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Why are most sofas so bad?

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Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#611

Post by sumtechguy »

Decabytes wrote: post #599

I got a Lovesac Sactional after using a couch for years that was a handme down of a handmedown. I like it but it was not cheap (~4.5k). The modular nature fits our lifestyle so I'm willing to pay the premium. Having had to move a couch multiple times, I'm looking forward to just being able to break this one up into sections and take it out the door. They've got an ingenious model from a profit perspective as well. Si…

I too bought into this system. My only grip is the cushions. They need to be regularly fluffed back out. Which does not give me good hope for the longevity of said cushions. The rest of it is fairly solid. The size I got would have taken a 3 man team to move/setup with a more traditional couch. I can do it myself in under an hour. Cleaning under them is pretty nice too as you can just pop out that one piece and clean under it quick.

- (though it is not easy to get them on and off)

no kidding. that was my second biggest gripe with this thing. I am in zero hury to use that feature.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#612

Post by porkbeer »

nijave wrote: post #546
elteto wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My problem is that I don’t even know where to buy _good_ stuff. I don’t want to pay $5k for a couch, but maybe I will _once_ in N years, for some large N, if I know it’s very well made and I like the design. But I have no idea where to go for this. The overlap between junk and luxury is too large nowadays.

I've had decent success with reddit r/BuyItForLife. Seems like mostly good recommendations and not too much shilling/advertising.

Bifl was taken over by advertisers years ago. I would not trust anything peddled there without a lot of research.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#613

Post by jajko »

closeparen wrote: post #553
jajko wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is quite common trope here among young generation, feeling left out of property ownership like its some basic human right guaranteed by UN charter. Like previous generations were not left out of same/other stuff as well. That the post you respond to is not flagged tells you quite something... Too often these folks have outright communist mindset to set the world as it suits their current needs, which to somebody…

Countries where middle class people rent have pretty "communist" tenant protection regimes. Being perpetually 30 days from a potential eviction is not a position most people can or should be okay with.

Feels a bit pointless to explain basics but I'll bite for the others - I dont know which country is like that, definitely not Switzerland, not Germany, France, Czech republic nor Slovakia (listing personal multiyear experiences).

Neither of them has any (significant) rent control, definitely abolute 0 for young and able, and people have rental agreements which run easily decade(s).

Ie in France its the opposite - owners are properly scared of long term rentals, since rentees can trivially just stop paying and it will take you 6+ month of courts to have an attempt on evicion. They can trash the place and no real recourse. Not empty threat neither, everybody knows such a case personally. Thus everybody -> airbnbs. Blame the system if you grok the situation, french one is one of the worst in the west.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#614

Post by Too »

pictureofabear wrote: post #590
itsoktocry wrote: post #575

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everything is bad these days, not just the sofas. When these conversations happens, I always wonder why people want some of these items to last forever. Are you going to stick with that 10 year old plasma TV? Great. I want new tech, and this stuff moves fast. Furniture is a bit different, but my parents had all kinds of good, long-lasting stuff that no one wants because it's out of style.

I've had my 65" LED Samsung smart TV for almost 10 years now... it cost about $800 back then. I thought about replacing it recently, but decided against it because it's working great and I don't feel like I'd be gaining much to buy a newer TV. Technology hasn't really advanced that much since 2014...

Does it have 4K and HDR? Those are game changers, especially on such a big screen.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#615

Post by zac23or »

abraxas wrote: post #573
zac23or wrote: post #530

Everything is bad these days, not just the sofas. 1. The new switches I bought broke before the old ones, which are over 20 years old. 2. LED bulbs last less than incandescent bulbs, even with a 20-year warranty. 3. The new cell phone's screen breaks very easily, it's not like the old Nokia's. And nowadays something expensive is no longer guaranteed to last. This is why I value old things so much: I have an old chair…

On the electronics front I'd beg to differ. Apple has raised the quality bar on electronics by a mile in the last couple of decades. The gadgetry I remember from the eighties and nineties was very cheaply made with plastics that warped or cracked (or both) and cheap switches made of molded plastic and a ballpen spring. Casette player gears were mostly made of that white plastic that always wore down with not much usa…

Of course, there have been many bad things in the past. Floppy disks, cassettes and VHS were horrible technologies.

Did you use tube radios? They broke all the time.

