I think you’ve hit the nail on the head there Robert 
Couldn’t agree more that repair is often more difficult than it should be and that even opening up something like an iPhone is frustratingly complicated. That’s why we’re pushing so hard for Right to Repair laws to make repair easier and cheaper. We’ve written a quick primer on the Right to Repair here that you might find interesting: The Right to Repair: an introduction
And given you’re in the USA, you might also be interested in the US campaign (though perhaps you’ve seen it already) :