Earth to IKEA
What that Poäng chair really costs.
FURNITURE USED to be an investment, meant to last a lifetime. But thanks in no small part to IKEA, that's changed. Now we buy bookshelves for $19.99—and feel fine about throwing them away two years later. In her forthcoming book, Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture, Ellen Ruppel Shell chronicles how the Swedish furniture giant crafted the message that furniture can be affordable and adorable and sustainable. "With its focus on sharp design and Scandinavian élan, its hip, irreverent television commercials, its conspicuously progressive outlook," she says, "IKEA appears to be the anti-Wal-Mart, a classy, high-minded company where value and good values coexist." But do they? IKEA is now the world's third-largest consumer of lumber after Home Depot and Lowe's—and though it likes to tout its sustainable harvesting program, the responsibility of policing the logging has fallen on just 11 forestry monitors. As Mother Jones has reported, up to 25 percent of IKEA's furniture is made with wood culled from the vast forests of northern Russia—an area notorious for illegal logging—and milled in China. There's just too much to keep track of, as one monitor admits in a company report: "It's not possible to be everywhere all the time." The larger point is this: When IKEA says its wood furniture is made from a "renewable material," it reinforces the idea that disposable is okay.
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use it carefully
I still have an IKEA dresser I bought twelve years ago. My parents still have department store furniture they bought 40 years ago. If people take good care of things, even inexpensive things, they'll often last a long time. If you treat furniture roughly, even expensive stuff can get torn up in a few years.
I truly love my cheapo bed,
I truly love my cheapo bed, it's the best I've ever found for my bad back (foam mattress w/hard slat frame, no springs). All of my furniture is surprisingly strong for how light it is and the laminate/particle composition. It seems like it should last, provided I use it as intended (no sitting or shagging on the desk, etc). The wrecked furniture I commonly see left by dumpsters is junk from other retailers.
Relatedness
This article still has very valid points attached with it, mabye not concerning furniture but various different aspects of your daily routine.
Furniture
I have a dresser that was purchased I don't know where, bought in a thrift store, recycled to a guy for his business, went through a fire and after I refurbished it and let it sit with some kitty litter in it to lose the burned smell, now sits in my house. Yellow pine, Danish Modern, beautifully functional and holding all my Grateful Dead cassette tapes, DVD's, VCR tape, Rock & Roll posters stored flat and what not. It's probably 50 years old. Works just fine. My parents would have thrown it away just because it was "old". I put some sweat and $ into it for the same reason.
Grateful Dead Tapes
Speaking of polluting the environment, I hope you call the EPA before disposing of those Grateful Dead tapes anywhere within the zone of human habitation.
My dining room table,
My dining room table, chairs, and china hutch were once my grandparents. My dresser once belonged to my other grandma as well as my dad. I found my coffee table nine years ago in the basement of an apartment building I was living in. My couch used to belong to my parents and my bookshelf used to belong to some friends of mine. I have many more examples of items like this. In fact, hardly any of my furniture was purchased brand new. Ironically the only brand new (and yes, I still have them) pieces of furniture I own are a few of those IKEA wooden kitchen chairs. I will probably have them for a long time. I also have new patio furniture that again I plan to hold onto for many years. I'm certainly not perfect as I drive a car and consume stuff like everyone else, but I'm not going to feel guilty for the occasional IKEA purchase I make.
IKEA! How could you!
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tagged as:
- solution
With the global economy continuing its downward spiral, how about researching an article on all the CO2 which will be released into the atmosphere by all the people burning their IKEA wooden furniture to keep warm next winter. Then you could once again blame IKEA for selling them the furniture! And while you're at it, calculate a CO2 penalty for IKEA to pay for creating that potential CO2 release, not to mention all the oxygen which will NOT be released by all the trees cut to produce all that wooden furniture... Where does it all end?
I've got it! Let's buy all plastic furniture at Wallyworld! That'll teach mean old IKEA a lesson!
Comments
Why do my comments disappear? They show up when I post them, but when I follow up, they are gone. What gives?
