Ikea, recycling furniture, and "Peak stuff"

[Gardenarian]

Ikea has started a program for people to repair/recycle/re-use their Ikea furniture.

This article, Ikea Wants You To Stop Throwing Away Your Ikea Furniture, has some interesting ideas, including the thought that Americans have reached "Peak stuff."

[SteveinMN]

Nice!

I'm still a little miffed with IKEA for stomping on Web sites like IKEAhacks. Something about protecting their brand. But those sites were a great resource for people who wanted to customize IKEA products, needed installation help, or found themselves looking for an odd piece here or there. Glad to see they're clawing their way back to more than just selling new cheap stuff.

[Chicken lady]

Well, that's lovely, but it's disposable because when you try to move it, it breaks. My dd tried to reassemble her queen sized bed platform - even buying new wooden pegs and gluing them in, and it took three nights to send her crashing to the floor. I don't think it was her, since the actual wood shelves, desk, and chair she built from boards and plywood are still serving her well.

[mschrisgo2]

Well, maybe Ikea can also incorporate feedback for their quality control in that equation...

I have some Ikea pieces that I bought on Craigslist that are real wood that I Love, my daughter has a whole house full of various Ikea pieces- but she's had to throw away plenty that just didn't handle the everyday wear and tear of an active family.

And I agree about "Peak Stuff" -- the thrift stores here won't even take furniture because they can't get even a few dollars for it. There is just sooooo much stuff, and people give it away for free.

[Williamsmith]

My daughter recently bought a dresser from Ikea to match the other dresser she already had. Nearest store is 100 miles away. When she got back and assembled it, the color was off. So she thuought she gotten wrong color and drove back to exchange it for a different color. When she got back she found out that color was worse than the first. So back again to get the original color. She called customer service and after some discussion they finally just told her the furniture color will fade over time because of the exposure to sunlight. That's 600 miles of travel to be frugal with your furniture purchase. Shencouldmhave bought a nicer piece from a local store. I'm not a big fan. Who owns IKEA anyway? Sweden....Netherlands......its furniture designed for European lifestyle which is smaller more urban paradigm.

[jp1]

I'm not surprised about the fading. Our apartment has laminate wood floors in the living room. The room also has a massive sliding door facing south. The parts of the floor that aren't covered by an area rug or furniture are waaaaay lighter than the covered parts. When we move our landlord may well end up replacing the floor because I doubt there's anything that can be done.

[Rogar]

That's pretty decent in spite of Ikea's low quality. I wonder how many people will actually use the service. I suppose Ikea has a market for people on a strict budget that want stylish looking furnishings, but I've always thought used higher quality furniture to be a better deal all around.

It would be nice if this could become a trend. Patagonia has a program to repair their clothing line under their lifetime warranty and will recycle all worn out Patagonia clothing. I spend a lot of time outdoors and am a fan of good quality outdoor wear, but they have always been out of my price range. I may reconsider one of these days. When you consider the lifetime cost of something it might make more sense. It would be nice if other companies would shore up their warranties with these sorts of enticements. The cheap electronic appliances I've bought almost uniformly fail at some time and by the time you figure packing and shipping for warranty replacement it's almost a wash just to replace it with something newer and better.