Why You Shouldn't Buy From Ikea
Ikea. The four-letter word we love to use. It's cheap, it's cool, there's a bus, they have products named after onomatopoeic bodily functions, and where else can you eat lingonberries?! Well, this month's issue of The Atlantic
has named Ikea "the least sustainable retailer on the planet".
Face it, when your $20 bookshelf broke you just threw it out and went back for another one, right? And why not, they're so cheap!! (And there's a bus! And where else can you eat lingonberries?!......) But our demand for highly disposable wood furniture has made Ikea the third-largest wood consumer in the world. Not to mention that the average consumer drives 50 miles round trip to get that $20 bookshelf.
As Atlantic asks: "Can we afford to keep shopping at places where an item's price reflects only a fraction of its societal costs?"
Buy to Last [The Atlantic]
(Photo: rich_w)
Post a comment
Comments:
It's all in the name, IKEA holds much more water than saying "I got it at Target, it's real nice" now go back and say that again in your best Ricky Bobby voice while holding up the middle finger.
Please. Because people drive 50 miles to thier stores they are bad? Becauses consumers don't fix thier products but by new ones, they are bad?
Ummm, I don't think the blame lies with IKEA.
I've kept, or resold, anything I ever bought from Ikea. I'm still a 20-something, bound to move around the country a few times in the next few years, so I there's no use in me spending a ton of money on my furniture at this point. I either take it with me, or put it on Craigslist. I don't think I've ever actually thrown any of it away, and I can only think of one thing that actually broke, and that was my brother's fault :)
There are no $20 bookshelves at Ikea... Cheapest bookshelf is the Billy at $69. And my ikea furniture has held up beautifully - most of it 12 years and counting.
Well maybe if they built more IKEAs we wouldn't have to drive so many miles! *cough* Kansas City plz *cough*
I've never bought a single thing from ikea. Really not sure what it is they sell aside from cheap generic furniture. I spent 10's of thousands on Broyhill stuff throughout the house made of actual wood, that you don't put together yourself, that will last a few hundred years after I'm dead. Only problem is, you have to really like what you're buying, because it ain't cheap to replace it if you get tired of it.
But yeah, I've always thought stuff like that and the junk throw-away furniture places like Walmart sells can't possibly be good in the long run. It's just filling up landfills because it has a lifespan of about 6 months.
The Atlantic is full of suck on this one. If you're worried about societal costs, kill yourself and let someone else from the Third World take your spot.
Who cares if we use something once and then throw it out? As long as we're paying for it, why does somebody else care what we're doing with our stuff? The true problems are that trash disposal and forests are treated as "common goods." Forests are overlogged because they are not privately owned, and thus nobody has an incentive to conserve them for future utility. Because waste disposal is a public utility in most places, people pay the same in taxes no matter how much they throw out. If people had to pay somebody per unit to take their trash, they'd be stuck with the costs of throwing something out, instead of dispersing it over the entire taxbase.
Well, I get your point, but Ikea is essentially an enabler in this case. The best course of action would be for people to behave in more conservation-minded manners...but that's just not going to happen. Especially not when it's so easy to drop another negligible $20 on another bookcase and just toss the old one.
...and granted that the crap is particleboard anyway, the likelihood of fixing most damage is pretty iffy anyway. Particleboard tends to just fragment and self-destruct, not like hardword that holds it's shape. But then again, that's why it's $20.
There's a new IKEA less than 5mi from me and it is a major breath of fresh air.
YES - you can build a whole living area on a shoestring college budget.
YES - you can build a whole kitchen with a look that is more modern than Lowes/Home Depot (all made with the same mdf/particle crap anyway)
This stuff never makes a "move" anywhere once you set it up in your home, it's not made to but it can be much nicer looking depending on your taste.
IKEA haters can go F themselves and sit on their crappy ROOMS TO GO sectional sofa.
I love Ikea. If I had more money, I would pay for more furniture there.
Sure, their stuff is cheap to the point of throw-away status. We bought a table top, four legs, and four chairs for $95. My kids can destroy it and I won't cry when I need to buy another $40 table top.
