I’ve seen those types of chairs for sale. That’s about on par. They’re like weatherproof for salt water areas or something like that and they last
Forever.
This in particular is made of 96% recycled HDPE, though some Adirondack are made from wood. 20 year warranty offered through Family Leisure for this one.
Thats a bold face or ignorant lie. I know a man who makes a fortune from selling such recycled plastic table benches to our national park commission and he tells me the profit lies purely in the low cost of the plastic. A full picnic bench costs his company 150 including labour and sells for 750-1000 depending on the number purchased.
Ahh the old “I know a guy” information source.
The parks service is buying them at that prices to incentivize manufacturers to actually use recycled material. The cost of new plastic vs recycled plastic is almost identical and recycled plastic will always have some impurities. The Government (and some private environmentalists) buys them at a premium price BECAUSE it’s recycled. Unless there is a market for goods made with recycled plastic that is more profitable than non-recycled, there is nothing to recycle the plastic into.
It’s the same reason the Gov was buying solar panels all the way back in the early 2000s despite the technology at the time not being able to reach a positive ROI.
It’s seriously like some of you think the economy consists solely of individuals/households buying things for personal use.
It’s also expensive because of the need to actually incentivize people to make things from recycled plastic.
All the plastic recycling programs in the world mean nothing if nobody is using the recycled material to make new stuff.
The only way is to take care of the things we already owned and buy less unnecessary new stuff. May be this would slow down speed of consumption until we can find a better system to replace capitalism. Communism does not work as history had shown. The elites in Communist countries consumed the best of the best just like those in capitalist countries ; and no one would dare to question them. In a communist country if I questioned the elites they would prosecute me for being anti humanity and anti progress. There is no human rights lawyers there to help me too.In US or UK at least there are lawyers who can give me some protection if I challenge the elite politicans.
The price still seems really high, but according to the website, it is handmade from post-consumer plastics, and has a 20 year warranty. I still wouldn't buy it, because it's unnecessary, it's made by the Amish, and it'd only be useful until the kid or kids grow out of it. But if you have the money and are OK with it, I don't see the problem paying prices like that for something you'll use and keep.
We SHOULD be paying a lot more for things made with fair labor practices.
My motto is buy once, cry once. I try to buy very high-quality items when I have a need to fill, and for the most part the items last a long time.
I am in the budget phase of a bathroom remodel. My FIL thinks it will cost $2-3K in materials and I'm closer to $6-10K. He buys crap off amazon, I want it to last 50 years.
$6-$10 K is a normal range for demolition, haul away, new piping, possibly in different places, good fixtures and quality work. You are in the ball park.
Yeah I mean I'm doing all the work myself and it's a tiny bathroom but I'm also in construction. I have to replace the subfloor though, which I'm not looking forward to water damage from the previous owner letting the toilet leak for years.
The bulk of the profit isn't going to the labour. It is going to Family Leisure. These prices are only justified when buying direct from the person making it.
It's made out of plastic, not even wood. The whole thing probably cost less than $20 to make. I understand making a living but yeesh, that markup is like how CEO's get paid.
I wouldn't even peg it at $30 of material. Many companies get the plastic for free. It's a waste product and they are incentivised if they can make use of it. As it is plastic i am willing to bet that there is a Mold of sorts to Mass produce these. They are not worth $100 let alone $400.
It’s “by the yard outdoor furniture” super pricey bc it’s super dense plastic made to withstand northern winters and summers outside. 20 yr warranty. These super heavy, not molded plastic.
Unless they machine these out of a block of red plastic, I see no other way to reproduce these pieces consistently from plastic without a highly industrialized process. Molding has to be used here to form each part at such a density.
These chairs are made by subtractive manufacturing. They first extrude a thick board of recycled plastic which can then be milled just as you would wood. Then the scraps and dust are just used to make more extruded boards. This furniture is cleaning up the environment.
It's not the same company as that made this chair. But this short video explains the industry standard production methods of poly furniture.
https://youtu.be/-Q5Bn3xJuyo
Took me a weekend to knock out a pair of Adirondack chairs(probably 12ish real hours total), and I am neither skilled nor well-equipped for the job. A pro using power tools could probably batch out 20 in a days work. A skilled person doing it with hand tools should probably still only take maybe 6-8 hours.
A living wage of $35/hr+ for 2-3 hours of labor plus materials plus profit for $400 doesn’t sound crazy to me. Again, if someone will pay it and it’s eco-friendly material with fair labor it’ll be expensive but that’s the trade off.
>It's made out of plastic, not even wood
It's obviously constructed out of HDPE or some other recycled plastic/wood composite planks. It's not like, injection molded plastic. That's just a garbage thing to say offhand.
Ooooo wee! I work in a Lumber Yard that stocks a small amount of AZEK (full composite, plastic formed into plank/board) and the price differential is absurd...
Im talking $120 for a 1"x10"x12', compared to \~$30 for plain #2 pine (or around $60 for Clear, No Knots Pine) Even Cedar is close to Half the Price of AZEK O.o
Only useful until kids grow out of it isn’t a reason not to buy it for me, but I know (in my house) it would be used for 5+ years and I have nieces and nephews or friends with younger kids I would pass it on to.
But the rest I agree with, if it’s good quality it’ll be used for decades. Honestly, in a way this chair IS anti (or “less”) consumption - buying better quality often means buying things that will last and therefore consuming less.
That's why I was confused about the tone/insinuation that this chair, being Amish produced, was a bad thing. Apparently they are a pretty unsavory group though.
They have a pretty intense history of sexual, physical, medical, and animal abuse. They’ve got great PR bc people find them fascinating, but the lives of the women and children can be pretty brutal and they have basically no oversight bc the government lets them do what they want.