IKEA is not the devil, but
IKEA is not the devil, but it is oportunisitic, and built on the philosophy of passing along costs--both environmental and financial--to consumers. IKEA does not design things to fall apart, but nor does it design them to last. It focuses first and foremost on low price, and on cultivating an image that makes consumers feel GOOD about buying poorly made products. (Ever take a hard look--a really hard look--at an IKEA bed?) It encourages the cheapest possible timber harvesting practices which contribute to deforestation and global warming; employs low wage labor in the developing world; glorifies over-consumption; and requires that consumers drive an average of 50 miles round trip to its stores. While "Wally Mart" deservedly gets a bad rep, its doubtful that any purveyor of "too cheap to believe" goods is helping us build the future we'd really want for our kids. IKEA plays a major role in a chapter on the death of craftsmanship in my upcoming book Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture--and it's pretty damn scarry.
Passing costs along to consumers?
Ms. Ruppel Shell:
I would argue that rather than passing costs on to consumers, IKEA, is more likely passing the 'true costs' of their products onto everyone directly and indirectly involved in the chain of production of its products.
For example, what are the odds that the person working on IKEA has health insurance? Or how about the factory worker on the assembly line in China -- what are the chances that this person is paid a fair wage so that their children have a shot at not working the same assembly line? Or what about the residents of the towns surrounding the plants where those oh-so-cute plastic whatevers are produced? I'm doubtful that I would want my kids playing in the fields nearby, drinking the water, let alone breathing the air.
My point is this: of all the people involved in bringing cheap products to the shelf, the consumers of these products are getting the best of the deal here, after IKEA, that is. It is hardly the consumers who are paying for the true costs of these products.
Having said that, good luck with your book -- it sounds like an interesting topic.
yeah. ikea stuff is poorly
yeah. ikea stuff is poorly made - laminated, cheap materials.
in some way IKEA represents the antithesis of quality
trading beauty for "functionality" and cheapness
Hey, some people like their
Hey, some people like their furniture to be functional and minimalist- what's wrong with that?
I'm guessing not everyone can afford your idea of quality, either.
The one thing I don't like about the maligning of Mal-Wart and other 'cheap' places is it often sounds a lot like classism.
I buy used IKEA, think they are (mostly) unfairly demonized
The majority of my furniture is used IKEA stuff (like new, third of the cost, keeps it out of a landfill, yay for Craigslist!). In most cases, the original owner was moving and transporting furniture was not a practical option. I truly love my cheapo bed, it's the best I've ever found for my bad back (foam mattress w/hard slat frame, no springs). All of my furniture is surprisingly strong for how light it is and the laminate/particle composition. It seems like it should last, provided I use it as intended (no sitting or shagging on the desk, etc). The wrecked furniture I commonly see left by dumpsters is junk from other retailers.
People complain about the cheapness of IKEA's furniture, but I'd think making all furniture from solid wood would have a far worse environmental impact since more lumber would be required. (They do also make solid wood furniture.) IKEA claims to use their sawdust and wood scraps in their laminated stuff, so there is little waste. My concerns with the company would be ambiguous lumber sources and labor treatment. I'm guessing those are industry-wide problems not limited to IKEA or furniture. That doesn't excuse anything, but to single out one manufacturer ignores the forest for a tree. Consumerist culture is a whole other can of worms and pervades everything...
Although IKEA stuffs
Although IKEA stuffs are kinda poorly made, there are some idea inside them compared to stuffs from other stores like Walmart. Besides, I like the way IKEA decorates their stores. I feel cozy when shopping at IKEA.
Try it once.
All stuff looks fine but we should have to change our old furniture with some new trendy look furniture as there are too many affordable companies that are providing a huge range of modern and stylish furniture but instead of this i would like to suggest about Spacify it's furniture range is really affordable and will provide you perfect blend of modern stylish furniture as i am also getting some furniture's from Spacify and they all have traditional look.
tiffany jewelry
of tiffany jewelry on ebay are cheaper than tiffany jewellery outlet store, why is that?
You will find the newest tiffany jewelry on sale fashion release on their official website.
I am planning to give my wife a big surprise with tiffany and co as a birthday gift, but I don’t know which one to choose, any ideas?
In fact, the playful singer
In fact, the playful singer and record producer Kanye West has never concealed his special favorlouis Tivoli PM outlet store. He once not only entered fashion show in Now York and Paris to look into the new fashion trend Louis Vuitton Tivoli PM , but also talked about the design concept of luxury brands in his blog Speedy 25. What's more, he once announced that he would set foot in fashion industry and be a trainee in it Louis Vuitton Speedy 25. How about a celebrity be the trainee? I have never think of that.
