7 ms·

As someone who is non-American, it seems much simpler in the US just to buy other stuff (new/used) than just cross country hauling of your entire furniture. I'

As someone who is non-American, it seems much simpler in the US just to buy other stuff (new/used) than just cross country hauling of your entire furniture. I'm sure the essentials can be packed easily.

bradlys 5y ago
I think many people are very attached to their furniture. I know I am. It took me years of scouring Craigslist to get the deals I did on my Room & Board furniture. It’s such an expensive brand that I am much better off moving with it than selling it and trying to find the pieces again. (It’d take years, again...) I don’t presume everyone is this way but I do presume many people might have an attachment to their collection of furniture. If it’s all worn down IKEA handmedowns then it might make sense to not move with it. I certainly see that with college students but after that, many people like what they got and it’s a large cost to give it up and buy new. And many people don’t like to buy used furniture too - I am someone who is fine with it.
Cthulhu_ 5y ago
I mean international moving in Europe already costs a small fortune. With 'starter' furniture being as cheap as it is nowadays - thanks ikea - you can buy a whole set of furniture for the same amount as it would cost to move your existing stuff over. I mean long-term I hope to be able to replace pieces of furniture with non-Ikea stuff. I was really trying with my TV cabinet, tried to get a unit with plenty of storage, but it was all... flimsy-looking, small and inconvenient. Finally bit the bullet, sat at a PC at Ikea and designed a very nice cabinet around a 60 inch TV. I mean I only got the TV two years later, but it's the thought that counts.
- widforss 5y ago
  I hope this isn't received the wrong way, but did you notice you started each paragraph with "I mean"? It is your choice of course, but in my opinion your text could live without those two words.
  - the_lonely_road 5y ago
    I read his comment without issue and then read yours and was like "what is this guy talking about". Then I reread his comment and it stuck out like a sore thumb. Even more interesting, I didn't decide to respond to your comment until after I had moved on and noticed a few more comments by the same author in other places that my mind refused to filter out the "I mean" start of. I think its like when someone points out a sound you didn't hear and then you can't filter out that sound anymore. Crazy minds we have.
    - ganzsz 5y ago
      Had a lecturer that made a specific clicking sound at the beginning of every sentence, never had any problem with it. Until a classmate pointed it out, made it almost impossible to follow this man's lectures afterwards
  - jacobriis 5y ago
    There's an astonishing amount of I mean in his comment history. I mean like a lot.
thaumasiotes 5y ago
If you rent an apartment in Shanghai, it's already furnished. It baffles me how this isn't the case in the US.
- dougmwne 5y ago
  It's frustrating for sure. It seems to be part of our hyper consumerist culture. We always must have "our" treasures and moving always seems to involve a lot of buying stuff for that particular space that then doesn't seem to fit in the next one. The while thing makes moving a huge ordeal. To opt-out of the whole thing, I have had good luck finding medium term furnished rentals meant for vacation or Airbnb. I was in Europe moving from one house to another and I asked if we would take some small thing we bought with us and was told by my friend, "It belongs to the house." That really helped change my thinking on this, that things belong to the spaces they were purchased for, not to us specifically.
  - np- 5y ago
    It’s not a Europe vs US thing. For example in Germany it’s still somewhat common for an apartment rental to come with no kitchen and barely any fixtures and you have to supply your own. That would be considered a step too far in the US.
- Ayesh 5y ago
  Most of the Asian apartments are furnished, at least it held true in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. There are unfurnished ones of course, but for most properties open for foreigners, they come furnished.
- weberer 5y ago
  2/3 of Americans own rather than rent, so there will always be a market for hauling.
  - thaumasiotes 5y ago
    The one doesn't follow from the other. The market norm in Hawai'i (part of America last I checked) is that houses are bought and sold with their contents included.
alisonkisk 5y ago
How is buying and shipping easier than just shipping?
- tluyben2 5y ago
  Nothing that you didn't have in the first place can get lost.
bagacrap 5y ago
it's not easy to find good quality & condition used furniture that fits the style and space, this is why people buy new (it's just easier/faster)