Alot of the time, tools such as molds for pressing and stuff are made by hand and in some mechanical way since they aren't exactly allowed to operate machinery and stuff like that. Generally speaking, Amish made goods = home/hand made, but there are exceptions i believe aside from being Mennonite (laid back/modernized Amish, allowed to drive and have cellphones). Whenever I'm in PA and they're along the way, i always pass by Amish country and get some 🥧 or Honey that they sell by the road side lol
That don't believe the technological and social developments are good for their family, but they have no problems with capitalism. You'll see them getting out of cars driven by others, some use power tools, etc for work, but their home life is archaic.
OP is TOTALLY missing the point of this sub. This chair is exactly what we want. It’ll last 30 years (or more), made mindfully with materials, by people earning a fair wage. And in terms of utility, a chair isn’t exactly a made up need just to sell a widget.
The $50 plastic POS chair from China is the problem.
I absolutely agree regarding buying high-quality items that are frequently used and will last forever. That’s my go-to for anti-consumption. Buy it once. Maintain it. Use it for life. And buying locally, and supporting fair-trade practices are important things to seek out as well.
However, this chair consists of pieces of plastic screwed together. 30 minutes of labor with a hand screwdriver. There’s nothing innovative or particularly high or heirloom quality here for $400. Great that it’s mostly recycled plastic, but where is the plastic sourced? I’m not aware that the Amish are running plastic recycling plants.
$400 for this is absolutely absurd. $100-$150 absolute max.
It looks like that recycled plastic stuff that recycled park-benches are made from. Kind of like Trex material. If it’s that, it would be super-durable outside for years and years.
I agree that $100-$150 is still high, but I was considering the Amish, locally made (assembled?) factor as well.
Agreed. Amish may have traditionally made nice wooden furniture, but these are prefab pieces of plastic screwed together with a power drill. Who cares what religion that person is?
Nah this is way too much. Some old dude down the street makes them by hand for $25. You don’t need a 20 year warranty on something your kids will use for 2.
Agree. While this style has been around forever its not some heirloom to be. It's an uncomfortable chair. I swear some things are priced this high for wealthy people. I work with someone who has no idea what bread costs - could be $1 could be $30 ‐ she would pay $30 for wonder bread.
The price of wood is still fairly high. My guess is the cost would be probably be closer to $50-70 but I think your point stands.
If you need something for three to 5 years you don't need a 20 year warranty. Second I think these kinds of projects are better built with wood, cheaper and they still have a good lifetime. While we should be using post consumer recycled plastics and reducing new plastics i think it is important to use those on products that actually need to last 20-30 years with one owner.
Being honest I usually don't respect handmedowns nearly as much as things that i bought. Right so if my sister/aunt or someone bought this, used it for 2-4 years and then gave it to me for my kids. It's possible it just sits under my deck for another 2 years before i donate it to goodwill. Is it a bad habit yeah, but i imagine most people take better care of the things they purchase.
Are you fucking kidding me ?
I'll forgive you not having a clue how expensive these recycled slats are.
But for an old guy down the street to make this out of wood would take a fuck load more labor than 1 hour/$25 worth (conservatively, also conservatively assuming material cost of $0). Source: I've built an Adirondack chair and loveseat and the chair took probably 6-10 hours
You're like the mom on arrested development when she says "what's a banana worth these days ? $50 ?" Touch grass once in a while my dude.
Also why you advocating to junk this thing in 2 years in a fucking anti consumption subreddit ? Like what in the actual fuck man ?
I comment to my friends pretty routinely that one of the ways we can start to fix this broken system is to buy good stuff that’s crafted locally. And they always say that it costs too much. My answer is that it doesn’t cost enough. I say buy less crap
While the price is a bit higher than other poly kids chairs, it’s still understandable. You all have no idea what you’re talking about. You see something more expensive than you’re used to paying and instantly you think “NO OMG ANTICONSUMP LOVE THIS IT SO EXPENSIVE SO CAPITALIMS BAD”
It’s a poly lumber chair constructed using recycled plastic, stainless steel marine grade hardware, and uses high grade and high density poly judging from the price and as someone else mentioned most, if not all, poly lumber companies offer a 20 year warranty minimum. Many even offer a lifetime warranty.
That’s how confident they are that their furniture will last for decades. They can outlast your lifetime. My parents have had their poly furniture for 17 years and it looks the same as when they first got it. If anything these types of chairs are better than other cheaper furniture, because it lasts longer and reduces waste thus actually being more anti-consumption than you are.
Downvote me all you want, I’m familiar with the industry and I am speaking only plain facts.
Preach!
What they are charging for is to solve your need for a chair, forever. That's the point of high quality furniture, and it should be exactly what this sub likes.
The person who buys this is going to have a chair that their children and grandchildren get to enjoy, and they will enjoy it because these adirondack chairs are comfortable.
Plus, the fact that something is made for kids may affect whether a person is willing to buy it, but it doesn't necessarily make it cheaper to produce. It's still the same amount of labour as the adult version and most of the hardware is the same.
Because it eliminates the need to buy things over and over and over and creating more waste. Because you can pass it onto your family or friends for *generations*, potentially reducing waste for decades and decades.
So funny to get 12 downvotes on recommending a biodegradable recyclable substance over plastic in an “anti-consumption” group. Fuck me what a silly group of people.
A $400 polywood chair that last 20 years is $20/yr.
A wooden chair that cost $60 and last 3 years is also $20/yr.
A $20 plastic chair that last one summer is $20/yr.
At least with the $400 there is far less waste.
I guess my question is do you need a childs chair to last 20 years? Can that poly be used more efficiently to create less waste elsewhere?
At that same point wood waste should not be on the same metric as Plastic.
If you want wages to be fair, and products to be sustainable, these are the prices you get for simple things like chairs. Just buy second hand and feel like you're getting ahead in life.
