American is probably on the higher end of the spectrum of the stores I mentioned, but it’s worth checking out their discount area if you missed it before.
An FYI for moving stuff locally: both Menards and Home Depot rent trucks. I’ve never used HD, but I’ve rented the Menards truck twice. The last time I used it a couple years ago it was $20 for the first hour and then they charge a little more each additonal quarter-hour. Might be cheaper than paying for delivery in some cases, but it’s first come first serve.
Well, I suppose I do have big boobies, but sometimes it’s women behind the counter and they page just as readily as men. And I’m assuming that not all of the women who work at IKEA are gay.
Really, it hasn’t even made a difference if I’m there with a man of some sort - I ask for assistance, I get assistance.
Maybe it is the Canadian thing - the staff are afraid I’ll sick my pet moose on them if they don’t help.
Not at the Schaumburg store. It’s too close to Chicago - they’re all in the back room cleaning their guns and trying to get into gangs.
No, seriously, my experience at the Schaumburg store is that you can ask, but it’s going to be a long wait for someone and they do have a tendency to wander off while you get your car. Not that I’ve had anything stolen from the loading area, either, but they’re not going to help you schlep stuff and tie it in place, if that’s what you need.
I don’t know how your local IKEA store does it, but at IKEA München-Brunnthal (south of Munich, Bavaria, Germany) they some time ago posted signs that said “Packages too heavy? For 2 Euros, our employees will load all your packages into your car. Please ask at the check-out service” (Where they hand out the packages in store - Warenausgabe - and thus have the strong guys around.
Yes - I write user manuals for a living, and I often wish I could just make little pictograms like the Ikea guy. I love the picture of the sad man holding the phone when he cannot figure out the assembly.
I am going to Ikea tomorrow, (the Canton, MI one.) I will check around to see if I notice any employees helping out people at the loading dock.
I actually think their quality is quite good, for the price. With other furniture stores I always feel like I have to wait until stuff is marked down at least 50% before it even approaches what it is really worth. Furniture has one of the biggest markups of any retail product.
Back from Ikea, and this is what I noticed. We were buying a bunch of big furniture (a couch and some chairs) and also a bunch of littler stuff. If the items you are getting are not part of the ‘self serve’ section, you have to order them from the showroom, they print you out a ticket and you take that to the cashier to pay. Then you take your receipt to the pick up area and wait (we waited about 15 minutes for them to bring our order out.) This would be a good time to go get your van and bring it to the loading dock - I am sure if you tell them you are just going to get your car that would be fine. With the couch and everything loaded on the cart with wheels thing already for me, it was easy for me to wheel it out to our van, although I am sure I would not have been able to get the couch into the van by myself, however a big strong person might be able to. Most other things there are packaged into several smaller packages that one person can reasonably load themselves. There were many employees around the pick up and delivery and loading area, that you could also ask to help you. (The $99 delivery fee that others mentioned is only for a 100 mile radius.)
If everything you are getting is from the self serve area, then it should all be reasonably packaged for one person to be able to manage on their own (provided you are in decent shape and able to lift. My husband is able to get those things by himself.)
I think if you have a cart full of stuff from self-serve, you could leave it by the pick-up area near the employees while you got your van. Otherwise, with the self-serve items, you could just leave the cart off to the side just before checking out, go get the van, and then check out (to avoid items being stolen, that way, they are not paid for and unattended.)
Obviously the easiest way is to have someone come with you, but I think you will be able to manage without another person. Even if you get everything out to the van and just can’t load something by yourself at all, my guess is a friendly person will see you and offer to help.
I recently tried shopping at IKEA for the first time. What a nightmare. They absolutely won’t help load. I live in NYC and wanted to arrange for home delivery, but they expect you to still take the items through checkout yourself. I’m a fairly strong female, but I cannot manage a 140 pound shelving unit without someone to grab the other end. The store is in a terribly inconvenient location, so it’s not easy to find a friend who is willing to waste the better part of a day to go with you to help load. I am absolutely flabbergasted that IKEA expects people to be able to load such large things without assistance. I’ve tried calling customer service to find out what they expect me to do and all I get is a song and dance about how to keep prices low it has to be self serve. What if someone sues for an injury sustained while trying to lift stuff alone? I’m ready to abandon the effort and pay more for similar items that at least i can get home!
I’m also from Calgary (Hey!) and am kinda lost on what issues you folks have. The loading area here is completely accessible. There’s a whole section of the front of the store devoted to space for people to pull their cars up load their purchases.
Plus (as noted), there’s people to help and free supplies to help you (rope, cardboard roof supports, etc). Finally, there’s a delivery service if you need it. I believe local deliveries are flat rate, but stuff out of town might cost more.
3 year old thread - Zombie IKEA. It’s like you merged two Jonathan Coulter songs: *IKEA *and Re: Your Brains.
It’s not a song and dance, it’s how it works. That’s how their prices are so low.
If you suffer an injury trying to lift stuff alone when they tell you the weight and tell you it requires two people? They’re going to be fine, it’s your problem. If you plan on buying heavy furniture at IKEA you had best not shop alone. It’s one of the quirks, along with the meatballs.
If you need somebody to help you shop and load at IKEA, have you considered a service like taskrabbit? (IKEA is even in their list of most popular tasks.) I’m sure there must be other similar services, this is just the one I am familiar with.
Was there no single IKEA employee in their uniform on the floor you could ask? When I shopped for a heavy couch with my mother, I just asked the next guy to help me lift the package from the shelf onto the wheelie, and he had no problem at all. (And no, I don’t have a big rack or blonde hair).
Of course IKEA wants to sell to dear old ladies or nerds who weigh 60 kg when wet and can’t lift heavy stuff, too, so they offer you help if you ask.
Just what did you ask customer service - how to get help in putting the parcels onto the wheelie? Or did you want them to change the business model and load everything for every customer?
IKEA wants to keep the prices low, yes; but they offer additional services like loading if you pay additionally. Which I find much fairer than loading for everybody, even the strong guys, but spreading the higher cost by raising prices for everybody.
Instead of calling customer hotline, go to the IKEA.com website, select your loaction (You said NYC - I assume Brooklyn?) and look at what services they offer:
They also have U-Haul, Zipcar and Taxi services.
It is true that not all IKEA stores can offer the same services, because some are too small due to location or don’t have enough staff. Then you might go to another, bigger store even if it’s a bit farther. For NY, there’s a second location in Hicksville.
