4 ms·

You obviously have never bought anything second hand. Ikea items are extremely popular and easy to sell used.

by tjoff 9y ago

jacquesm 9y ago
I visit the local garbage drop off a couple of times per year and the amount of Ikea stuff that gets dumped there is depressing. If you actually read the comment above you'd see that I do buy stuff second hand.
- tjoff 9y ago
  Maybe that speaks more about the culture where you live rather than ikea? Your comment reads as if it was a new experience and that you've never tried ikea yourself.
  - fermienrico 9y ago
    No. Is it hard to see that IKEA furniture is not made to last? Doesn’t matter how many hands it changes - overall longevity is what determines its life.
    - tjoff 9y ago
      Ikea design is generally excellent and the quality per dollar is in a league of its own. That said, a $10 piece of furniture is not going to have $100 worth of materials... But ikea makes more expensive pieces as well. I don't think I've thrown away anything from ikea because it was end of life. (Part from <$1 kitchen peripherals).
      - fermienrico 9y ago
        The topic at hand is recyclability. You may have not throw things away but it is widely accepted and frankly utterly obvious - IKEA furniture has a short lifespan and it ends up being thrown away more according to the GP of this thread. You’re circling around the argument.
        tjoff 9y ago
        Could not agree less. Not compared to the alternatives.
        carussell 9y ago
        The original anecdote is that there were very few IKEA items in a store for recycled goods. The point you seem to be ignoring is tjoff's comment that IKEA products are so good that you can resell them and don't have to resort to donating them. Here's my anecdata: My desk is made by IKEA. It's sitting in front of me right now, having been disassembled, moved, and reassembled 5 times. I had an IKEA bed that I got rid of a couple years ago. I ended up doing that by putting it on Craigslist and selling it for cash. I don't remember exactly how long it took, but the turnaround time for the whole thing was super fast.
        fermienrico 9y ago
        >> The original anecdote is that there were very few IKEA items in a store for recycled goods. The point you seem to be ignoring is tjoff's comment that IKEA products are so good that you can resell them and don't have to resort to donating them. That doesn't make any sense to me. Overall lifespan of the product is short - doesn't matter how many hands it changes! Eventually more IKEA products end up in the landfill. Think about it from a macro perspective. Let's take an exemple: - A coffee table that lasts 3 years from Ikea that has had 10 owners - A coffee table that lasts 20 years from Room & Board that also has had 10 owners Which one do you think is going to end up in the landfill faster? Doesn't matter if its resellability is high? At some point, it will fail and end up in the landfill.
        carussell 9y ago
        Now you're begging the question. In the original anecdote, we started with something we know based on observation—that very few IKEA products end up in stores selling recycled goods—and are offered the conclusion that this is because they shortly end up in the landfill due to their quality. However, you've now taken that (flawed) inference and are presenting it as the starting point—as if it were an axiom, rather than the very thing that is in contention.
- alkonaut 9y ago
  The fraction of IKEA furniture thrown away would be likely to match the fraction being IKEA in homes. That is, significant. A problem with the IKEA stuff is that it’s a) cheap, so little monetary value in that old table you don’t need any more - even if it’s still in perfect condition and b) A prospective buyer can buy a new one (still cheap) and the new one is trivial to transport home compared to the used one that needs some disassembly. So being cheap obviously makes it thrown away a lot - regardless of quality. You don’t hesitate to throw out something that wasn’t expensive, and prospective buyers always have the option of buying new.
  - 2muchcoffeeman 9y ago
    This is a good point. It’s the opposite of charging a higher price to signal that your product is premium. They keep lowering prices and people think their products are cheap and poorly made. In reality the quality is comparable to furniture 2-3 times the price.
dang 9y ago
Would you please omit personal swipes from HN comments? They're against the site guidelines because they lower discussion quality and provoke worse. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- tjoff 9y ago
  I agree that I should have phrased that differently.

