It's a feature, not a bug; the chest of drawers is heavy enough already and someone's gonna have to move it someday. Making the back as thin as possible is doing a kindness to a future owner when they have to relocate the damn thing.
Yeah, that's the point. Do you want to be one of the millions of craftspeople who doesn't sweat the details? Or do you want to be exceptional?
... definitely a lesson I think many software engineers should internalize.
In other words, which percentage of your lifetime earnings would you be willing to give up to not add a plywood backboard (or the software equivalent)? 10%? 50%?
I'd happily give up 50% to not encourage that. But I am also fortunate in that 50% of a very senior SWE is still a very liveable wage.
sure, no other reason than "less stability". You may or may not need the stability, but sacrificing it so that is 2% easier to carry into a house (which happens maybe, once per 2 years for an especially nomadic person) seems to be the exact kinds of corners management likes to take.
A toast to the hardware manufacturer that considers the fact that tangible objects get moved.