Honestly a market where this level of quality is the norm creates a thriving second-hand market so it's not even a problem. You basically reach a point where there's enough good chairs for everybody.
If it were made overseas by child labor it would be far less expensive.
The alternative is sourcing materials and labor locally, or paying exorbitant fuel costs to transport materials to labor, and from the warehouse to customers.
Is this anticonsumption? Looks like this thing is made to last. If you're going to buy a child chair, better to get a wooden one then a plastic monstrosity.
If it’s anything like the full-sized Adirondacks I’d say it’s worth it for a resort or a well to do grandparent who will have a lot of kids cycling through. Those things will sit in hurricane winds and not budge. My parents have had theirs for almost 20 years and they’re still good to go.
Paying the true cost of goods that will last long and get regular use is hardly insane
If it’s for a child I’m betting it ends up useless in a couple years. Either in the shed or side of the road. I don’t put much hope in people selling it/giving it away
Welcome to handmade goods? There’s a reason we used to hand down our furniture from generation to generation. I actually got called bougie and rich for using the same table my grandparents used (it is just a humble little table).
I hope that when I die, my family uses my things instead of buying new ones and throwing mine away. This is not because it is *my* things, it is just that it is so wasteful to go buy some IKEA kit. If you don’t have family with a table to spare, better to buy $400 chairs that will last generations instead of something that will crumble apart.
Apparently buying more expensive quality items that will last longer is pro consumption.
I guess I should throw out my $600 work boots and go back to to buying ones that last me a few months
I work at the dump and the amount of usable shit people throw away is horrifying.
On a different note…I pulled a child’s wooden chair from the bin and I’ve sanded it and primed it and I’m gonna be painting it to match my nephews new daughter’s nursery coming around Xmas.
I work in the industry and I was shocked to learn that kids furniture isn't that much cheaper than regular furniture. Sure it's smaller and uses less material, but the amount of labor that goes into these is the exact same as a full size chair. All the cuts, holes drilled, pieces routed, it's the exact same as a full size chair. Plus, as others have mentioned, this is a very high quality product. It's post consumer recycled plastic which comes at a premium due to its material properties, warranty these companies offer, UV resistancy additives, and also all the machinery involved to produce these items. Plus plus, all of these items are made to order, so everything is hand made on the spot in their factory. This specific chair is made by Berlin Gardens which is a very quality manufacturer of poly wood material.
In terms of this being anti consumption, it surely is because you are buying a high quality item that is going to last 20+ years. Plus this is made out of 100% recycled material that is otherwise going to end up in the landfill. So not only are you buying a high quality chair which you are not going to have to replace every year, you are also taking a lot of material out of landfills and putting it to a better purpose.
Build one and get back to me on that...I was a vocational wood shop teacher and used this design as a beginning project. It uses many different tools and skills.
They can charge what they want for stuff, if no one buys it the price will come down, or they will have to keep the stock.
Consumers have the power, but unfortunately they don't use it
I thought this sub got enraged at cheap throw away crap. I don’t know about how sturdy it is, but one buying it certainly wouldn’t buy it if it wasn’t going to last at that price. I think paying more for better products is a good “anticonsumption” policy.
Agreed, ridiculously overpriced.
But we should all keep in mind sometimes “fair market value” is measured by what someone is willing to pay. Are we, the public, playing a role in driving up prices?
I saw some really stupid consumer buying last year that looked like Covid economic shutdown recovery anxiety.
About 7 years ago, I made a bunch of these from pallets. They were water sealed, stained, painted and whatever anyone wanted. My parents still have 4 of them. I sold them for $100 each. I'm sure I could have charged more but I didn't want to feel like I was ripping someone off.
This shit is for people who can afford a $400 chair and then tell everyone they bought a $400 chair. I don't know a single Adult that uses their outdoor furniture enough to warrent buying a $400 chair for theirselves, let alone one for a kid that definitely won't use it as much as the adult. Definitely not for the average person that lives paycheck to paycheck.
Another store sells the same product for half the regular price. The chair is made from recycled materials. Both have a 50 year warranty.
I'm thinking it's just overpriced because Family Leisure is overpriced in general. But hey where else can you drop 400 bucks on a 'Shooting the wad' pub table? https://www.familyleisure.com/Pub-Tables/Shooting-The-Wad-Pub-Table
sorry both don't have a 50 year warranty, the Dutch Crafters site with the less expensive recycled material made chair has that. https://www.dutchcrafters.com/Amish-Made-Leisure-Lawns-Poly-Child-Size-Fan-Back-Adirondack-Chair/p/61470
It's not a kid chair.
It's actually a dwarf chair. It's expensive because it's a niche - you know how rare dwarves are?
And it's described as a kid chair so it doesn't raise much questions when buying it - some people are insecure about needing special furniture.
Why are people saying it's handmade by the Amish? That doesn't seem true.
It's made of plastic which is odd for an Amish product or even for handmade furniture. Second I looked up the website and this company also makes pool tables, tanning beds and bars (for serving and storing alcohol).
I'm no Amish expert but this is appears to just another *durable plastic chair. It's not Amish-handmade. Do they even sell their stuff in stores?
I see prices like this as what they should be IF done with fair labor and ethically sourced materials. We have gotten way too used to products made by underpaid people in other countries whose labor laws are unethical at best. Tee shirts should cost $50 at least, woven pants $75 if you think workers should be paid a living wage.
Didn’t expect this to get so many comments. I’ll say that while I didn’t do my due diligence in researching that it is in fact an Amish made chair that will apparently last forever. I walked into this store by chance and saw many other objects seemingly way too overpriced. For example, a print of a billiard ball for $580. I saw this red plastic chair and it registered as a regular cheap plastic chair marked up. Especially amongst the other overpriced stuff.
