How to Pack an Octogon
I feel like most manufacturers of octogonal tables would just put them in square boxes and shim the sides. But not IKEA.
I appreciate the elegance of this approach, but I wonder if this also yields benefits in production, shipping, and storage costs.
4 Comments
Vince · April 21, 2013 at 11:18 am
I guess they probably do save money on cardboard at least…
Malke · April 21, 2013 at 11:47 am
Yeah, but look what you get after you unpack the table! Think of all the things you can do with octagonal cardboard! 🙂
Graeme McRae · April 21, 2013 at 2:54 pm
They probably save money on advertising because they get bloggers to write articles about their product.
Five Triangles · April 21, 2013 at 11:18 pm
Maybe IKEA tessellates the boxes in a shipping container and fills the square openings with another product, and the sides and corners with right isosceles triangle-shaped products.
While on the topic of octagons, exactly one floor of the new 1 World Trade Center will be a regular octagon. Maybe the floor’s occupant (a traffic sign manufacturer?) will want to use only those IKEA tables as desks.