根据LaGrange的说法，制造商应以此为契机评估自己在维修权方面的立场，以及较低的维修障碍如何帮助解决数字鸿沟。

“This would all be a lot easier if we had right to repair,” said LaGrange.

拉格朗日说：“如果我们有权维修，这一切都会容易得多。”

Alex DeBellis contributed to the article .Originally published at https://uspirg.org.

亚历克斯·德贝利斯(Alex DeBellis)对该文章做出了贡献。最初发表于 https://uspirg.org 。

For tips on how to purchase a refurbished computer, check out our guide.

有关如何购买翻新计算机的提示，请查看我们的指南。

翻译自: https://medium.com/u-s-pirg/the-right-to-repair-could-help-address-a-critical-shortage-in-school-computers-ab676fb669d2

何谓短缺和过剩