My mother came over to visit after we bought our "dining set" and remarked that "one day you two should upgrade from this dorm room stuff." Yeah, MAYBE after the two and four year old stop spilling stuff everywhere. We actually LIKE our cheap chairs and table. Butts off the floor? Check. Food not in lap? Check. Not financing a $700 dining room set? Super-check!
I really don't see where Ikea gets the "cheap crap" reputation though. Everything I have bought so far has been sturdy and nice looking.
We were joking that we should buy another coffee table since they are so cheap and compact when not assembled. If it gets wrecked, we have a "hot spare" to replace it at a moment's notice.
"Can we afford to keep shopping at places where an item's price reflects only a fraction of its societal costs?"
Well, if I could afford to shop from antique stores, or people selling furniture made from local, untreated, organic, re-purposed salvage wood from old barns, I certainly would. But since Ikea, Target, Kmart etc. are all that is within my price range (and I assume most Americans), I'm not sure what else I can be expected to do.
Sure, going without a kitchen table is an option, I guess. But IMHO not a reasonable one. I do buy as much as I can used from Craigslist, but that's basically recycling the same Ikea stuff.
I certainly don't have 10's of thousands of dollars to furnish my apartment with Broyhill (whatever that is).
@morganlh85: Yeah, I'm pretty much a Craiglist Ikea-er myself. The cheap, disposable label doesn't jive with anything I've gotten there. I even have a PAX wardrobe I saved from an apartment dumpster that is fabulous as a kitchen cubboard. Most of my furniture is either good, solid antiques from yardsales or hand-me-downs or ikea. Nothing in-between. That's where you get your cheap, disposable furniture that's sold for too much.
@apd09: I don't really shop at either, although my drawer pulls are from Ikea and *excellent*. I'd say that Target is higher class, though. Ikea's still a step up from Wal-Mart.
@chuckv: "If people had to pay somebody per unit to take their trash, they'd be stuck with the costs of throwing something out, instead of dispersing it over the entire taxbase."
That's already reality here. There are costs and limits and restrictions on what you can throw out, (even though you are paying for it already) and if it doesn't fall in line, you have to seek alternative methods of disposal, like hiring someone outside of the disposal company, or do it yourself.
IKEA succeeds because we (young people) are not like our parents. We don't stay in the same place working for the same company for decades after college, and don't want to shell out >$500 for every piece of furniture, that needs to have someone hired to move it in. And after 2 years in an apartment, we move someplace else, and who wants to pay to move an apartment full of heavy bookcases, dressers, shelves, etc across the country when it can be gotten for $40-$50 (and new, updated style) when you get to your new place? (did you ever consider the fuel saved in mot moving all that crap around, but rather being sold to other people, or disposed of?)
Maybe rich people can decry IKEA serving up perfectly functional hardware for cheap -- but it is a genuine need -- people wanting cheaper furniture that you don't feel bad getting rid of after a few years, until you settle down and make money and have a permanent home.
If you want less waste, change our lives to give us high paying permanent jobs. Then we can buy from somewhere other than IKEA.
Otherwise, get off your impractical environmental high horse.
There's two type of people in the world, one who blames the drug dealer for supplying the drugs and one that blames the people for creating the demand and buying the drugs in the first place. Im more of a blame the people person myself.
I could advetise i was selling chopped up kittens in a red sauce for $10 a plate on the corner but if i never sold on you would think i was a nut. But if there was a line of 20 or so people then you would call me a delicious kitten killer and try and have me arrested.
@dreamsneverend: Ikea's sofas leave a lot to be desired. I have yet to find one that looks good and is comfortable and isn't a goddamn futon.
I totally agree with you though, Ikea is huge value for money and if I had the extra cash, we would refresh our kitchen in an instant from Ikea's catalog.
I've had unlaminated particleboard shelves from who the hell remembers where last me that long, and my mom an additional 7.
It's cheap enough that you don't need to worry about taking it with you when you move (which is probably where most of the disposal happens), but damned if that stuff doesn't last forever if you don't.
@fantomesq: I was just about to post the same thing. We have tons of books and our Ikea bookshelves have held up beautifully.
The only problem we have had with Ikea furniture was the fabric on a sofa arm and that was because of our evil, evil cat.
