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 episode, but with the full audio, you’ll get to enjoy Cabel’s dramatization.2
Footnotes:
Credit to Tamara Shopsin’s “Laserwriter II”, which is where I first learned of this maxim. ↩︎
Cabel was previously linked on this site for his excellent 2024 XOXO talk, which remains worth your time as well. ↩︎