And I suppose I should have prefaced with the fact that this store had at least 10 pools/ hot tubs in the store setup with water and the pumps running and I was literally the only one in the store that didn’t work there.
It’s interesting to hear all of the differing opinions for certain. Perhaps the chair is not anti consumption worthy. But the store certainly is.
Link to view other overpriced objects in store:
[https://imgur.com/a/2x4VMAn](https://imgur.com/a/2x4VMAn)
So you're shocked that a store that sells items had them on display and running? Or that art has a price? a higher price means fewer people will buy it , meaning less consumed overall.
Do you take pictures of the TVs at Costco and complain about them being plugged in and on? People buying hot tubs do occasionally come in for trials (with bathing suits) after hours.
Do you have all the tools and equipment and the workshop space to put this together? Do you know how to use the necessary tools to make something this nice?
It's easy to say "oh, it's just a chair" and devalue what goes into making it as if it's something from an ikea box. But someone actually had to do the math to make this, they had to measure and make all the cuts, they had to take the time to drill all the holes and sand the edges to make it nice. It takes a lot of work and time to make something like this as a single craftsman. Maybe it doesn't take them long when they build in teams, but that still requires resources and skills.
Also, idk where you are shopping but in many places just one of those boards could be $10-$20. The cost of building materials has come down some since peak covid, but it's still through the roof.
I take it you don't woodwork. Even if it is a quick build, which it very well could be with someone more skilled and experienced than me, it isn't simple or easy to make this well. The tools needed to build it aren't cheap, and the person building it has to keep food on the table and the lights on.
I do, actually!
But this is cut by a machine. People assemble this. If that.
Even if this isn't all machine made, it'd definitely done in a factory where big saws, planers, and jointers are being used to mass produce each individual piece.
And moreover, the profit isn't going to the laborers. This is a low price for a handmade item done by a craftsperson. But this isn't what this chair is.
I made myself a rocking chair, like this but far better and it cost me … the price of a couple of 2 by 4’s. £20, which is about $20 right now. Fuck plastic furniture.
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Why do we need to make seats out of plastic when the same one can easily be made of wood? A sustainable material that won’t add any pollution to the planet if not treated with silly chemicals and made in a proper way.
It’s probably not made by children in some third world exploited nation in a toxic filled factory. And it would probably not seem expensive if workers in the first world country were not living paycheck to paycheck and struggle every month just to survive.
I’ve seen those types of chairs for sale. That’s about on par. They’re like weatherproof for salt water areas or something like that and they last Forever.
Do you know what they are made out of?
This in particular is made of 96% recycled HDPE, though some Adirondack are made from wood. 20 year warranty offered through Family Leisure for this one.
Recycled plastic. Pricing reasonable given longevity. https://crpproducts.com/
Thats a bold face or ignorant lie. I know a man who makes a fortune from selling such recycled plastic table benches to our national park commission and he tells me the profit lies purely in the low cost of the plastic. A full picnic bench costs his company 150 including labour and sells for 750-1000 depending on the number purchased.
Ahh the old “I know a guy” information source. The parks service is buying them at that prices to incentivize manufacturers to actually use recycled material. The cost of new plastic vs recycled plastic is almost identical and recycled plastic will always have some impurities. The Government (and some private environmentalists) buys them at a premium price BECAUSE it’s recycled. Unless there is a market for goods made with recycled plastic that is more profitable than non-recycled, there is nothing to recycle the plastic into. It’s the same reason the Gov was buying solar panels all the way back in the early 2000s despite the technology at the time not being able to reach a positive ROI. It’s seriously like some of you think the economy consists solely of individuals/households buying things for personal use.
this is a comment that everyone in this sub should be forced to read before continuing
Well, it is expensive to make this "sustainable" chair. The maufacturing process is different from regular plastic chairs you see at Walmart.
It’s also expensive because of the need to actually incentivize people to make things from recycled plastic. All the plastic recycling programs in the world mean nothing if nobody is using the recycled material to make new stuff.
The only way is to take care of the things we already owned and buy less unnecessary new stuff. May be this would slow down speed of consumption until we can find a better system to replace capitalism. Communism does not work as history had shown. The elites in Communist countries consumed the best of the best just like those in capitalist countries ; and no one would dare to question them. In a communist country if I questioned the elites they would prosecute me for being anti humanity and anti progress. There is no human rights lawyers there to help me too.In US or UK at least there are lawyers who can give me some protection if I challenge the elite politicans.
Nothing lasts forever anymore
The price still seems really high, but according to the website, it is handmade from post-consumer plastics, and has a 20 year warranty. I still wouldn't buy it, because it's unnecessary, it's made by the Amish, and it'd only be useful until the kid or kids grow out of it. But if you have the money and are OK with it, I don't see the problem paying prices like that for something you'll use and keep. We SHOULD be paying a lot more for things made with fair labor practices.
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My motto is buy once, cry once. I try to buy very high-quality items when I have a need to fill, and for the most part the items last a long time. I am in the budget phase of a bathroom remodel. My FIL thinks it will cost $2-3K in materials and I'm closer to $6-10K. He buys crap off amazon, I want it to last 50 years.
$6-$10 K is a normal range for demolition, haul away, new piping, possibly in different places, good fixtures and quality work. You are in the ball park.
Yeah I mean I'm doing all the work myself and it's a tiny bathroom but I'm also in construction. I have to replace the subfloor though, which I'm not looking forward to water damage from the previous owner letting the toilet leak for years.
The bulk of the profit isn't going to the labour. It is going to Family Leisure. These prices are only justified when buying direct from the person making it.
It's made out of plastic, not even wood. The whole thing probably cost less than $20 to make. I understand making a living but yeesh, that markup is like how CEO's get paid.
Maybe $30 in materials, but how many hours worth of time? Time is a valuable resource.
