Over the past few years, rising inflation has reduced the purchasing power of many consumers—even when they just want to replace an item they have purchased before.
Shoppers are reckoning with rapidly increasing costs for items they had previously become accustomed to certain prices for. One IKEA shopper says she went to repurchase a mattress she originally bought in late 2021, but was shocked to find that the sticker price had jumped by almost half of what she originally paid.
In a video posted to the platform that has drawn over 1.3 million views, TikToker Jules (@ustolemysandwich) says the price jump is just one example of the heightened cost of living.
“This is just another example of why it is so expensive to live in 2024,” she says in the video. “I need to buy a new mattress for my kids, and so I went in my IKEA history to just click and reorder this mattress that I got. I ordered this in November 2021, I got a mattress and a dresser. The mattress was $179, and the dresser was $129. Remember that. Because now, that same mattress is $249.”
When Jules broke down the difference between the two prices, it came out to a 40% increase in the cost of the mattress and a 70% increase in the price of the dresser.
“It is $70 more, or 40% more than it was in November 2021, 26 months ago,” Jules says. “Then the dresser, the dresser’s now $90 more. It’s $219. $220, if you add the $0.99. 70% more. This is just another example of why it is so expensive to be an adult in 2024.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Jules via TikTok direct message regarding the video, as well as to IKEA via email.
Several viewers accused the retailer of going beyond raising prices to keep pace with inflation.
“People have to stop saying inflation and start calling it corporate greed,” one commenter wrote. “It’s a perspective that needs to be addressed.”
“It’s not inflation it’s price gouging,” another said.
“This is just another example of….corporate greed,” a third commented.
@ustolemysandwich inflation bb!!! #greenscreen ♬ original sound – jules
Others referred to past attitudes about IKEA, which has historically been regarded as an affordable option for young adults furnishing their first homes.
“They’ve gone insane, ikea used to be a good deal for cheap quality but now it’s just cheap quality and bad prices, like why,” one commented.
“IKEA used to be cheap now it’s getting close to regular furniture prices,” another user wrote.
“Ikea has gone up a crazy amount. i was looking at a bed frame and it was like $800,” a further viewer said. “Like i might as well just get a name brand atp.”
