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I've bought some flat-pack furniture from some of IKEA's competitors. After having struggled through putting that together I have to say I have new found respect for the amount of thought and design IKEA must put into how their furniture goes together.

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It seems to be a thing of - "I'm too cultured and refined to understand science and maths".

Which extends to - I can't understand how to put simple bits of engineering together because I'm so spiritual!

Never bought any furniture from Ikea. The furniture I have bought from other low end places generally has very low res and out of proportion drawings. Its not a crazy conspiracy that the manuals are not very well put together. If you think about it economically, they already have your money by the time you've opened the box and tried to piece your furniture together.

If you think about it economically they only have a tiny fraction of my money. Sure they have the $60 I just spend on a new side table, but they don't have the countless thousands I'll be spending on a new bed, bookshelf, kitchen, dining room table etc. etc. over the next decade. Why on earth wouldn't they want to try to grab that money as well.

Low end furniture competes on price more than brand. If you bought a really cheap side table, they know you'll probably but a really cheap bed -- whether it's made by them or not.

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