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Comment by craigkilgo | Hacker News Reader

Is the implication that the purpose of the door desk was to merely APPEAR frugal? Or did it have some other original purpose entirely? I still didn't quite get that part.

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Yes, that's the implication, but it even if it was for appearances, It still would have been much less expensive than anything considered "commercial" grade, though you could always get something from IKEA or a spartan option from a big box office supply store for around $100 to $150.

I'd guess the door desks cost $100-150 to build, more if they had a dedicated desk builder. XD

I have a hard time believing that'd be cheaper than having a stock of ikea desks and having your new employees put them together on their first day.

Source: Someone that had to put an ikea desk together on his first day at his internship. xD

Honestly that was not the worst place I worked at either.

I need a list of companies that use Ikea desks. Every place I've worked at has those awful laminate desks with the metal back and beige metal filing cabinets. I hate them so much. They give me wrist, back, and neck discomfort, there's no room underneath for your feet, they don't feel good to use, they look depressing, and no matter what I do say or what value I bring in, I can't get a replacement since "no one else complains". If a place said I had to build an Ikea desk or even bring my own, I'd consider that a huge huge perk.

Per tfa they were custom doors and cost more than most desks.

He claims they were expensive, but in the top of the article he states two other things: That it's been so long he can't be relied on for accurate recollections, and also that when they first started using door, it did in fact make financial sense.

Most doors have a margin that can be cut to the desired height, which is what "tfa" said was done. That doesn't make it a custom door though. The author said he observed the desks being made, so it sounds like he saw them being cut to the desired height and, not knowing that was common for doors, assumed they must be expensive and therefore custom.

Maybe they were expensive! But the author is not a reliable narrator on the topic, and without some better evidence I'm not inclined to believe amazon went from using typical solid-core doors for a while, but then went out of their way to find very expensive doors.

Yes, that's the implication.

Dunno about originally, but it certainly is now. From ~5 years ago, mine wasn't really a door, shipped to my satellite office, and they're not height-adjustable, so unless you ask, someone 5'0" uses the same desk as someone 6'4".

I guess this a difference between being frugal (or appearing that way) and being cheap. I can tell you from my paycheck, Amazon's not cheap.

Yes, that's what he's saying. It was actually more expensive than other cheap options, uncomfortable to work at, inconvenient to move, and was basically all downside except that it helped sell the frugal image they were trying to push to starry-eyed investors.

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