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177 Comments
- sagat, on 05/08/2008, -2/+124The only people who have problems with Ikea furniture are those who are just too ***** stupid to put it together in the first place.
- markbrown, on 05/08/2008, -4/+85I'm writing this comment as I sit on my $13 Ikea chair. Best $13 chair I've ever sat on.
- nabhanc, on 05/08/2008, -4/+73So basically this is a rehash of an Economist article that isn't linked to?
buried - UberNick, on 05/08/2008, -6/+64Ikea. Selling furniture for college kids and divorced men
- Lopen, on 05/08/2008, -0/+57How can people say that Ikea furniture is hard to put together and cheap crap? Half my house is from Ikea and I've never once had an issue with anything. And quite a bit of furniture has gone through two moves.
- Schrodinger2, on 05/08/2008, -0/+52After perusing the comments I think a lot of people missed the point of the article. They have some shady charity-thing set up as a scheme to evade taxes. Certainly not a great thing.
- ChrisWalkr, on 05/08/2008, -0/+47http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm ...
Original Economist Story - kurtwinter, on 05/08/2008, -1/+40I really don't care what they are. If it weren't for Ikea, my home furnishings would have been purchased at Wal*Mart. And for all the Ikea-bashers out there, who (rightly) say Ikea is design without quality, try Wal*Mart, which has neither.
- KMartSheriff, on 05/08/2008, -1/+39Well it's the best "cheap crap" that I've ever bought and has lasted me years. I don't care who says what, IKEA ***** rocks.
- Jwoey, on 05/08/2008, -1/+39My wife loves Ikea.
- ncc74656m, on 05/08/2008, -2/+30Well now I feel much better about the wasted time on the Jersey Turnpike trying to get there.
- merien, on 05/08/2008, -0/+26A Dutch 'Stichting' is a not for profit organization, not a charity. the 'stichting' form is used for many charities but also for other things like pension funds, trust funds and safeguards against hostile takeovers.
- DailyWail, on 05/08/2008, -2/+26Being illegal doesn't make it wrong.
- KMartSheriff, on 05/08/2008, -1/+24Your newsletter, I would like to subscribe to it.
- lennybird, on 05/08/2008, -1/+23Long ago in days of yore
It all began with a god named Thor
There were Vikings and boats
And some plans for a furniture store
It's not a bodega, it's not a mall
And they sell things for apartments smaller than mine
As if there were apartments smaller than mine
Ikea: just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen
Ikea: selling furniture for college kids and divorced men
Everyone has a home
But if you don't have a home you can buy one there
-Jonathan Coulton - Ikea - thelastcivilian, on 05/08/2008, -0/+21Seriously, most of the furniture is put together with an Allen key - which comes included in the box!
- sb66, on 05/08/2008, -6/+20Looks like Sweden needs to work on its corporate / charity laws.
- gurudrew, on 05/08/2008, -3/+17Being legal does not make it right.
- sn0w, on 05/08/2008, -0/+12Just in case anyone cares, cheap crap is called "billig skit" in Swedish.
- jankind, on 05/08/2008, -0/+11I read the article but honestly, the guy lost me from the first sentence. Ikea furniture is so easy to assemble.
- rendersan, on 05/08/2008, -0/+11Meatballs.
Tasty. - KMartSheriff, on 05/08/2008, -1/+12Amen.
/college kid - sgxyay, on 05/08/2008, -1/+12More like chairity
- davidrools, on 05/08/2008, -0/+10a hex bit on a drill does wonders for Ikea assembly :)
- mt4055, on 05/08/2008, -0/+10Amen.
/Divorced man
It is "cheap crap" but it is all I can afford at the moment. - inactive, on 05/08/2008, -0/+10No, they need to work on their tax laws. They are confiscatory.
- vinnyvenus, on 05/08/2008, -1/+10What are you talking about? I hardly Ikea's furniture are crap. They might be cheap but they are also durable. I have saved a lot of money by buying my furniture from Ikea although some of their items are a bitch to assemble.
- Arkonnan, on 05/08/2008, -0/+9> Ikea: just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen
Oak and pine? Ha! I guess they couldn't find anything to rhyme with particle board and melamine laminate. :p - Metasquares, on 05/08/2008, -1/+10In the USA, this would be considered a tax haven. That whole thing about a for-profit owning the rights but a non-profit owning the stores seems like it would violate the "commerce at arm's length" requirement. I'm not sure about the laws in Sweden, though (and IANAL to begin with).
