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Despite the article mentioning other things, it seems like at least half the problem can be avoided by never buying furniture online.

by o11c 3y ago

dangus 3y ago
Not really. Regular retailers aren’t immune. Let’s be real too: nobody’s going underneath the sofas at Crate and Barrel to see how they’re constructed. It doesn’t really matter that you can see and touch them. I don’t even think the luxury brands are much better (e.g., RH). They’ll give you some solid woods and finer materials where you can see them. They are better but not by the amount I would like. The cheapness isn’t something these manufacturers need to do, it’s just in their interest. Higher margins, more repeat purchases. It’s not like salaries are high in big furniture production countries like Vietnam. They could do things in a more labor intense way and still make a profit. It’s just that they’ll make more money by making the construction cheap, and making a product that lasts decades is a good way to restrict future business.
- theGnuMe 3y ago
  Darn I was hoping pottery barn would be reliable..
  - dangus 3y ago
    I’m not a fan of Pottery Barn, I think Crate and Barrel or CB2 are the essentially the same products with better service.
- arp242 3y ago
  > nobody’s going underneath the sofas at Crate and Barrel to see how they’re constructed. I also don't really know what to look for. Most people don't. In the past you could more or less rely on the store being somewhat reliable and somewhat trustworthy. I say "somewhat" because of course you wouldn't fully trust a salesman, but by and large: you could more or less trust that something was "quality" if it was advertised as such, and/or more expensive and the cheaper options, usually. You didn't need to have a Ph.D. in sofa construction to buy a decent sofa. Now it's best to assume everything is a lie. Everyone is lying to your face, or just don't know what the they're talking about. Even expensive items marketed as "quality" cannot be relied on being quality at all. Once upon a time a sofa was a product sold on the market because some people needed sofas, and some people and/or companies knew how to make them. "A fair product for a fair market-conform price". Classic capitalism and free-market economics where everyone wins. But now it no longer matters if people need sofas, or whether anyone actually gets anything remote to a "fair deal", or any externalities like climate change, or if kids in Vietnam are being exploited. Burn the world, as long as I can sell my crummy sofa, because "free market allows it" is the only logical and moral argument that exists for some people. A sofa is no longer a product; it's just the means to making a profit. There's a subtle difference between to two. All of this is part of "the financialisation of everything" and "toxic capitalism" that's been going on since the 80s.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - thfuran 3y ago
    >Burn the world, as long as I can sell my crummy sofa, because "free market allows it" That is classic capitalism. Econ 101 notions of efficient free markets rely on all participants being perfect rational actors with perfect information. Snake oil salesmen have always relied on the fact that those assumptions are inaccurate.
kalkr 3y ago
I ordered a dresser once from a local store, they bought some cheap crap from Amazon and passed it off as "shipping from storage". It arrived broken and I couldn't get my money back, which I probably would have if I got something similar through an online retailer.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

Despite the article mentioning other things, it seems like at least half the problem can be avoided by never buying furniture online.

by o11c 3y ago

Despite the article mentioning other things, it seems like at least half the problem can be avoided by never buying furniture online.

dangus 3y ago

Not really. Regular retailers aren’t immune. Let’s be real too: nobody’s going underneath the sofas at Crate and Barrel to see how they’re constructed. It doesn’t really matter that you can see and touch them. I don’t even think the luxury brands are much better (e.g., RH). They’ll give you some solid woods and finer materials where you can see them. They are better but not by the amount I would like. The cheapness isn’t something these manufacturers need to do, it’s just in their interest. Higher margins, more repeat purchases. It’s not like salaries are high in big furniture production countries like Vietnam. They could do things in a more labor intense way and still make a profit. It’s just that they’ll make more money by making the construction cheap, and making a product that lasts decades is a good way to restrict future business.

theGnuMe 3y ago
Darn I was hoping pottery barn would be reliable..
- dangus 3y ago
  I’m not a fan of Pottery Barn, I think Crate and Barrel or CB2 are the essentially the same products with better service.
arp242 3y ago
> nobody’s going underneath the sofas at Crate and Barrel to see how they’re constructed. I also don't really know what to look for. Most people don't. In the past you could more or less rely on the store being somewhat reliable and somewhat trustworthy. I say "somewhat" because of course you wouldn't fully trust a salesman, but by and large: you could more or less trust that something was "quality" if it was advertised as such, and/or more expensive and the cheaper options, usually. You didn't need to have a Ph.D. in sofa construction to buy a decent sofa. Now it's best to assume everything is a lie. Everyone is lying to your face, or just don't know what the they're talking about. Even expensive items marketed as "quality" cannot be relied on being quality at all. Once upon a time a sofa was a product sold on the market because some people needed sofas, and some people and/or companies knew how to make them. "A fair product for a fair market-conform price". Classic capitalism and free-market economics where everyone wins. But now it no longer matters if people need sofas, or whether anyone actually gets anything remote to a "fair deal", or any externalities like climate change, or if kids in Vietnam are being exploited. Burn the world, as long as I can sell my crummy sofa, because "free market allows it" is the only logical and moral argument that exists for some people. A sofa is no longer a product; it's just the means to making a profit. There's a subtle difference between to two. All of this is part of "the financialisation of everything" and "toxic capitalism" that's been going on since the 80s.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- thfuran 3y ago
  >Burn the world, as long as I can sell my crummy sofa, because "free market allows it" That is classic capitalism. Econ 101 notions of efficient free markets rely on all participants being perfect rational actors with perfect information. Snake oil salesmen have always relied on the fact that those assumptions are inaccurate.

kalkr 3y ago

I ordered a dresser once from a local store, they bought some cheap crap from Amazon and passed it off as "shipping from storage". It arrived broken and I couldn't get my money back, which I probably would have if I got something similar through an online retailer.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]