Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 246 posts

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#71

Post by cyxxon »

pif wrote: post #70

I don't like buying IKEA furniture for two reasons: 1 - With a handful of exceptions, IKEA furniture looks like... IKEA furniture! It reminds Henry Ford and his "Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black." 2 - Most important, while I appreciate its hack-ability, it's important for me to get quickly an idea of the budget involved. I understand that there's no standard IKEA war…

Regarding your point 2 - have you been to an Ikea recently? They always put up prices for the way it is assembled in the showroom, so you see something cost €324, of which the main corpus is 156, the added part on the left is 68, etc., broken down into the boxes you actually have to buy. So you should get a pretty good feeling for what your version of the furniture will cost.

Amd about the look, well, that's just subjective taste, isn't it? I actually like the clean lines of their, and almost everything in my apartment is Ikea. From time to time I visit other furniture stores, because my girlfriend likes browsing there, but I never really find anything I would want in my little world at home. Seems like a typical case of YMMV...

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#72

Post by jimmcslim »

vacri wrote: post #67
jimmcslim wrote: post #53

Ikea's Billy and the Vitsoe 606 Universal Shelving System... two iconic designs in storage/bookshelves. One I can afford, the other... I cannot.

Wow, you're not wrong. A grand for six simple racked metal shelves. https://www.vitsoe.com/rw/606/cost

Yes, but extremely modular and (presumably) well-built so I guess you can add to it over time.

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#74

Post by Terribledactyl »

fpgaminer wrote: post #52

> The Billy innovations are about working within the limits of production and logistics, finding tiny ways to shave more off the cost, all while producing something that looks inoffensive and does the job. The perfect summary of Ikea's engineering. I got into woodworking recently; designed and built a 50", full-back garden bench from scratch in redwood. The project gave me a more keen awareness of the wood that surro…

They have solid wood options, but you have to hunt for them. Also, they tend to up the price and it's "fancier" looking.

Your comment makes me wish I had the space to get back into woodworking, but I just bought Ikea today because it fits into a small car and apartment easily.

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#75

Post by kalleboo »

fpgaminer wrote: post #52

> The Billy innovations are about working within the limits of production and logistics, finding tiny ways to shave more off the cost, all while producing something that looks inoffensive and does the job. The perfect summary of Ikea's engineering. I got into woodworking recently; designed and built a 50", full-back garden bench from scratch in redwood. The project gave me a more keen awareness of the wood that surro…

Another reason IKEA optimizes for low weight and small size is to reduce transportation costs (which also means lower fuel consumption). Shaving off a few mm here, a few grams here, and deconstructing this or that part means that suddenly you can pack twice as many book-cases in a container, and reduce transportation by half.

Of course, that's all moot if it's offset by the stuff breaking and needing to be replaced in half the time...

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#76

Post by headmelted »

dingdongding wrote: post #39
headmelted wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's fairly well known that Warren Buffet still lives in the house he bought in the fifties before he got ultra wealthy, but I was watching a documentary a couple of weeks back where he was explaining that his choice of breakfast at the McDonald's drive-thru window is dictated by the market closing price the day before. That's hardcore... and a little eccentric probably. Found it: http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/bec…

It was not dictated by the market closing price the day before. His breakfast was dictated by how market opened in the morning.

Eh.. OK?

I guess I must have remembered it wrong but the point was a billionaire orders his mcmuffin based on the day-to-day of the indexes.

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#77

Post by olasaustralia »

giarc wrote: post #33
pinewurst wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a significant part of that interval, Swedish taxes were in excess of 100% for very high earners. Can one blame him?

How is that possible? EDIT - This site shows that it peaked at 61%. http://www.tradingeconomics.com/sweden/personal-income-tax-r...

H

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#78

Post by olasaustralia »

giarc wrote: post #33
pinewurst wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a significant part of that interval, Swedish taxes were in excess of 100% for very high earners. Can one blame him?

How is that possible? EDIT - This site shows that it peaked at 61%. http://www.tradingeconomics.com/sweden/personal-income-tax-r...

H

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#79

Post by headmelted »

tekklloneer wrote: post #60
headmelted wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's fairly well known that Warren Buffet still lives in the house he bought in the fifties before he got ultra wealthy, but I was watching a documentary a couple of weeks back where he was explaining that his choice of breakfast at the McDonald's drive-thru window is dictated by the market closing price the day before. That's hardcore... and a little eccentric probably. Found it: http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/bec…

That's not really that eccentric. If I lost a few million dollars on opening, I'd probably want hashbrowns with my mcmuffin.

Your logic is faultless. Good point!

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#80

Post by kalleboo »

henrikschroder wrote: post #69
hackuser wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That struck me too: Are there leading modern entrepreneurs who are as non-materialistic? I recall hearing of several in prior generations. (Also, sometimes those stories are merely marketing, and they have a personal chef and private jet too.)

In the case of Kamprad, it is definitely merely marketing. He hates paying taxes, and used the same passion for optimizing furniture to optimize his company structure. IKEA is one of the most complicated legal tax-evasion structures around. It is believed that a few percent of the worldwide revenue - not profits! - are going straight into Ingvar's pockets, tax-free. That's quite a feat.

Part of the reason the IKEA structure is so complicated is that it's engineered in a way to keep the both the tax benefits that everyone else also has (see Apple, Google, etc), and also keep the company in strict private Kamprad family control. Public companies like Apple don't need that extra complexity and get away with your standard Dutch-Irish sandwich
Post reply on HN