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

IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

goodnewsnetwork.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

281–290 of 622 posts

Re: IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

#281

Post by conjectures »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #214
conjectures wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it depends on the 'who' in those places. It's not hard to imagine a government rather fancying getting a tax receipt from extraction companies, particularly if it is seen as green. Who would presumably lobby rather hard against it. This suggests the absence of pricing at source is to some extent a result of successful lobbying.

The problem is exports; the government is already making money on extraction companies selling their goods abroad. If they burden them with extra taxes, that'll get translated to the price other nations pay, which will reduce exports, and thus reduce government's profit. In a competitive exports market, a country with environmental taxes will lose to the one without.

Sorry, how does a government bring in tax revenue off of exports? Tarrifs are levied on imports rather than exports.

Sure they would make less money off corporation taxes with lower exports, but as those receipts are generally low anyway the tradeoff going to carbon tax would likely be favourable.

Re: IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

#283

Post by rlpb »

chrisseaton wrote: post #271
nom wrote: post #256

I never understood why people hate IKEA. Yes it's cheap. Yes it doesn't last a lifetime. Yes it needs a lot of wood. Yes it's highly optimized. But guess what, IKEA is a business responding to the needs of people. The negatives that are mentioned frequently are merely a symptom of our ever faster developing society. The people who complain are the same ones that just buy cheap crap from china without even thinking ab…

It's the junk food of furniture. Produced at scale with poor materials, satisfies people's immediate need, locations are functional and service is fast. But don't you want something more substantial and created with more craft? You probably don't need more than one adult bed in a lifetime, for example. I've got furniture that's been in use hundreds of years.

> But don't you want something more substantial and created with more craft?

No. My furniture is...part of the furniture. I care about it being practical. I don't care about its heritage. IKEA quality is perfectly adequate for me, so I'm not inclined to pay for any more.

I also appreciate light furniture that can be moved easily. Furniture that is more "substantial" and made from real wood[1], for example, is far more of a pain for me.

[1] As opposed to chipboard; I don't mean to imply that IKEA aren't using trees.

Re: IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

#284

Post by t0mas88 »

tweetle_beetle wrote: post #164
fxtentacle wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ikea sells replacement parts online. Usually, all you need is their number code which you can find in the manual (or if your lost that in the pdf on their website). I recently ordered a replacement door myself, just to make it look new again.

My understanding is that that is only the case for items which are bought as components. Items which are bought complete inside a single box have to be replaced as such. For example, the assembly guide for the classic Billy has no item numbers listed apart from connectors - https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/assembly_instructions/billy-bookc... Coincidentally this appears to be changing as of yesterday - https://www.bbc.co.u…

Calling everything a connector is a bit disingenuous. If you look at the PDF it has 8 part numbers listed, which is a number for all of the small parts. Also the doors, doorknobs, hinges etc are all available to order.

What's left are shelves and the two wooden sides of the bookcase itself. The shelves can be ordered: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/billy-extra-shelf-white-1026529...

So I would rephrase your "no item numbers apart from connectors" to "everything can be replaced except for the two sides of the main body". And even those you can get by ordering a new cabinet without any doors or extras, since that's basically the sides + a number of shelfs.

Re: IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

#285

Post by chrisseaton »

enkid wrote: post #279
chrisseaton wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the junk food of furniture. Produced at scale with poor materials, satisfies people's immediate need, locations are functional and service is fast. But don't you want something more substantial and created with more craft? You probably don't need more than one adult bed in a lifetime, for example. I've got furniture that's been in use hundreds of years.

That's great if it meets your needs, but I don't think that's a good argument for why other people shouldn't have the option to buy stuff from Ikea. Population growth alone dictates there's not enough furniture from a hundred years ago for everyone to furnish their homes.

> I don't think that's a good argument for why other people shouldn't have the option to buy stuff from Ikea

I didn't say it as an argument for this? But there is an impact on the environment that effects us all.

Re: IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

#286

Post by lallysingh »

tweetle_beetle wrote: post #128
FriedrichN wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using a lot of IKEA furniture for many years, some new, some secondhand (sometimes I'm the third or fourth owner) and I must say they're quite durable unlike some of the new furniture I've bought over the year and had to throw away.

The annoying thing about IKEA furniture, and that from competitors, is that all it takes is for a tiny piece of particle board to be damaged internally for the whole item to be useless. Generally, while they are in one piece and not moved, they are fine. But trasnporting or disassembling this stuff is a risk. The tiny wooden pegs, plastic bits and agressive screws going straight into soft board can rip out chunks, sn…

But it's super easy to repair. Just glob some wood glue and it'll ooze deep into that particleboard. The edges of billy don't survive sliding, given, but some electrical tape for the finish and glue for the wood work well.

It's not like we buy them as show pieces.

Re: IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

#287

Post by wycy »

chrisseaton wrote: post #271
nom wrote: post #256

I never understood why people hate IKEA. Yes it's cheap. Yes it doesn't last a lifetime. Yes it needs a lot of wood. Yes it's highly optimized. But guess what, IKEA is a business responding to the needs of people. The negatives that are mentioned frequently are merely a symptom of our ever faster developing society. The people who complain are the same ones that just buy cheap crap from china without even thinking ab…

It's the junk food of furniture. Produced at scale with poor materials, satisfies people's immediate need, locations are functional and service is fast. But don't you want something more substantial and created with more craft? You probably don't need more than one adult bed in a lifetime, for example. I've got furniture that's been in use hundreds of years.

No. I have several pieces of Ikea furniture that've survived multiple moves and are still rock solid. It's light, cheap, and sturdy. I don't care if my furniture has craft or history.

Re: IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

#288

Post by etempleton »

nom wrote: post #256

I never understood why people hate IKEA. Yes it's cheap. Yes it doesn't last a lifetime. Yes it needs a lot of wood. Yes it's highly optimized. But guess what, IKEA is a business responding to the needs of people. The negatives that are mentioned frequently are merely a symptom of our ever faster developing society. The people who complain are the same ones that just buy cheap crap from china without even thinking ab…

I like IKEA furniture for what it is. It is thoughtfully designed, afordable and usually very easy to assemble.

However, their US customer service is essentially non exsistent. I had items delivered damaged and could not get in touch with anyone. I eventually gave up as the effort was not worth it.

Re: IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

#289

Post by Cthulhu_ »

throw14082020 wrote: post #282

Is this good or bad? Imagine an oil company buying up large oil fields, and they say, to stop oil production. They just bought resources they can do whatever they want with.

Why make an analogy with oil companies? Ikea uses a renewable resource (wood, from tree farms), then goes further and buys a natural forest for conservation reasons.

ikea doesn't need to buy the forest for the wood.

Re: IKEA buys 11,000 acres of U.S. forest to keep it from being developed

#290

Post by Triv888 »

0xTJ wrote: post #275
nom wrote: post #256

I never understood why people hate IKEA. Yes it's cheap. Yes it doesn't last a lifetime. Yes it needs a lot of wood. Yes it's highly optimized. But guess what, IKEA is a business responding to the needs of people. The negatives that are mentioned frequently are merely a symptom of our ever faster developing society. The people who complain are the same ones that just buy cheap crap from china without even thinking ab…

I consider IKEA to be more or less the ideal home shoppping experience. Some things are picked up along the way, larger things are grabbed at the end. The way they're laid out maximizes usable showroom space, while allowing for entire rooms to be built, with every part showing something you could buy. For anyone looking to furnish their place at a good quality/price, it's the first place I'd think of.

> [...] ideal home shopping experience.

I don't like the huge maze, but luckily there are shortcuts...

Post reply on HN