- Jwoey, on 05/08/2008, -1/+9Don't worry, I wasn't going to ask. I don't know about their office chairs, but my bookcase, 2 work desks, printer table, dining table, and 4 dining chairs have all served me very well. I love Ikea.
- altgeeky1, on 05/08/2008, -0/+8My girlfriend loves Ikea, and she generally shuns "cheap" things (cheap being low-quality, not affordable).
Divorced men shop at Ikea? Really? Most divorced guys I know fill their home with football bling, and get a new sportscar. - modsuperstar, on 05/08/2008, -0/+8Jerker desks, best IKEA item ever
- diggdeep, on 05/08/2008, -1/+8Yup. Just moved, and my girlfriend bought an entire room for about $1200.
- jdoublehcubed, on 05/08/2008, -1/+8how many ridiculous errors can we find here?
1. "arguably the world's largest charity" - I seem to think that have something like twice the endowment of the Ikea foundation makes the Gates foundation "arguably" larger
2. summarize an article in a real publication (the economist), and then not include a link to it. (ok, not so much an error, more like douchebagery)
3. By whose estimate is Kamprad the richest man in the world? Forbes says hes not, and you dont have anything saying he is, so why would you include that?
= buried. - dafragsta, on 05/08/2008, -0/+6Did you read the article? The headline is misleading. IKEA is a pretty ***** evil multinational corporation that is owned by a charity that has a >$30B endowment and it issues less than $2M in grants each year. It pays franchising fees to another private company that still owns the IKEA branding with an undisclosed ownership, which is probably the original owner who donated the company to a foundation he created. It is extremely shrewd and it's all a ploy to not pay taxes.
- inactive, on 05/08/2008, -0/+6Whats wrong with not paying taxes? Everyone I know wishes they didn't have to pay taxes. I'm guessing you just skipped all your deductions on your 07 taxes for the good of humanity.
- Napalmhaze, on 05/08/2008, -1/+7They ask you to put it together because you ARE a tool! (The tools that were supposed to come with the furniture were missing).
- Phearce, on 05/08/2008, -0/+6Also perfect for kid's stuff. They outgrow things so quickly that saving money at Ikea makes good sense.
- Tollofsen, on 05/08/2008, -2/+8Chances are they are about as handy as a walrus in a wheelchair. Tighten the darned screws properly!
- EarlOfLade, on 05/08/2008, -0/+6It is Swedish - it is "lagom"!
- dfsjdkflasjk, on 05/08/2008, -6/+12I'm writing this comment as I sit on my $250 leather chair. Best $250 chair that I've purchased in the past week.
- screamingjoker, on 05/08/2008, -1/+6Whats a bigger scam, IKEA exploiting their country's tax loopholes, or mentalfloss lifting The Economist's content and putting on their commercial blog?
- Balanced, on 05/08/2008, -0/+5I think that's a New Jersey issue, not an Ikea issue.
- bfisch1983, on 05/08/2008, -0/+5I have a feeling people aren't picking up on the Coulton reference
- jakobrowning, on 05/08/2008, -0/+5yeah, but bus drivers don't typically appreciate their riders lugging living room sets along for the ride.
- FoxOrian, on 05/08/2008, -0/+5Moved into a new place in september, furnished the living room with alot of their Brown-Black items. Whole room for under $600 and it looks awesome. I sure cant complain. Plus, if I have to move again next year, I can just disassemble it all!
- quentinp, on 05/08/2008, -1/+6One positive thing, I think I remember reading an article basically saying that Ikea's super cheap breakfasts and meals act as a sort of soup kitchen in a lot of cases, except it allows the poor to buy their own meals if they are too proud to accept pure charity.
- inactive, on 05/08/2008, -2/+7Ingvar Kamprad greatest accomplishment arguably was getting around confiscatory Swedish taxes, not creating IKEA. This setup is pure genius.
This just goes to show you what happens when you tax "the rich" so heavily that it makes honest work and clear ownership structures infeasible.
Ingvar should be applauded for not going on the dole or working illegally under the table like nearly everyone else in Sweden does. - rendersan, on 05/08/2008, -0/+4The sixth rule of Digg is that if someone references a Jonathan Coulton song, you *must* give them a shout back. Shame on everyone for leaving UberNick hanging like that.
This was not a triumph. I'm making a note here: epic fail. -
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