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Comment by patio11 | Hacker News Reader

I have a little shop at my mall which charges $1 for button repair. The button is $1 extra.

They also repair pants cuffs, which is nice because my bicycle seems to have a taste for them.

Of course, that means you have to bring your clothes to the little shop, leave them there, then come back and pick them up again. These transaction costs dwarf the monetary cost. But sewing on a button takes no more than a minute - and shirts almost always have a matching spare button attached, either to the inside label or inside the hem.

  Lord Finchley tried to mend the Electric Light
  Himself. It struck him dead; and serves him right!
  It is the duty of the wealthy man
  To give employment to the artisan.

Come now, there's no comparison between sewing on a button and trying to repair a potentially lethal electric apparatus!

As to duty, what is the fully loaded cost of going to a third party for a trifle? I'm thinking of transport in particular.

You remind me of those folks who take their bikes to repair shops when they get a flat tire... :)

Somehow, I suspect people going to "a little shop in the mall" would do other shopping on the same trip.

I've sewn on buttons many times. Never successfully. They always come away after a short time.

There's a technique to it, to be sure; but I have rather found the reverse. Many designer shirts I've bought have had poorly attached buttons, whereas those buttons I reattached myself stayed secure.

These work great for keeping your pants cuff out of the chainrings:

http://www.amazon.com/Pant-Cuff-Clips-Bike-Bicycle/dp/B000MM...

My family has always just used two strips of velcro. Mate ~1/2 of a few inches each, and the remaining tails stick to each other. Wrap & go.

Advantage: you can wrap it around the handlebars / a part of the bike when not in use, so you never have to remember to carry it.

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