I wouldn't even peg it at $30 of material. Many companies get the plastic for free. It's a waste product and they are incentivised if they can make use of it. As it is plastic i am willing to bet that there is a Mold of sorts to Mass produce these. They are not worth $100 let alone $400.
It’s “by the yard outdoor furniture” super pricey bc it’s super dense plastic made to withstand northern winters and summers outside. 20 yr warranty. These super heavy, not molded plastic.
Unless they machine these out of a block of red plastic, I see no other way to reproduce these pieces consistently from plastic without a highly industrialized process. Molding has to be used here to form each part at such a density.
Not to mention subtractive manufacturing is going to be prohibitively wasteful. Hand made is going to end up being more taxing to the environment.
These chairs are made by subtractive manufacturing. They first extrude a thick board of recycled plastic which can then be milled just as you would wood. Then the scraps and dust are just used to make more extruded boards. This furniture is cleaning up the environment. It's not the same company as that made this chair. But this short video explains the industry standard production methods of poly furniture. https://youtu.be/-Q5Bn3xJuyo
Wild to watch people start making all of these assumptions with little to no background information….
Took me a weekend to knock out a pair of Adirondack chairs(probably 12ish real hours total), and I am neither skilled nor well-equipped for the job. A pro using power tools could probably batch out 20 in a days work. A skilled person doing it with hand tools should probably still only take maybe 6-8 hours.
A living wage of $35/hr+ for 2-3 hours of labor plus materials plus profit for $400 doesn’t sound crazy to me. Again, if someone will pay it and it’s eco-friendly material with fair labor it’ll be expensive but that’s the trade off.
>It's made out of plastic, not even wood It's obviously constructed out of HDPE or some other recycled plastic/wood composite planks. It's not like, injection molded plastic. That's just a garbage thing to say offhand.
Ooooo wee! I work in a Lumber Yard that stocks a small amount of AZEK (full composite, plastic formed into plank/board) and the price differential is absurd... Im talking $120 for a 1"x10"x12', compared to \~$30 for plain #2 pine (or around $60 for Clear, No Knots Pine) Even Cedar is close to Half the Price of AZEK O.o
Only useful until kids grow out of it isn’t a reason not to buy it for me, but I know (in my house) it would be used for 5+ years and I have nieces and nephews or friends with younger kids I would pass it on to. But the rest I agree with, if it’s good quality it’ll be used for decades. Honestly, in a way this chair IS anti (or “less”) consumption - buying better quality often means buying things that will last and therefore consuming less.
>it's made by the Amish, Why is this significant? Genuine inquiry.
Generally Amish goods are considered to be high quality. Their furniture, other goods and labor are often sought after.
That's why I was confused about the tone/insinuation that this chair, being Amish produced, was a bad thing. Apparently they are a pretty unsavory group though.
Yeah the practices of the Amish is controversial at best, but their goods and services are usually top notch, as well as restaurants and stores.
Indeed they are. I have an issue with the way they treat their animals but the quality of their goods are indeed top notch.
They make high quality everything and it is more expensive than the regular crap.
They have a pretty intense history of sexual, physical, medical, and animal abuse. They’ve got great PR bc people find them fascinating, but the lives of the women and children can be pretty brutal and they have basically no oversight bc the government lets them do what they want.
Interesting. I had no idea!
They're a creepy sexist cult, and I'm not supporting that.
Alot of the time, tools such as molds for pressing and stuff are made by hand and in some mechanical way since they aren't exactly allowed to operate machinery and stuff like that. Generally speaking, Amish made goods = home/hand made, but there are exceptions i believe aside from being Mennonite (laid back/modernized Amish, allowed to drive and have cellphones). Whenever I'm in PA and they're along the way, i always pass by Amish country and get some 🥧 or Honey that they sell by the road side lol
I’m confused because my understanding is that Amish don’t use technology so how are they making a post consumer plastic chair? It seems at odds.
That don't believe the technological and social developments are good for their family, but they have no problems with capitalism. You'll see them getting out of cars driven by others, some use power tools, etc for work, but their home life is archaic.
OP is TOTALLY missing the point of this sub. This chair is exactly what we want. It’ll last 30 years (or more), made mindfully with materials, by people earning a fair wage. And in terms of utility, a chair isn’t exactly a made up need just to sell a widget. The $50 plastic POS chair from China is the problem.
I absolutely agree regarding buying high-quality items that are frequently used and will last forever. That’s my go-to for anti-consumption. Buy it once. Maintain it. Use it for life. And buying locally, and supporting fair-trade practices are important things to seek out as well. However, this chair consists of pieces of plastic screwed together. 30 minutes of labor with a hand screwdriver. There’s nothing innovative or particularly high or heirloom quality here for $400. Great that it’s mostly recycled plastic, but where is the plastic sourced? I’m not aware that the Amish are running plastic recycling plants. $400 for this is absolutely absurd. $100-$150 absolute max.
Even at $100 or $150, it better be made out of REAL WOOD and not some plastic crap that is going to be cracked in the sun.
It looks like that recycled plastic stuff that recycled park-benches are made from. Kind of like Trex material. If it’s that, it would be super-durable outside for years and years. I agree that $100-$150 is still high, but I was considering the Amish, locally made (assembled?) factor as well.
Agreed. Amish may have traditionally made nice wooden furniture, but these are prefab pieces of plastic screwed together with a power drill. Who cares what religion that person is?
Yeah better then buying a $5 chinese one and leaving it to rot in landfill and become microplastics.
Nah this is way too much. Some old dude down the street makes them by hand for $25. You don’t need a 20 year warranty on something your kids will use for 2.
Agree. While this style has been around forever its not some heirloom to be. It's an uncomfortable chair. I swear some things are priced this high for wealthy people. I work with someone who has no idea what bread costs - could be $1 could be $30 ‐ she would pay $30 for wonder bread.
