Give Them Back to the Customer

[Far too few companies do the right thing, but the number is not zero.] For several decades, long before Apple Stores existed, Tekserve in New York City specialized in repairs for Apple products. Their employee handbook contained a simple but profound instruction: “If you are ever in doubt, do the right thing”.1 I think about it often, and I’ve shared it with the support staff at my Mac software company. Given that, I was beyond delighted by a recent Planet Money episode. It features my pal Cabel Sasser, the CEO at Panic, another long-time Mac software company. In recent years, Panic has expanded to producing physical hardware, specifically the Playdate handheld gaming console. Last year, they began charging a specific tariff fee to purchasers of the device. When those tariffs were eventually ruled illegal, Panic faced a choice: Keep the money, or return it to their customers. Unlike seemingly every other company, they did the right thing. NPR provides an (imperfect) transcript of the…