The difference is that they weren't intentionally horrible, they were limitations of an era.

But at some point, devices start to last a long time. My parents' first refrigerator ran without problems for over 10 years. I've had far fewer problems with CDS and CD players than with cassette players.

And we used to have a lot of low quality items, but now it's much harder to find good quality items. And brand means almost nothing. Even Apple has been selling notebooks with horrible keyboards for years. I'm just using an Apple Notebook now, I've been waiting for years for them to change the keyboard.... The Nitendo Switch Joystick has a drift problem and Nintendo ignores it...

There is no reason for a new Samsung TV to break after a year of use. Or LEDs. Or power switches. It's not a technical limitation, it's a choice.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#616

Post by BizarroLand »

TylerE wrote: post #416
BizarroLand wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a link to an alternative site with information about bedbug density made since 2018 or so? I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm saying that in lieu of additional information this is what I have to work with, so I will need a better source of data before I change my mind.

Just read the legend. It’s raw numbers, not per capita. It’s not even worth taking seriously. It’s not showing rates at all, just raw case numbers. NY has a lot. Alaska and Wyoming have almost none. Things happen where people live. News at 11. That site is also obvious affiliate spam SEO bait.

Do you have a link to an alternative site with information about bedbug density made since 2018 or so?

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#617

Post by bluSCALE4 »

j_heffe wrote: post #565
bluSCALE4 wrote: post #374

I have decent and great furniture. Penny Mustard is outstanding and Room and Board is ok. My kids treat the Penny Mustard couches like a bed.

My Room and Board sofa from 2011 is still rock solid. I was a bit nervous buying it used a few years ago because of the age but it turned out to be a great purchase.

Yep, my only complaint was that an obese buddy of mine wore out a seam but R&B were good about it and sent someone out to fix it onsite. It's going on 10 yo and still looks new.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#618

Post by arbitrage »

zac23or wrote: post #530

Everything is bad these days, not just the sofas. 1. The new switches I bought broke before the old ones, which are over 20 years old. 2. LED bulbs last less than incandescent bulbs, even with a 20-year warranty. 3. The new cell phone's screen breaks very easily, it's not like the old Nokia's. And nowadays something expensive is no longer guaranteed to last. This is why I value old things so much: I have an old chair…

You're exaggerating about light-bulbs. There is no way LEDs last less than incandescents. If you are experiencing this, its possible your wiring is bad. You should call an electrician and have them check that out.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#619

Post by noduerme »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #526
m463 wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the problem I've noticed is - the furniture that is built to last very frequently fails the partner test - "that looks like old fart stuff". Same sort of issue with cool remote controls. For example, la-z-boy has pretty good controls - remotes have better designs, have lots of adjustments, and motors seem to move faster. And they too fail the partner test - "that looks like old fart stuff" I kind of like some…

My cynical ass assumes it's because they know goddamn well no one under 60 years old has $4,000 to spend on a properly made sofa, irrespective of desire or taste. I make six figures and I certainly don't. My furniture is all cheap particle board shit because I can't afford anything nicer because I'm spending all my money on a mortgage, food, gas, and student loans. I don't think it's a matter so much of nobody wantin…

You say it yourself. Why spend $7k on couches over a lifetime when you can spend $4k on one that lasts forever? If you can only scrape together $1k a year for a new piece of garbage, maybe you should sit on milk crates til you can scrape together $4k.

Maybe the fact that no one thinks this way anymore explains why everyone complains their six-figure income is constantly eaten up by replacing cheap shit.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#620

Post by tqi »

uoaei wrote: post #507
tqi wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> really only Americans who obsessively talk about or reference TV shows and movies in their small talk For one, it doesnt seem like americans are significant outliers in tv consumption[1] or smartphone usage[2]. For another, yeah if you're a foreign traveller people probably aren't going to make small talk with you about TV or other pop culture... [1] https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-country-watches-th... […

I'm not speaking to consumption, I'm speaking to small talk. There's no good reason to believe there's a tight correlation there. Americans constantly shove TV into the conversation even if they don't know that the other person or people are familiar with it. Though many are aware of American media output by virtue of the cultural colonialism enacted since brute force fell out of fashion. Even if they're not explicit…

> There's no good reason to believe there's a tight correlation there.

You don't think there is a strong correlation between how people spend their time and what they talk about?

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