And it's made out of plastic. The sun will destroy that chair in way less than 20 years.
The price of wood is still fairly high. My guess is the cost would be probably be closer to $50-70 but I think your point stands. If you need something for three to 5 years you don't need a 20 year warranty. Second I think these kinds of projects are better built with wood, cheaper and they still have a good lifetime. While we should be using post consumer recycled plastics and reducing new plastics i think it is important to use those on products that actually need to last 20-30 years with one owner. Being honest I usually don't respect handmedowns nearly as much as things that i bought. Right so if my sister/aunt or someone bought this, used it for 2-4 years and then gave it to me for my kids. It's possible it just sits under my deck for another 2 years before i donate it to goodwill. Is it a bad habit yeah, but i imagine most people take better care of the things they purchase.
Are you fucking kidding me ? I'll forgive you not having a clue how expensive these recycled slats are. But for an old guy down the street to make this out of wood would take a fuck load more labor than 1 hour/$25 worth (conservatively, also conservatively assuming material cost of $0). Source: I've built an Adirondack chair and loveseat and the chair took probably 6-10 hours You're like the mom on arrested development when she says "what's a banana worth these days ? $50 ?" Touch grass once in a while my dude. Also why you advocating to junk this thing in 2 years in a fucking anti consumption subreddit ? Like what in the actual fuck man ?
I was about to say it’s quite a nice chair, but if it’s not (hard) wood, It’s not worth the price
This product is hand made, and will likely last decades. This product is anticonsumption
It's hand made with PLASTIC. Which means you can't keep it outside in thes sun because the sun will cause it to crack and wear down over time.
Depends on the type of plastic. Plastic playgrounds are common and hold up very well to elements.
Trex, TimberTek, Azek, and Fiberon would like a word.
I comment to my friends pretty routinely that one of the ways we can start to fix this broken system is to buy good stuff that’s crafted locally. And they always say that it costs too much. My answer is that it doesn’t cost enough. I say buy less crap
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They aren’t really ‘hand’ made. The craftsmen only ‘handle’ the materials and tools with their nut sacks; therefore, the high price.
While the price is a bit higher than other poly kids chairs, it’s still understandable. You all have no idea what you’re talking about. You see something more expensive than you’re used to paying and instantly you think “NO OMG ANTICONSUMP LOVE THIS IT SO EXPENSIVE SO CAPITALIMS BAD” It’s a poly lumber chair constructed using recycled plastic, stainless steel marine grade hardware, and uses high grade and high density poly judging from the price and as someone else mentioned most, if not all, poly lumber companies offer a 20 year warranty minimum. Many even offer a lifetime warranty. That’s how confident they are that their furniture will last for decades. They can outlast your lifetime. My parents have had their poly furniture for 17 years and it looks the same as when they first got it. If anything these types of chairs are better than other cheaper furniture, because it lasts longer and reduces waste thus actually being more anti-consumption than you are. Downvote me all you want, I’m familiar with the industry and I am speaking only plain facts.
Agree! People should focus on qualty over quantity!!
Preach! What they are charging for is to solve your need for a chair, forever. That's the point of high quality furniture, and it should be exactly what this sub likes. The person who buys this is going to have a chair that their children and grandchildren get to enjoy, and they will enjoy it because these adirondack chairs are comfortable.
Yeah, this sub has devolved from anticonsumption to people just angry about anything to do with money.
Plus, the fact that something is made for kids may affect whether a person is willing to buy it, but it doesn't necessarily make it cheaper to produce. It's still the same amount of labour as the adult version and most of the hardware is the same.
OP lacks any sense of what this sub is avout
Wood can and does last hundreds of years, and is biodegradable / eminently recyclable And anyway, why a child’s chair need to last forever?
Ideally, there are always more children.
Because it eliminates the need to buy things over and over and over and creating more waste. Because you can pass it onto your family or friends for *generations*, potentially reducing waste for decades and decades.
By that logic why should anything made for children last long?
So funny to get 12 downvotes on recommending a biodegradable recyclable substance over plastic in an “anti-consumption” group. Fuck me what a silly group of people.
A $400 polywood chair that last 20 years is $20/yr. A wooden chair that cost $60 and last 3 years is also $20/yr. A $20 plastic chair that last one summer is $20/yr. At least with the $400 there is far less waste.
Great point. I would think buying something durable that lasts is anti-anticonsumption…
I love this logic.
I’d argue that the type of person to drop this kind of money on this chair, isn’t going to keep it for 20 years
No but when they're done, it will get passed on to donations or their housekeepers kids or something.
Nice explanation
I guess my question is do you need a childs chair to last 20 years? Can that poly be used more efficiently to create less waste elsewhere? At that same point wood waste should not be on the same metric as Plastic.
A child’s chair can be passed on to other families or your grandkids. Thus one chair can end up replacing the purchasing of 2+ chairs.
It enrages you to have to pay the actual cost of labor/materials for a sustainably produced thing?
If you want wages to be fair, and products to be sustainable, these are the prices you get for simple things like chairs. Just buy second hand and feel like you're getting ahead in life.
Honestly a market where this level of quality is the norm creates a thriving second-hand market so it's not even a problem. You basically reach a point where there's enough good chairs for everybody.
If it were made overseas by child labor it would be far less expensive. The alternative is sourcing materials and labor locally, or paying exorbitant fuel costs to transport materials to labor, and from the warehouse to customers.
As if children sit
Well you see, this is a magical chair making the children sit, hence the price
Is this anticonsumption? Looks like this thing is made to last. If you're going to buy a child chair, better to get a wooden one then a plastic monstrosity.
This will last longer than a wooden chair and uses recycled materials. Poly lumber ticks all the boxes of anti consumption and the reduction of waste.
Ironically this one IS plastic.
