Our guest quarters are self-contained, with a small efficiency kitchen and an independent entrance. I buy the plates, cups, wineglasses, etc. for the guest quarters from IKEA. They are inexpensive, easy to replace, and dishwasher safe. I'm not going to put my Villeroy & Boch, Ginori, and Murano glassware in the hands of a guest who, while well-meaning, might be a bit clumsy in the kitchen.
I don't know how IKEA is making any money on their online business, however. We recently decided to refresh the china, and ordered four each of 11" dinner plates, 9" side plates, 10" soup plates, and 6" rounded bowls. The whole order was about 100€, and includes shipping.
Shipment is delivered, and two of the rounded bowls are shattered, and one of the soup plates is cracked. I contact customer service, and they dispatch replacements.
Replacement shipment arrives, soup plate intact, but both rounded bowls broken.
Customer service apologizes, replacements are again dispatched, and this time ONE arrives intact, while the other is in about 8 pieces. I noted to customer service that while the bowls were wrapped thickly in packing material, whoever had prepared the shipment neglected to put any padding between the two bowls. They were just nested one inside the other!
Finally, a lone bowl made the journey and arrived unscathed.
It took FOUR shipments to complete the order, and I imagine the transport and fulfillment costs had to be in excess of the original 100€ purchase price.
Perhaps IKEA doesn't care if inexpensive items are damaged in transit, but their shipping overhead has to be ridiculously out of line if this is a common occurrence.
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