I think the comsumer demand for disposable products is also to blame. Why would companies produce superior products when consumers have made it clear that they do not care to pay for products made of excellent materials?
My grandfather made real wood furniture for years until he died, but because he used superior products and produced HEIRLOOMS by hand (also with power tools) rather than just "furniture" he had a difficult time selling his creations.
The disposable nature of IKEA furniture is not a symptom of the price, but how people would rather throw things out than fix them or keep them beyond a few years. My family has had IKEA furniture since the early 1980s - some of the bookshelves we have are from the 90s - they were cheap at the time, but they have held together well (even after many moves, taking apart and putting back together).
Sure, they were cheap and we could upgrade easily, but there's no good reason to. Just because something isn't overpriced (the once or twice I've bought furniture from other places it's not usually better quality that makes it cost more) doesn't mean it should be disposable. If you buy good quality IKEA furniture (some of the really cheap stuff does fall apart after a few years) and know how to follow assembly instructions there's not reason it can't last as long as any of that pre-assembled overpriced stuff.
Plus - it's important to note that a lot of the cheapness is due to the fact that IKEA rarely uses whole pieces of wood for their products - instead using a thin slice of wood effect with particle board underneath. Not only is this cheap and light, but it is undoubtedly more environmentally friendly than a pure mahogany drawer set.
I guess IKEA should use more recycled material, but the rest of this "problem" is due to consumers, not IKEA.
@bunnymare: Broyhill: expensive furniture that my parents would like if they didn't already like Ethan Allen.
I've yet to know anyone who keeps re-buying the same stuff from Ikea. Granted I'm in southern Missouri and the closest Ikea is in Texas, but I've got a few family members who swear by Ikea stuff, and have had Ikea furniture for years with no problems.
@BZMedia:
Chairs and dressers and anything else with a significant number of moving or sliding parts, yes.
Shelves, tables, desks...anything that just stands there and holds stuff...that lasts.
@chersolly: I grew up in Illinois and was spoiled by 2 close IKEAs. I never knew how fortunate I was until moving away. I remember friends at school in Iowa would road trip to Minnesota to visit that one.
@fantomesq: Actually, the FLÄRKE bookcase is $20--I own two of them right now and they're holding up just fine.
@morganlh85: Same here. I have bought a couch, entertainment center, and multiple beds, desks, dining room tables, chairs, and textiles from IKEA and have transported, unloaded, assembled, disassembled, moved, and repeated multiple times without breaking anything. And when I'm done with something, I don't throw it away; I sell it on craigslist. As, it appears, do many other people.
So it is up to IKEA to charge more for thier products so less people will visit, and people will take better care of thier stuff since it is more expensive?
That's ridiculous.
Furniture, by its very nature, is built to be solid--and not degrade easily. I don't think it is even possible to build a "green-friendly" piece of furniture.
Exactly when will a boxspring, or a sofa, or a mattress return to the earth? It won't.
So, I find this article nothing but Troll bait.
I call bunk on the "IKEA is bad because it is the third largest consumer of wood in the world" argument. Trees (and wood) are renewable resources, just like potatoes and apples are renewable resources. The fact is that trees can always be re-planted, and the wood used for IKEA products (and even paper) are grown on farms, and then harvested for use in the products. When you add into the fact that when placed in a landfill, the wood engages in active decomposition, generating methane gas, which in today's modern land fill is used to create clean burning energy, it further helps to offset the energy cost of manufacturing and even driving to acquire the goods.
Ikea furniture is fine as long as you don't try to move it around too much. The "cam and post" construction system seems to not lend itself well to jostling. Even if things loosen up it seems that you can usually tighten everything back up with a screw driver.
Oh, and particle board is made of scraps of wood and sawdust. So part of my Ikea furniture was probably made of the waste and by-products of your much "nicer" furniture-store furniture.
Had my first Ikea "experience" last weekend, and I'm in love.
Bought a very sturdy metal & glass curio cabinet that will last forever. (Thing was d@mn heavy too. Over 100 lbs that husband & I struggled to get it in the car, then out again, up some stairs to the bedroom where we spent an hour putting it together.