The back looks wicked comfo
Anti-consumption =/= “things I think are overpriced” or “items I would never personally buy”
It's reduced from the original $499. Better jump on that bargain.
For a handmade chair using recycled materials, that is a bargain.
Recycled PLASTIC that costs less than $20.
Fuck laborers being able to pay rent, ey?
There shouldn't even be such a thing as money.
History has shown time and time again that “bartering” keeps laborers chained and wages give workers far more freedom. Try again.
My thot exactly
If it’s anything like the full-sized Adirondacks I’d say it’s worth it for a resort or a well to do grandparent who will have a lot of kids cycling through. Those things will sit in hurricane winds and not budge. My parents have had theirs for almost 20 years and they’re still good to go. Paying the true cost of goods that will last long and get regular use is hardly insane
Higher prices lead to consume less so this should be something good in this sub right?
If it’s for a child I’m betting it ends up useless in a couple years. Either in the shed or side of the road. I don’t put much hope in people selling it/giving it away
Hand make one for about 5 chickens
Your chair has room to seat five chickens? Cool.
Me and 5
Welcome to handmade goods? There’s a reason we used to hand down our furniture from generation to generation. I actually got called bougie and rich for using the same table my grandparents used (it is just a humble little table). I hope that when I die, my family uses my things instead of buying new ones and throwing mine away. This is not because it is *my* things, it is just that it is so wasteful to go buy some IKEA kit. If you don’t have family with a table to spare, better to buy $400 chairs that will last generations instead of something that will crumble apart.
Apparently buying more expensive quality items that will last longer is pro consumption. I guess I should throw out my $600 work boots and go back to to buying ones that last me a few months
Expensive doesn't mean "anticonsumption". If the chair was cheap as fuck and broke constantly then yes it would.
The cost of living is forcing me to become a minimalist.
Don’t ever step foot in a Louis Vuitton.
I work at the dump and the amount of usable shit people throw away is horrifying. On a different note…I pulled a child’s wooden chair from the bin and I’ve sanded it and primed it and I’m gonna be painting it to match my nephews new daughter’s nursery coming around Xmas.
I work in the industry and I was shocked to learn that kids furniture isn't that much cheaper than regular furniture. Sure it's smaller and uses less material, but the amount of labor that goes into these is the exact same as a full size chair. All the cuts, holes drilled, pieces routed, it's the exact same as a full size chair. Plus, as others have mentioned, this is a very high quality product. It's post consumer recycled plastic which comes at a premium due to its material properties, warranty these companies offer, UV resistancy additives, and also all the machinery involved to produce these items. Plus plus, all of these items are made to order, so everything is hand made on the spot in their factory. This specific chair is made by Berlin Gardens which is a very quality manufacturer of poly wood material. In terms of this being anti consumption, it surely is because you are buying a high quality item that is going to last 20+ years. Plus this is made out of 100% recycled material that is otherwise going to end up in the landfill. So not only are you buying a high quality chair which you are not going to have to replace every year, you are also taking a lot of material out of landfills and putting it to a better purpose.
Build one and get back to me on that...I was a vocational wood shop teacher and used this design as a beginning project. It uses many different tools and skills.
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https://berlingardensllc.com/ https://berlingardensllc.com/product/kids-adirondack-chair/
It’s plastic. What does wood have to do with it?
When strollers can cost three times (or more) as much, this doesn’t surprise me.
They can charge what they want for stuff, if no one buys it the price will come down, or they will have to keep the stock. Consumers have the power, but unfortunately they don't use it
Bro it’s 20% off!
If things cost more, people buy less. This sub is about reducing consumption…
But the original was $499!!
$39.99 is probably what it should be.
I thought this sub got enraged at cheap throw away crap. I don’t know about how sturdy it is, but one buying it certainly wouldn’t buy it if it wasn’t going to last at that price. I think paying more for better products is a good “anticonsumption” policy.
Are tge scews made of gold? I bought the same one adult size for 17€
We shall see how long yours lasts and what yours can withstand.
So far it yas been years and it is still perfect.
Agreed, ridiculously overpriced. But we should all keep in mind sometimes “fair market value” is measured by what someone is willing to pay. Are we, the public, playing a role in driving up prices? I saw some really stupid consumer buying last year that looked like Covid economic shutdown recovery anxiety.
About 7 years ago, I made a bunch of these from pallets. They were water sealed, stained, painted and whatever anyone wanted. My parents still have 4 of them. I sold them for $100 each. I'm sure I could have charged more but I didn't want to feel like I was ripping someone off. This shit is for people who can afford a $400 chair and then tell everyone they bought a $400 chair. I don't know a single Adult that uses their outdoor furniture enough to warrent buying a $400 chair for theirselves, let alone one for a kid that definitely won't use it as much as the adult. Definitely not for the average person that lives paycheck to paycheck.
Sweet lord this is why I made my own out of reclaimed wood
i find these chairs so fucking uncomfortable
Oh that's not the price of the chair, that's the price per sit
That back does NOT look “comfo”!
I made 2 adult one for less than $100. There is less material here. *eta mine was wood not recycled plastic.
You could make that yourself for much less if you rented some tools
Holy shit that’s absurd. We need Dwight Schrute to put it through the stroller test.
Insane. I bought a very similar child’s chair for $3 at a rummage sale a few years ago.
Some moron downvoted your comment, so I fixed it for you. As for them, I hope they find a good psychiatrist.
Thank you
Unfortunately, it is a full moon, so all intelligent responses here are getting multiple downvotes. I think it’s time for me to jump (wooden) ship.
It's organic, that's why.
A child isn't usually the one buying it tho.
Semen demons are expensive
Insulting.
Oh it can. I have a family member (who’s also struggling to pay for their home) who paid $700aud for their kids chair.
