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If you stop by the as-is section at one of Ikeas U.S. stores, you might now find a vintage table from the 1980s. The company recently started accepting older products in its Buy Back & Resell program, which gives customers store credit for bringing back used items, and then offers them for sale to other customers. Since launching as a pilot in the U.S. five years ago, the programstill the only one of its kind at a major furniture retailerhas steadily expanded, underscoring the demand for circular options. The program is our opportunity to bring our products back into the store from our customers to keep them out of landfill, says Mardi Ditze, sustainability manager for Ikea U.S. [Photo: Ikea] U.S. stores recently started taking back 700 additional SKUs through the program, from vintage furniture to glassware. Last year, customers brought back 14,700 products, growing from 8,000 in 2023. Most resold within 48 to 72 hours. The brands resale program is also growing globally. Ingka Group, the largest Ikea franchise that operates stores in 31 countries, sourced nearly 690,000 used Ikea products for resale last year. Part of the appeal, especially in the current economy, is the fact that the secondhand products have a built-in discount. We’ve always had a focus on creating value for money for customers, and this strengthens our low-price offer, says Karen Pflug, chief sustainability officer for Ingka Group. Our research shows that even though we feel we’re affordable, it can still be a barrier for some people. So the secondhand offers a whole new level of affordability. [Photo: Ikea] Selling secondhand products doesnt cannibalize the companys sales of new products. Instead, its helping bring in some new customers who are looking for lower-priced options. Customers who bring in their own used products to resell typically spend more than the value of the voucher that they get for the return. “Our experience has been that when a customer comes and successfully has a buyback resale transaction, has a store credit in their hand, they are likely thinking about what their next purchase is going to be,” says Ditze. “That transaction could happen as soon as that day, and that gift card gets applied to the purchase that they were thinking about doing.” Ikea also offers a peer-to-peer resale option in a handful of countries, with plans to expand this year. Customers who want to resell something scan their product with Ikea’s app, and then automatically get price recommendations, measurements, descriptions, assembly instructions, and professional product photos for their listing, helping remove some of the friction of posting an ad yourself on another platform like eBay or Facebook Marketplace. Sellers also get either cash or a 15% digital refund card that they can use at Ikea. Left: a page from a 1979 Ikea catalog with the Billy bookcase. Right: a newer iteration of the Billy, ca. 2022. [Photos: Ikea] The work is part of Ikea’s larger effort to become a circular company, meaning that it keeps products and materials in use as long as possible, shifts to recycled and renewable materials, and eliminates waste throughout the supply chain. Inter Ikea, the part of the brand that handles design, is also beginning to redesign products for longevity. The classic Billy bookcase, for example, now has more resilient materials and snap-in attachments instead of nails in the back, so it can be disassembled and reassembled more quicklyand more easily be resold and moved. Ikea has also long offered free parts to repair products if a screw is lost, and sofa covers to help furniture stay in use longer if it gets a stain. Some stores in Europe have tested repair programs for resold items. Ikea is actively finding new recycling options for when products do wear out completelyor if they can’t easily be resold because of hygiene reasons. The company invested in a mattress recycling startup, for example, which can harvest parts from springs to foam for use in new mattresses. And by 2030, Ikea is aiming for a third of the wood in its products to be recycled. “One part of it is creating a closed-loop circular stream for ourselves because of resource materials coming in,” says Pflug. “But the other is just doing the right thing from a circular economy point of view.” [Photo: Ikea] On the resale front, Ikea is tapping into momentum that alread existed. In Europe, Pflug says that Ikea products make up around 9% of the secondhand furniture market. But the company’s efforts could help nudge more people to take the time to give items a second life rather than throwing them out. Other brands could follow the same approach. “Customers already see the value of our products but also the value of secondhand furniture in general, and are doing it themselves,” says Pflug. “So if you want to have a part of that conversation and a part of that market, you have to make sure you’re being accessible and affordable and removing the barriers and pain points for people to do it. I think that’s when you’ll then get the demand.”
