[brailsafe]

If you literally just need to borrow one, I'd just buy an Air from Apple directly and then return it within the 14 day window. I'll sometimes do this if I need an extended repair on my personal one, or there's a new mac I want to try.

[valleyer]

This is unethical.

[brailsafe]

That's not what the employees say! Though it's a rare thing for me to do, it's not like I'm doing something shady, and they're quite happy to say things like "Well, give it a try, if it's not for you, return it", which I'm sure leads to customer comfort and increased sales. Usually I'm also genuinely trying a different product than the one I have, and get to evaluate whether it's any good.

As far as I'm concerned, if I can't work because they have my laptop for a week, especially because I pay for AppleCare and have to leave it with them, it's not much different than an insurance policy that lends me a rental car while mine's in the shop.

[nirava]

If the return policy explicitly allows "change of mind", I'd say it's in the gray area. Though ofc it isn't sustainable if everyone starts doing this. I assume there's a ((returns:buys)/payment identity) metric to ban the largest offenders.

Also, there should be some universally accepted way to have access to your data and a secure personal computer in the duration your device is getting repaired.

[chongli]

Also, there should be some universally accepted way to have access to your data and a secure personal computer in the duration your device is getting repaired.

Yes, exactly. When getting your car repaired there’s loaners or rentals to allow you to keep driving. Why isn’t a loaner computer a standard thing?

[Marsymars]

My local library will loan you a Chromebook for up to three weeks (three weeks reserved, can extend if there's availability) at no charge.

[chongli]

That’s fantastic for people in the Chromebook ecosystem. They can log in and away they go! Not so great for us in the Apple ecosystem though.

[wildrhythms]

Glad to see the hackers have arrived to defend a billion dollar corporation

[lotsofpulp]

Glad to see the people who do not understand tragedy of the commons have arrived.

[brailsafe]

I don't think this situation qualifies, or maybe it's on the border. This seems more akin to using all of the bandwidth provided to me by one of a few companies coordinating together to extract as much as possible from their customers. Apple's had a policy like this for ages, if it wasn't more profitable than not for them, then they'd have done something about it under the miserly rule of the outgoing CEO.

Some people occasionally returning products—that they intended to keep or not—is not like all of the energy grid being consumed by data centers, nor is it like all of the wetlands being paved over for suburbs.

[awakeasleep]

Im also against this practice but both of you can be understanding the facts the same and still coming to opposite conclusions. Thats the whole point of the tragedy of the commons!

[brailsafe]

> billion dollar corporation

Multi-trillion dollar corporation*