We'll be back, too. We are looking at a couch & chair that look like they're well-made and should last quite a while. Also, the Billy bookshelves. We're looking at putting a couple of units together, adding glass doors and using it as something to house our entire CD & DVD collection. Lots of kitchen gadgets I'm interested in getting, too.
I want to buy a life sized Voltron made by Ikea.
@CreativeLinks: Thank you. I own a few pieces from Ikea and I've always taken steps to make sure my 'cheap bookshelf' or whatever was reinforced and made to last a long time. Add into the fact that the kitchenware section has a ton of stuff under 10 dollars (and generally for only a couple) that anywhere else would cost much more, and I can't help but love the place.
And, distance isn't perfect (I'm north of Detroit and the Ikea is on the West Side suburbs) but I only go once or twice a year, we carpool with 3 or 4 friends/family, and we make a day of it. Plus, the kitchen cabinets cannot be beat for a unique look at a decent cost. I'm not sure how'd they hold up to children, but my friend redid his entire kitchen through Ikea and it looks fantastic, modern and for a fraction of what something similar from a Home Depot or likewise would be.
Nope. Nowhere in there did I say that Ikea was doing anything wrong...they're just doing business. The crux of the problem is that people would rather just drive 50 miles (again) and plop down another $20 for a new bookshelf, and toss the old one - rather than buy a decent, durable bookshelf in the first place, and/or fix the old one, or even buy one more locally so they burn less gas to get it, etc. etc.
@BZMedia: That's what I'd do too, if I had tens of thousands of dollars to spend on furniture. I don't, so if I have something from Broyhill or Ethan Allen it's because my grandparents had it left over after they redecorated their living room.
Particle board, particle board
Piled up in a particle hoard
What's it like? It's not important
Particle board
@bunnymare: Broyhill is a company that makes very nice furniture. My parents have some pieces. An old bookcase, coffee table & entertainment center. Bought them in the '80s and they're still in use today.
I have Ikea furniture20 years old. I actually got it from the Newark, NJ, store 500+ miles away (no Pittsburgh store back then). I love the style but the quality is VERY VERY variable: anything with any part made of particle/MDF/chip board will fall apart in time. Anything with that vinyl/plastic/melamine finish will degrade & damage easily over time. Thus, my all wood bookshelves & table, as well as 4 metal/rattan chairs are all that remain. I take very good care of things & have not moved. I can do better at the same price point by shopping carefully. I recently saw that they are now selling appliances (ovens, microwaves, etc.): my inspection showed them to be junk of very poor quality. It's a shame when your Ralph Lauren comforter outlasts the wardrobe next to it.
I bought from Ikea a bunch of furniture when I moved into a new apartment a few years ago. It's still working well and I have no plans to replace any of the items anytime soon.
Ikea's products fit the needs of several types of consumers - frequently mobile college students, people just starting to furnish their first home, etc... But it also fills the needs for someone like me - we're an established family with "real" furniture in most of the house but occasionally want something less expensive.
We filled the entire perimeter of one room with Ikea bookshelves and turned it into a library, at a fraction of the cost of built-in shelving or solid wood. Since all the shelves are identical, and totally lined with books pulled to the front edge of each shelf, it looks darn nice (patting myself on the back).
I drove 90 miles round-trip to the "big city" and used my gas-guzzling SUV to bring them home - 3 trips on 3 consecutive weekends.
I don't know what the impact of IKEA particleboard versus solid wood is on the planet - but I certainly didn't want metal shelving or cinder blocks in my library.
My other viable option? Driving 25 miles round trip "to town" to Wal-Mart and buying their garbage and helping to put our small-town merchants out of business.
Oh, 95% of our books were bought "pre-Kindle", so don't blast me for killing all those trees. At least I know our bookshelves will continue to be used unless Amazon has plans to come and steal back my books!
@tgrwillki: I agree - plus if one of those "high quality" furniture manufacturers who make their stuff out of mahogany and deciduous trees operated on a scale of half of IKEA's size, IKEA would definitely be the environmentally friendly option. If you look at IKEA's "pure wood" options it isn't deciduous trees, it's soft pine - easy and fast to grow and less desirable in other applications.
I just go there for the meatballs, although if I owned a condo, I'd probably buy more affordable Swedish crap there. I kinda like their look.