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E-Commerce
On January 23rd, outside an elementary school in Santa Monica, California, a Waymo vehicle hit a child. Thats what we know for sure. It sounds shocking, horrifying even. And its already giving plenty of groups cover to demand that California revoke Waymos license to operate its cars. But the details matter. And once you start digging a bit, the scary headline about a kid struck down by a heartless robot clearly isnt the whole story. In fact, accidents like this provide a lens through which to improve both human and robot drivingand even save lives. Braking Hard The specifics of the incident in Santa Monica are still coming out. As it does with any potential safety incident involving a self-driving car, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration is actively investigating. That investigationas well as a voluntary statement from Waymois already revealing quite a lot of nuance. It appears that the incident happened during drop off time at the SoCal school. A Waymo vehicle appears to have been driving among vehicles operated by parents delivering their kids. As often happens during stressful school dropoffs (I have three kids, so believe me, I know!), a large SUV had double-parked, blocking part of the roadway. As the Waymo approached the double-parked SUV, a child ran out from behind the SUV and into the roadway, directly in front of the Waymo. The next bit is crucial. Waymo says that its vehicle …braked hard, reducing speed from approximately 17 mph to under 6 mph before contact was made. Waymo doesnt specify the exact distances involved. But dropping 11mph in a split second represents a slamming-on of the brakes, not a gentle slowdown. Its an aggressive move. And it may very well have saved a life. Waymo says thatbecause its vehicle was traveling only 6mph when it made contact with the childthe pedestrian stood up immediately and walked to the sidewalk on their own. Waymo called 911 and reported the incident to authorities. The company initially said that the child sustained minor injuries, but its not clear what injuries, if any, actually happened. The Problem With People To be clear, any time a child gets hit by a car, its a horrible incident. Its good that the NHTSA is investigating. As a parent, I feel for the parents involved hereseeing your kid hit by any vehicle must be terrifying. But before drawing any broader conclusions about the safety of self-driving cars, its important to consider the question: Would a human driver have handled this situation any better? SafeKids, an advocacy organization, reports that between 2013 and 2022 almost 200 school-aged kids were killed in school zone accidents. And thats only kids. Just days before the Waymo incident, two parents were killed in a crosswalk after dropping their child off at a different California school. Why do so many people die on the way to school? Speed and distraction are the two biggest factors. SafeKids reports that as many as 10% of drivers are distracted while driving in school zonesmostly by phones and other devices. 3% of drivers observed by the group were even seen using two devices at the same timeperhaps fumbling with a Bluetooth headset while also trying to sign their kid into school on their cellphone. And most school zones, the group reports, have speed limits that are way too highunder 20mph is ideal, but most are 25mph+ Not that drivers follow those, anywayother data shows that when drivers hit kids in school zones, theyre traveling an average of 27 miles per hour. Human drivers, in other words, make tons of mistakes. Especially with the stress of traffic and the pressure to avoid the dreaded late pass, its all too easy for parents to speed and to take their eyes off the road during dropoff. Sadly, when kids are involvedwith their propensity to dart into the road, as happened in Santa Monicathat combo of speed and distraction means that people die. Worse With a Person? Again, that begs the question, in the context of Waymos incident, of whether a person would have done better than an AI-powered robot. Lets assume, for a moment, that a human was behind the wheel of the vehicle in Santa Monica. What might have gone down differently? The average human reaction time while driving is about of a second. When the child darted into the road, that means their cargoing 17mphwould have traveled about 19 feet before the driver would even perceive the presence of a pedestrian. Perhaps they would have immediately slammed on the brakes. But the NHTSA itself says that most people dont. Whether through surprise or simply a delay in processing, drivers consistently underbrake, even in potentially fatal accidents. With a person behind the wheel, its thus likely that the child in Santa Monica would have been hit at a much higher speed. Waymo says that its own independent models show a fully attentive human driver in this same situation would have made contact with the pedestrian at approximately 14 mph. And again, most drivers in school zones arent fully attentive. As SafeKids points out, theyre distracted, rushing, and speeding. Waymos arent perfect by any means. But they consistently follow speed limitssometimes to a fault. And because theyre constantly scanning the road, they react faster than peopleand hit the brakes hard when they see something even remotely concrning. They never check their phones or try to shave while ferrying passengers around. When