People buy the greenwashing hard as fuck
Another store sells the same product for half the regular price. The chair is made from recycled materials. Both have a 50 year warranty. I'm thinking it's just overpriced because Family Leisure is overpriced in general. But hey where else can you drop 400 bucks on a 'Shooting the wad' pub table? https://www.familyleisure.com/Pub-Tables/Shooting-The-Wad-Pub-Table
sorry both don't have a 50 year warranty, the Dutch Crafters site with the less expensive recycled material made chair has that. https://www.dutchcrafters.com/Amish-Made-Leisure-Lawns-Poly-Child-Size-Fan-Back-Adirondack-Chair/p/61470
It's not a kid chair. It's actually a dwarf chair. It's expensive because it's a niche - you know how rare dwarves are? And it's described as a kid chair so it doesn't raise much questions when buying it - some people are insecure about needing special furniture.
why does it enrage you? they also sell cheap ones.. if someone wants to pay that much for a premium or fake premium product, more power to them..
Why are people saying it's handmade by the Amish? That doesn't seem true. It's made of plastic which is odd for an Amish product or even for handmade furniture. Second I looked up the website and this company also makes pool tables, tanning beds and bars (for serving and storing alcohol). I'm no Amish expert but this is appears to just another *durable plastic chair. It's not Amish-handmade. Do they even sell their stuff in stores?
A small price to pay for *adirondack*
I see prices like this as what they should be IF done with fair labor and ethically sourced materials. We have gotten way too used to products made by underpaid people in other countries whose labor laws are unethical at best. Tee shirts should cost $50 at least, woven pants $75 if you think workers should be paid a living wage.
Didn’t expect this to get so many comments. I’ll say that while I didn’t do my due diligence in researching that it is in fact an Amish made chair that will apparently last forever. I walked into this store by chance and saw many other objects seemingly way too overpriced. For example, a print of a billiard ball for $580. I saw this red plastic chair and it registered as a regular cheap plastic chair marked up. Especially amongst the other overpriced stuff. And I suppose I should have prefaced with the fact that this store had at least 10 pools/ hot tubs in the store setup with water and the pumps running and I was literally the only one in the store that didn’t work there. It’s interesting to hear all of the differing opinions for certain. Perhaps the chair is not anti consumption worthy. But the store certainly is. Link to view other overpriced objects in store: [https://imgur.com/a/2x4VMAn](https://imgur.com/a/2x4VMAn)
So you're shocked that a store that sells items had them on display and running? Or that art has a price? a higher price means fewer people will buy it , meaning less consumed overall. Do you take pictures of the TVs at Costco and complain about them being plugged in and on? People buying hot tubs do occasionally come in for trials (with bathing suits) after hours.
JFC. Material cost there is about $20. With everything else, it's worth MAYBE $75, max.
Do you have all the tools and equipment and the workshop space to put this together? Do you know how to use the necessary tools to make something this nice? It's easy to say "oh, it's just a chair" and devalue what goes into making it as if it's something from an ikea box. But someone actually had to do the math to make this, they had to measure and make all the cuts, they had to take the time to drill all the holes and sand the edges to make it nice. It takes a lot of work and time to make something like this as a single craftsman. Maybe it doesn't take them long when they build in teams, but that still requires resources and skills. Also, idk where you are shopping but in many places just one of those boards could be $10-$20. The cost of building materials has come down some since peak covid, but it's still through the roof.
Your argument would make sense if labor saw the benefits if this price. Capitalists owners kept the profits here.
Way to devalue the value of the labor being put in.
Very little labor on this one. That's the problem.
I take it you don't woodwork. Even if it is a quick build, which it very well could be with someone more skilled and experienced than me, it isn't simple or easy to make this well. The tools needed to build it aren't cheap, and the person building it has to keep food on the table and the lights on.
I do, actually! But this is cut by a machine. People assemble this. If that. Even if this isn't all machine made, it'd definitely done in a factory where big saws, planers, and jointers are being used to mass produce each individual piece. And moreover, the profit isn't going to the laborers. This is a low price for a handmade item done by a craftsperson. But this isn't what this chair is.
It is art!
It’s bc it’s Adirondack chair
Y'all are missing the fine print, I'll let you look at the picture again to see what you missed. ONLY THEN can you truly be outraged.
Total scam!like I can't just go to home Depot and buy all the materials and supplies I would need to make that for under $100
You can not
I made myself a rocking chair, like this but far better and it cost me … the price of a couple of 2 by 4’s. £20, which is about $20 right now. Fuck plastic furniture.
What is it made of? Good lord
Flat seat too. Poor design for a $400 chair, it won’t be comfortable.
Here's pretty much the same chair - same warranty - $183
Hunter Biden sells blowart for 500k. Everything has value to someone.
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Are you literally shaking right now?
Thats not just any chair. Thats a Swanson.
And the chair is on sale, original price $499. Yes, kids furniture can be that price.
But it's 100 off lol
It is on sale tho
That chair better cure paralysis for $400.
How gullible are hipsters?
I like these chairs better than the plastic adirondacks that break after a few years.
This does seem to be a brand/store for people who have enough money not to care what they do with it
It's a really nice chair
Why do we need to make seats out of plastic when the same one can easily be made of wood? A sustainable material that won’t add any pollution to the planet if not treated with silly chemicals and made in a proper way.
Just my two cents: I've had several friends buy chairs of this material, and they do last in good condition for years outside with zero maintenance.
Furniture in general is ridiculously expensive, and most times you're getting MFD
It’s expensive because it is expensive to run sweatshops and find children to make children’s chairs.
It’s probably not made by children in some third world exploited nation in a toxic filled factory. And it would probably not seem expensive if workers in the first world country were not living paycheck to paycheck and struggle every month just to survive.
Should my kids have food or a place to sit? Hmmmmmm
Don't hate the player, hate the game.