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How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

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

#31

Post by hackuser »

mc32 wrote: post #28
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.)

It's not like was the only car he owned. I mean, one could say Jay Leno drives some very old cars, and someone not knowing he's a car enthusiast collector could think he's frugal.

> It's not like was the only car he owned

Is that known?

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

#32

Post by superdude12 »

jseliger wrote: post #13
artursapek wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IKEA furniture is often bought with the understanding that it's relatively disposable. There's a lot of demand for that in cities where people move around more often.

An excellent point, and, oddly, an underrated one: https://jakeseliger.com/2015/03/10/does-ikea-enable-mobility... . I do wonder if over time companies like Casper / Tuft & Needle, or even Campaign Living ( http://www.campaignliving.com/ ) will cut into IKEA's turf.

Campaign living can't even deliver on a chair I ordered in November - I doubt they will even capture a significant portion of the market they originally set out to cut into.

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

#33

Post by giarc »

pinewurst wrote: post #26
huac wrote: post #3

> Ingvar Kamprad "is said to fly economy and drive an old Volvo. This frugality may help to explain why he is the world's eighth-richest man - although the four decades he spent living in Switzerland to avoid Swedish taxes may also have something to do with it."

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...

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

#35

Post by [deleted] »

pinewurst wrote: post #26
huac wrote: post #3

> Ingvar Kamprad "is said to fly economy and drive an old Volvo. This frugality may help to explain why he is the world's eighth-richest man - although the four decades he spent living in Switzerland to avoid Swedish taxes may also have something to do with it."

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

[deleted]

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

#36

Post by mturmon »

kalleboo wrote: post #25
michaelvoz wrote: post #2

I dislike IKEA furniture - It never seems to go well, and always in a different, hard-to-plan-for kind of way. Either the bed frame slats will crack at an odd place, or the bookshelf will bend under the weight of too many books, or perhaps a layer of plastic-ish(?) faux-wood will peel off revealing the flimsy glue pressed wood-ish material inside. I understand the appeal of well designed, flatpacked, self assembled f…

There's a lot of quality variability within IKEAs range as well. They have a bookcase line cheaper than Billy and you can tell it's there just so they can advertise something at a particular price point - I wouldn't want to own one. They have have a more expensive line made out of solid wood that is really good quality for not too much more. I find that you can get a good feel for the quality of the stuff at the show…

As a designer friend puts it, IKEA is all in the edit. You can get some good stuff there, but you have to be careful about the design, the surfaces, and the finish of the materials. And you can't have too high a concentration of IKEA stuff in a room, or it looks too bland.

My library lives in 10 IKEA plywood bookcase units, about 20 linear meters of shelves, that is a really excellent piece. Simple design, all in birch plywood, and just the right strength (enhanced by using wood glue during assembly). It's been in use for 15 years now and still looks great.

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

#37

Post by headmelted »

hackuser wrote: post #14
huac wrote: post #3

> Ingvar Kamprad "is said to fly economy and drive an old Volvo. This frugality may help to explain why he is the world's eighth-richest man - although the four decades he spent living in Switzerland to avoid Swedish taxes may also have something to do with it."

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.)

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/becoming-warren-buffett

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

#38

Post by headmelted »

mc32 wrote: post #30
michaelvoz wrote: post #2

I dislike IKEA furniture - It never seems to go well, and always in a different, hard-to-plan-for kind of way. Either the bed frame slats will crack at an odd place, or the bookshelf will bend under the weight of too many books, or perhaps a layer of plastic-ish(?) faux-wood will peel off revealing the flimsy glue pressed wood-ish material inside. I understand the appeal of well designed, flatpacked, self assembled f…

I don't like any compressed wood (engineered wood) furniture, it's got too many fillers and (toxic) adhesives and they don't have the same rigidity of solid wood.

cough Argos cough

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

#39

Post by dingdongding »

headmelted wrote: post #37
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.)

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.

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

#40

Post by jasonlingx »

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...

http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/15235/did-swedis...
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