The sharp rise in living costs in Iran has prevented many citizens from repairing household appliances, forcing them to either set these items aside or postpone repairs indefinitely.
The state-run Shargh daily reported on Sunday, August 16, in an article titled “Repair Poverty: Living with Broken Appliances” that rising prices have led many Iranians to abandon broken household and everyday items because they can neither afford the cost of repairs nor the purchase of new replacements.
According to the report, with prices continuing to climb, it remains unclear when citizens will be able to find the money needed to repair or replace these items.
A bank employee took his car to a repair shop after its air conditioner broke down.
He said, “I thought I’d probably have to spend 50 million rials (about $26), but when the mechanic said I’d have to pay 120 million rials (about $64) just for the broken part, it felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over my head. Then I realized I’d also have to pay another 50 million rials for his labor.”
He described the quoted price as shocking and said that after pausing for a few moments, he left the repair shop.
According to the bank employee, paying that amount would have left him with no money for the rest of the month, while rent, loan installments, and other expenses, such as his child’s class fees, take priority.
The citizen added that he has parked the car and decided to use public transportation until the weather becomes cooler. “I genuinely can’t understand the logic of paying nearly 200 million rials just to repair my car’s air conditioner. Just a few years ago, we could have bought a car with that amount.”
The minimum wage for a worker with two children in Iran is about $133 per month.
In recent months, the Iranian regime’s continued confrontational policies in the region, tighter sanctions, and the sharp decline in the value of the national currency have deepened Iran’s economic crisis.
Soaring inflation and declining purchasing power have placed unprecedented pressure on people’s livelihoods, making it increasingly difficult for a large segment of society to afford basic goods.
Rising repair costs and abandoning everyday belongings
Massoud, another citizen, told Shargh that his household iron broke several months ago.
He initially planned to repair it, but after asking about repair costs, he realized that by paying a little more, he could buy a new iron, albeit of lower quality.
However, financial difficulties forced him to postpone both repairing the old iron and buying a new one.
Complaining about the constant rise in prices, Massoud added, “Last week I took a piece of clothing to a tailor to fix the zipper. Can you believe the tailor quoted me 8.5 million rials (about $5)? I even told him that at that price I’d be better off buying a new pair of pants. Although, in reality, I can’t do that either.”
The surge in the price of parts and services has made buying a new item sometimes appear more economical than repairing an old one. Shargh described this trend as “the shift from repair to replacement,” writing that it is not the result of growing consumerism but of escalating prices.
Bloomberg reported on August 12, citing economists, that the continuation of the war could push Iran into one of the worst economic crises in its history.
According to the report, advertisements for interest-free installment purchases and “Buy Now, Pay Later” plans are now prominently displayed in the windows of many stores in Tehran.
Bloomberg added that installment purchasing, which was previously mostly limited to goods such as furniture and kitchen appliances, has expanded to essential goods since the war began and now even includes food.
Repair poverty and expanding deprivation among families
Ali Asghar Saeidi, an economic sociologist, told Shargh that under conditions of “repair poverty,” some households can neither afford to buy new goods nor pay the cost of repairing and maintaining the items they already own.
According to him, under such conditions, broken items remain unused for long periods, continue to be used despite technical defects and potential dangers, or return to use after temporary, low-quality repairs.
The sociologist continued, “If household income is not enough to cover more urgent needs such as food, housing, medicine, and education, repairs are postponed even when they make economic sense in the long term. When costs rise, the share of spending on food compared with non-food expenses increases.”
Shargh wrote that repair poverty has consequences that go beyond abandoning a single appliance and can lead to increased household labor, more difficult transportation, and deprivation of education or digital services.
