On December 7th, Swedish furniture retailer IKEA surprised their U.S. workforce with an early Christmas present:
a bike for each of their 12,400 employees in the United States. The bikes were presented to the employees at the 37 stores across the country as each store opened.
Read inside for more info..."It's been a good year for IKEA, so what better way to celebrate our success than to thank our IKEA co-workers who made this happen. Our big reveal today will be a fun day as we unload 12,400 new bikes at IKEA US locations. This is our way of saying 'thanks IKEA co-workers for being strongly committed to working together.' We hope this bike will be taken in the spirit of the season while supporting a healthy lifestyle and everyday sustainable transport," commented Mike Ward, IKEA US President.
With a strong commitment to good health and being environmentally conscious, IKEA selected an all terrain bike as the holiday co-worker gift for 2010. What makes it even more special is that the delivery of bikes is a total surprise for all co-workers.
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The bike's Ikea handed out were nothing fancy, but should cut down on their employee's emissions on a daily basis
Why a bike? IKEA points out that when it comes to sustainable transport, a bicycle is a great option. And when it comes to healthy living, riding a bike is one of the best cardio forms of exercise.
they gave them a BSO "Bicycle shaped object" as we call these cheap pieces of cr*p here in the UK
death machine that does not work properly - gears and brakes don't work, wheels wobbly, parts come loose
proper bike shops here in the UK unfortunately get customers bringing in these BSOs which they have bought from toy stores and supermarkets, and we struggle to assemble them correctly - we cannot make them "safe for use on the highway"
nice gesture, but IKEA would have been better off putting some money in their employees pockets, than giving them a sh*tty fake bicycle which will either cause an accident, or put their employee off riding bicycles, for life!
cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Special-Edition-IKEA-Bicycle-RARE-/390270392951?pt=Road_Bikes&hash=item5added9a77
"RARE" only 12,400 ever made lol.
...give it a few weeks..
sorry for the cheesy joke, but it is really positive to see something like this happen. everyone's probably seen the bad press about the health of the "average american citizen". and here's IKEA saying, "hey we see this, we want our employee's happy and healthy, lets help them out" props to all
capitalcitycycles.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/the-great-ikeabikes
"giving them a sh*tty fake bicycle which will either cause an accident, or put their employee off riding bicycles, for life!."haha so true man
I took him on some trails and after ~30 min of riding he had to walk his bike back which had a flat tire, loose handlebars, and brown fluid seeping out of his headset. The bike didn't last 30min!
A month later he bought my bike and I got a new one!
Instead of a raise, or something the average family can really use - MONEY - the employees at Ikea now have the "privilege" of advertising for Ikea on their own time by riding some lousy Ikea bike.
What will be the "bonus" next year ? I suggest a six-foot neon sign that flashes IKEA for every employeee's lawn.
MERRY CHRISTMAS/ MELE KALIKIMAKA EVERYONE!
lol. i was thinking about this on my f*cked up side of my brain.. what if ikea were really low-key ass holes and gave the free bikes to the american coworkers so they can go and lose some pounds instead of stuffing their mouths with greasy 1 pound cheeseburgers and.fries? hahaha. please dont hate me on this.. it was just a evil joke to laugh at..
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
just an easier way of getting rid of people than having to say "due to the recession we are having to make redundancies"
do they make Volvo?
ok, ok, i got a tad carried away, and also, unlike you, i do give a f*ck, so get out there and GROW some real ones - and then email me here in 10 years and [maybe] i will ride with you
youre getting way carried away on your high horse "duuuuuuude"
you must think think youre pretty damn righteous after writing that irrelevant paragraph targeting someone you dont even remotely know.
PS.:"i can tell you stories of 12 year olds in 3rd world villages that ride bikes worse than the one given by Ikea and they have bigger balls than YOU or i, dealing with life in a way that your spoiled rotten little U. S. of A. butt could use a taste of..."
i hope you know that these bikes were given as a bonus to EMPLOYEES that could afford a better bike after 5 hours of work. or maybe youre just that irrelevant.
act your own age, you withering over-the-hill bully