a 5,000 robot kits a kid, theres a natural human tendency to vilify the robot. But in this specific case, the question of whether a person could have done better is far from clear. Optimize for Safety That doesnt mean we should crucify autonomous vehiclesnor does it mean we should let them off the hook. The NHTSAs investigation will probably come down to a question not of whether Waymo outperformed a human in this incident, but rather whether self-driving cars could do more to keep kids safe near schools. Indeed, NHTSA says its specifically investigating whether the Waymo AV exercised appropriate caution given, among other things, its proximity to the elementary school during drop off hours, and the presence of young pedestrians and other potential vulnerable road users. Given that Waymos can be programmed to behave a certain way in specific circumstanceand will do so consistently once the parameters are setthey provide a unique opportunity to set even higher safety standards than we apply to humans. Again, SafeKids says that most school zones have speed limits above the 20mph ideal. Theres no reason, though, that Waymo couldnt program their cars to consistently travel at a slower speed when in a school zone at pickup or dropoff times. Perhaps Waymos could always travel 15mph when traversing an active school zone. That might bug the hell out of parents navigating the pickup line, but it would keep kids safer in the event of an accident. Waymos near schools could even serve as moving traffic calming devices, forcing distracted, impatient human drivers behind them to slow down, too! Likewise, Waymo could set parameters that instruct their vehicles to slow to a crawl when approaching a double parked car near a school. SafeKids specifically calls out double parking as a big risk factor for accidents near schools. Thankfullywhether through Waymos ingenious driving (in the companys telling) or dumb luckthis incident ended with a kid walking away alive. But thats not a reason to dismiss what happened. Rather, incidents like this provide a unique opportunity to define societys rules for challenging circumstances like driving near kidsand then program them into a machine that (unlike people) will actually follow them. Asking the tough questions required to set those guidelinesand holding the reality that scary incidents are also learning experiencesis a lot harder than simply blaming the robots and reverting to the human-powered status quo. But with kids dying in school zones every year, learning the right lessons from accidents like this is absolutely crucialeven life-saving.
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E-Commerce
Most of us assume bullying is something we age out of by middle school, high school at the latest. By the time youre a professionalespecially one with credentials, experience, and a résumé you worked hard foryou expect a baseline of mutual respect. And yet. If youve spent enough time in workplaces, on boards, or in other community organizations, youve probably had that moment where your stomach tightens in a meeting and youre not entirely sure why. A comment lands sideways. A tone shifts. Someone interrupts you for the third time. You walk away replaying the exchange, wondering whether you imagined it or whether something subtle but unmistakable just happened. That confusion is often the first sign youre dealing with a workplace bully. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/11\/cupofambition.png","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/11\/cupofambition-mobile.png","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to A Cup of Ambition\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"A biweekly newsletter for high-achieving moms who value having a meaningful career \u003Cem\u003Eand\u003C\/em\u003E being an involved parent, by Jessica Wilen. To learn more visit \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/acupofambition.substack.com\/\u0022\u003Eacupofambition.substack.com\u003C\/a\u003E.","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"SIGN UP","ctaUrl":"https:\/\/acupofambition.substack.com\/","theme":{"bg":"#f5f5f5","text":"#000000","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#000000","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91454061,"imageMobileId":91454062,"shareable":false,"slug":""}} Wait, whats going on? Explosive behavior at work is disorienting precisely because it violates the story were told about professionalism. Were taught that adult leadership comes with emotional control. So when someone yells, slams a table, or lashes out publicly, people scramble to explain it away. It gets framed as stress. Passion. A bad day. A one-off. Individually, each outburst can be rationalized. Collectively, they form a pattern. These incidents tend to look like sudden escalations in meetings, disproportionate reactions to small problems, or public reprimands that feel designed to humiliate rather than correct. The volume may drop later, but the message sticks: this person can explode, and you dont want to be the target. Over time, the workplace begins to organize itself around that volatility: People self-censor, meetings narrow, feedback travels sideways instead of up, and decisions get made to avoid triggering another episode rather than to serve the work itself. At that point, the outbursts are no longer just moments of poor regulation. Theyve become a mechanism of control. This isnt about