There’s an episode of 30 Rock from many years ago where Jack, played by Alec Baldwin, explains vertical integration to Liz, played by Tina Fey. He asks her to imagine if a corn chip manufacturer also sold diarrhea medication. When Liz quickly realizes there would be the temptation to put stuff in the corn chips to give you diarrhea, she gasps and says, “That should not be allowed to happen!”
Jack simply replies, “It's my job to make sure that it does happen.”
A little bit of vertical integration can be good for consumers, but too much and it becomes exploitative and monopolistic. A place where we have all seen this, whether we realize it or not, is with auto maintenance.
When your car breaks down, you should be able to decide who fixes it. When a farmer’s tractor stops working during harvest, that farmer should have the same choice. In the days before mass vertical integration, people just fixed their own car themselves.
But increasingly, Americans don’t have that choice and certainly can’t fix it themselves.
Repairing equipment and technology today often requires access to diagnostic data, software, computer codes, specialized tools, and replacement parts. When manufacturers restrict that access, the only option is an authorized dealer and their outrageous mark-ups.
It also means qualified, independent mechanics get shut out. Small-shop mechanics frequently have no choice but to send vehicles to dealerships for work they could otherwise do themselves.
Farmers face the same basic problem, with even more at stake. If a tractor or combine breaks down in the middle of harvest – in the middle of nowhere – waiting for an authorized service dealer can cost time a farmer does not have. This is bad for the farmer and, incidentally, anyone who eats.
The increasingly mobilized right to repair movement offers a straightforward solution: Give owners and independent shops reasonable access to the same diagnostic tools and equipment available to authorized dealers.
That does not mean manufacturers must give away proprietary technology. It just means consumers should not be locked into one repair option simply because they bought a particular brand of car or tractor.
There are signs that manufacturers and policymakers can find a workable solution. A recent agreement involving John Deere expands access to tools needed to repair farm equipment while preserving protections for the company’s IP. Deere has led on this issue for the past few years, going so far as to successfully ask the Environmental Protection Agency to clarify the regulatory landscape so that equipment owners can have more rights.
While no single right to repair arrangement will fit every industry, owners should have meaningful repair choices, even while manufacturers protect their genuinely proprietary information.
This is not only a consumer issue. It is a small business issue, too.
Independent mechanics and service technicians invest years learning their trades and thousands of dollars in equipment. They should not be shut out of routine work because a manufacturer has locked access to fix a simple problem behind a computer code that only an official dealership has access to.
No one should be forced to go to a dealer. On average, they charge 34 percent more than independent shops. If this kind of predatory vertical integration continues, that will just get worse and worse.
If we’re going to use old NBC Must See TV sitcoms as a precedent, let’s remember the Seinfeld episode The Dealership where George says, “Yeah, right. I’m gonna get my car repaired at a dealership. Why don’t I just flush my money down the toilet?”
As we have discussed elsewhere here, the Democratic Socialists of America (i.e., the communist-jihadists) are trying to make affordability their No. 1 issue heading into the 2026 midterms. Of course, we know their policies will make the affordability crisis even worse, but we need to present counter-solutions to stem any success they might have at the polls this year. Something as simple as right to repair shows the American people that Trump Republicans are the party of the working class.
If you buy something, you should own it. You should be able to decide who fixes it. You shouldn’t be extorted by the company you bought it from into an outrageously expensive contract for life. We need the right to repair.