I go to the local repair cafe about every other month. Almost everything people bring would othersise be thrown out and replaced by a new item, not repaired by a professiinal repairman. The people "working" there do so because repairing is fun for them, they like the puzzles, and they mostly do it for ecological reasons.
I go with my son, who loves seeing what electronics look like on the inside and how they work. We always bring a large cake as a thank you.
Do you still think this repairman shouldn't charge you or receive fair salary for his work? My opinion is that Repair cafe is brought to you by big companies trying to influence on independent service tech. For example, if you have coding problem you cannot solve, you will probably hire some freelancer, and you will be charged of course. Because that's what they do for living. Even if you don't want to mill you own coffe (which should not be problem for 21st century man), you will pay to get ground coffee. I even saw artists statement and it says like this: "I'm an artist, but this doesn't mean I'll work for free." Why nobody expects from them to work for free because it's fun? I don't mean people who decided by their own, to work something or sometimes for free, but public initiative...?
I go with my son, who loves seeing what electronics look like on the inside and how they work. We always bring a large cake as a thank you.