bradlys 5y ago

I think many people are very attached to their furniture. I know I am. It took me years of scouring Craigslist to get the deals I did on my Room & Board furniture. It’s such an expensive brand that I am much better off moving with it than selling it and trying to find the pieces again. (It’d take years, again...) I don’t presume everyone is this way but I do presume many people might have an attachment to their collection of furniture. If it’s all worn down IKEA handmedowns then it might make sense to not move with it. I certainly see that with college students but after that, many people like what they got and it’s a large cost to give it up and buy new. And many people don’t like to buy used furniture too - I am someone who is fine with it.

Cthulhu_ 5y ago

I mean international moving in Europe already costs a small fortune. With 'starter' furniture being as cheap as it is nowadays - thanks ikea - you can buy a whole set of furniture for the same amount as it would cost to move your existing stuff over. I mean long-term I hope to be able to replace pieces of furniture with non-Ikea stuff. I was really trying with my TV cabinet, tried to get a unit with plenty of storage, but it was all... flimsy-looking, small and inconvenient. Finally bit the bullet, sat at a PC at Ikea and designed a very nice cabinet around a 60 inch TV. I mean I only got the TV two years later, but it's the thought that counts.

widforss 5y ago
I hope this isn't received the wrong way, but did you notice you started each paragraph with "I mean"? It is your choice of course, but in my opinion your text could live without those two words.
- the_lonely_road 5y ago
  I read his comment without issue and then read yours and was like "what is this guy talking about". Then I reread his comment and it stuck out like a sore thumb. Even more interesting, I didn't decide to respond to your comment until after I had moved on and noticed a few more comments by the same author in other places that my mind refused to filter out the "I mean" start of. I think its like when someone points out a sound you didn't hear and then you can't filter out that sound anymore. Crazy minds we have.
  - ganzsz 5y ago
    Had a lecturer that made a specific clicking sound at the beginning of every sentence, never had any problem with it. Until a classmate pointed it out, made it almost impossible to follow this man's lectures afterwards
- jacobriis 5y ago
  There's an astonishing amount of I mean in his comment history. I mean like a lot.

thaumasiotes 5y ago

If you rent an apartment in Shanghai, it's already furnished. It baffles me how this isn't the case in the US.

dougmwne 5y ago
It's frustrating for sure. It seems to be part of our hyper consumerist culture. We always must have "our" treasures and moving always seems to involve a lot of buying stuff for that particular space that then doesn't seem to fit in the next one. The while thing makes moving a huge ordeal. To opt-out of the whole thing, I have had good luck finding medium term furnished rentals meant for vacation or Airbnb. I was in Europe moving from one house to another and I asked if we would take some small thing we bought with us and was told by my friend, "It belongs to the house." That really helped change my thinking on this, that things belong to the spaces they were purchased for, not to us specifically.
- np- 5y ago
  It’s not a Europe vs US thing. For example in Germany it’s still somewhat common for an apartment rental to come with no kitchen and barely any fixtures and you have to supply your own. That would be considered a step too far in the US.
Ayesh 5y ago
Most of the Asian apartments are furnished, at least it held true in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. There are unfurnished ones of course, but for most properties open for foreigners, they come furnished.
weberer 5y ago
2/3 of Americans own rather than rent, so there will always be a market for hauling.
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  The one doesn't follow from the other. The market norm in Hawai'i (part of America last I checked) is that houses are bought and sold with their contents included.

alisonkisk 5y ago

How is buying and shipping easier than just shipping?

tluyben2 5y ago
Nothing that you didn't have in the first place can get lost.

bagacrap 5y ago

it's not easy to find good quality & condition used furniture that fits the style and space, this is why people buy new (it's just easier/faster)