You obviously have never bought anything second hand. Ikea items are extremely popular and easy to sell used.

by tjoff 9y ago

You obviously have never bought anything second hand. Ikea items are extremely popular and easy to sell used.

I visit the local garbage drop off a couple of times per year and the amount of Ikea stuff that gets dumped there is depressing. If you actually read the comment above you'd see that I do buy stuff second hand.

tjoff 9y ago
Maybe that speaks more about the culture where you live rather than ikea? Your comment reads as if it was a new experience and that you've never tried ikea yourself.
- fermienrico 9y ago
  No. Is it hard to see that IKEA furniture is not made to last? Doesn’t matter how many hands it changes - overall longevity is what determines its life.
  - tjoff 9y ago
    Ikea design is generally excellent and the quality per dollar is in a league of its own. That said, a $10 piece of furniture is not going to have $100 worth of materials... But ikea makes more expensive pieces as well. I don't think I've thrown away anything from ikea because it was end of life. (Part from <$1 kitchen peripherals).
    - fermienrico 9y ago
      The topic at hand is recyclability. You may have not throw things away but it is widely accepted and frankly utterly obvious - IKEA furniture has a short lifespan and it ends up being thrown away more according to the GP of this thread. You’re circling around the argument.
      - tjoff 9y ago
        Could not agree less. Not compared to the alternatives.
      - carussell 9y ago
        The original anecdote is that there were very few IKEA items in a store for recycled goods. The point you seem to be ignoring is tjoff's comment that IKEA products are so good that you can resell them and don't have to resort to donating them. Here's my anecdata: My desk is made by IKEA. It's sitting in front of me right now, having been disassembled, moved, and reassembled 5 times. I had an IKEA bed that I got rid of a couple years ago. I ended up doing that by putting it on Craigslist and selling it for cash. I don't remember exactly how long it took, but the turnaround time for the whole thing was super fast.
        fermienrico 9y ago
        >> The original anecdote is that there were very few IKEA items in a store for recycled goods. The point you seem to be ignoring is tjoff's comment that IKEA products are so good that you can resell them and don't have to resort to donating them. That doesn't make any sense to me. Overall lifespan of the product is short - doesn't matter how many hands it changes! Eventually more IKEA products end up in the landfill. Think about it from a macro perspective. Let's take an exemple: - A coffee table that lasts 3 years from Ikea that has had 10 owners - A coffee table that lasts 20 years from Room & Board that also has had 10 owners Which one do you think is going to end up in the landfill faster? Doesn't matter if its resellability is high? At some point, it will fail and end up in the landfill.
        carussell 9y ago
        Now you're begging the question. In the original anecdote, we started with something we know based on observation—that very few IKEA products end up in stores selling recycled goods—and are offered the conclusion that this is because they shortly end up in the landfill due to their quality. However, you've now taken that (flawed) inference and are presenting it as the starting point—as if it were an axiom, rather than the very thing that is in contention.
alkonaut 9y ago
The fraction of IKEA furniture thrown away would be likely to match the fraction being IKEA in homes. That is, significant. A problem with the IKEA stuff is that it’s a) cheap, so little monetary value in that old table you don’t need any more - even if it’s still in perfect condition and b) A prospective buyer can buy a new one (still cheap) and the new one is trivial to transport home compared to the used one that needs some disassembly. So being cheap obviously makes it thrown away a lot - regardless of quality. You don’t hesitate to throw out something that wasn’t expensive, and prospective buyers always have the option of buying new.
- 2muchcoffeeman 9y ago
  This is a good point. It’s the opposite of charging a higher price to signal that your product is premium. They keep lowering prices and people think their products are cheap and poorly made. In reality the quality is comparable to furniture 2-3 times the price.

dang 9y ago

Would you please omit personal swipes from HN comments? They're against the site guidelines because they lower discussion quality and provoke worse. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

tjoff 9y ago
I agree that I should have phrased that differently.