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Comment by coprogram | Hacker News Reader

These cardboard beds cost 16-17 euros to produce. There are 100 million displaced people in the world. Your cheap folding metal cot will never be so cheap as to even come close to being a competitor on economic terms.

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Why on earth not? Tube steel and canvas are incredibly inexpensive. The article is blatantly lying about the wholesale cost of traditional cots to make their pricing sound reasonable. At even modest bulk quantity, folding metal cots can be obtained on alibaba for $14/ea or less. At humanitarian scales, quite a lot less.

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/HOMFUL-Hot-Sale-600D-...

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Outdoor-Aluminium-Fol...

The article doesn’t mention how long the cardboard beds are intended to last before being disposed or recycled.

Between the cardboard bed and one of those I know which I’d prefer, and since cost is not actually a factor, I’m not sure what the advantage of the cardboard beds is.

What happens when I click and buy 30000 of these beds?

And it probably lasts 1-3 days a week max before it needs to be replaced. That camping cot will last long enough for the war or disaster to play out which could be years

And any water on them instantly ruins them?

Waterproof sheets exist and pack down quite small for logistics purposes.

That's good for the top of it, what about the bottom, on the cement? If someone spills water, or mops the floor, it will get damaged very easily.

Silly idea IMO - metal framed beds are extremely durable.

And much harder to pack and ship. You could probably fit 1000 cardboard beds in the same volume of a cargo hold as 100 metal cots. Also, there are many local shops who already have the tools to mass-produce cardboard boxes with arbitrary shapes; the same cannot be said of cots.

And as the article explicitly states, these are intended for the first responders, not for long-term infirmary. They don't need to last more than a few days.

I don't think it's 10:1 volume, maybe weight.

"Don't need to last more than a few days" well, maybe not, but they will be used for a while absolutely.

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