communication style or personality. Its about power and the use of fear and unpredictability to enforce it. Power is the throughline Bullies rely on ambiguity and asymmetry. They say just enough to destabilize you, but not enough to get themselves in trouble. They benefit from your hesitationyour desire to be reasonable, professional, and not make a thing out of nothing. And often, theyre counting on the fact that you have more to lose than they do. This is where so much well-meaning advice falls flat. Telling someone to just address it directly ignores the very real calculations people are making about hierarchy, reputation, and risk. Before we talk about what to do, its worth naming how context shapes the experience. What helps in the moment When something inappropriate happens in real time, your nervous system often takes over before your language does. Thats normal. The goal isnt to deliver a perfect response, but rather have a few low-drama phrases available that interrupt the behavior without escalating it. A few examples: Can you clarify what you mean by that? I want to pause for a secondI wasnt finished. Im open to feedback, just not in this format. Lets keep this focused on the work. Id rather discuss that privately. These responses work not because theyre confrontational, but because theyre steady. They shift the interaction back to neutral ground and signal that youre paying attention. If you dont say anything in the moment, that doesnt mean you missed your chance. The quieter work that matters more What happens after the interaction often matters more than what happens during it. Start by documenting patterns, not impressions. Include dates, contexts, exact language, who was present, and what the impact was. This isnt about building a case right away; its about anchoring yourself in facts when self-doubt starts creeping in. Then, reality-test with care. Choose people who are perceptive and discreetnot those who default to minimizing or catastrophizing. Ask specific questions. Did you notice X? tends to be more useful than Am I crazy? When the bully is your boss This is where advice needs to be especially honest. When the person mistreating you controls your evaluations, assignments, or future opportunities, the calculus shifts. Speaking up isnt just about courage; its about strategy. HR may feel unsafe. Direct confrontation may backfire. Silence may feel like the only viable optionfor now. If youre in this position and wondering why it feels so hard to just say something, thats not weakness, its being realistic. If your manager is the problem, direct confrontation may not be the safest or most effective option. In these cases, the most important question isnt how to change them, its how to protect yourself. That might mean keeping communication in writing. Looping others into key conversations. Reducing exposure where possible. Building alliances quietly. Exploring internal transfers. Updating your résumé before you think you need to. Leaving is not a failure. Staying and absorbing chronic disrespect is not resilience. Over time, it erodes your confidence in ways that can be surprisingly hard to undo. The myth of just be more professional People dealing with workplace bullying are often toldexplicitly or implicitlyto be more professional. What this usually translates to is being quieter, more accommodating, and less visibly affected. Professionalism does not require self-erasure. It requires judgment. It requires discernment. And sometimes, it requires deciding that an environment is incompatible with your values or your well-beingeven if you could technically survive it. What bullying really costs One of the most under-discussed aspects of workplace bullying is how much energy it consumes. The mental replaying. The strategizing. The vigilance. All of that cognitive load gets diverted away from creativity, leadership, and actual satisfaction in your work. Over time, people dont just lose confidence; they lose range, they speak less, take fewer risks and shrink their presence in rooms where they once belonged comfortably. Addressing bullying isnt about winning or proving toughness. Its about reclaiming agency. Sometimes that looks like speaking up. Sometimes it looks like documenting and planning. Sometimes it looks like choosing a different room altogether. What matters most is making those choices consciously, without self-blame, and with a clear-eyed understanding of what you deserve at work. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/11\/cupofambition.png","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/11\/cupofambition-mobile.png","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to A Cup of Ambition\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"A biweekly newsletter for high-achieving moms who value having a meaningful career \u003Cem\u003Eand\u003C\/em\u003E being an involved parent, by Jessica Wilen. To learn more visit \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/acupofambition.substack.com\/\u0022\u003Eacupofambition.substack.com\u003C\/a\u003E.","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"SIGN UP","ctaUrl":"https:\/\/acupofambition.substack.com\/","theme":{"bg":"#f5f5f5","text":"#000000","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#000000","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91454061,"imageMobileId":91454062,"shareable":false,"slug":""}}
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