Whether you are a frequent gym goer or consider the morning sit-up as you get out of bed part of your exercise routine, everybody has limits to what they can physically carry. For some, buying a dining room chair from IKEA may be too much for them to handle alone, and they may require some assistance.
If you happen to bring your partner or friend along for the ride, they can definitely help you load your car. However, if you are alone, or just purchased a really heavy or awkwardly shaped item, you can ask IKEA employees for help with loading your car.
Except for "Click and Collect" orders, IKEA employees are happy to help load items into a car. It’s even their policy to do so and many stores have dedicated loading bays for customers.
IKEA State That They’re Happy to Help Load
Lucky for you, you won’t need to break your back after your next trip to IKEA, as their policy states that they are happy to help you load (and even off-load) your car, if you so require it.
You will simply need to find an IKEA employee and ask who will be able to help you load your car with your recent purchases. Lead them to where your car is parked and they will gladly assist.
There Is Often a Designated Loading Area
Not only will IKEA assist in loading your car, but there is often a designated loading area near the exit or entrance of their stores.
This means that you won’t need to tote your heavy packages across the parking lot until you reach your car. You can simply ask one of the employees who should be available near the vicinity of the loading area to keep your cart or packages while you bring your car to the loading dock.
You also won’t need to make awkward conversation with the employee while you walk the distance to your car. As lovely as they are, there are only so many times that you can ask, “So, do you like working here?“.
Tips for Getting Loading Help
Ask for Help Before Making the Purchase
A sure way to make sure you get the best assistance is to ask for help before you even make the purchase. This way you won’t need to worry about finding someone while you push a cart full of heavy boxes around the store and parking lot.
Approach the customer service desk or seek an employee as you enter the store. Once you find someone, tell them what you intend on buying and ask if they will be able to help you load the car once you have gone to the check-out.
Since it is in their policy, they are extremely unlikely to say no unless they are busy with another customer, in which case, however, they will probably find you another willing employee in no time.
The employees will be grateful for the heads-up, as they can finish what they may be busy with and then make sure they are completely available to assist you when you are ready.
Be Polite
Treat others as you would like to be treated.
Nobody likes a rude person, especially if they are forced to help them. It is important to be kind and polite to the employee that is helping you. They are more likely to give you service with a smile if they feel that they are being respected and treated with dignity.
Being rude or condescending to an employee will make the entire experience quite laborious for both of you – they may be less likely to treat your packages and car with the utmost care if they feel you have mistreated them. This is not to say that they would deliberately damage your property but more accidents happen when we don’t take care.
Have Patience
When you ask an employee for assistance with loading your car, you may have to keep in mind that they may not be able to help you right away.
You could be there on a particularly busy day and they are with other customers or doing the monthly stock take and may need to meet a strict deadline.
Unfortunately, you cannot expect to get help with the snap of your fingers as you may not be their only customer at that moment. You may need to have a bit of patience and wait for a friendly IKEA employee to your assistance.
Be Realistic
An important thing to keep in mind is that you should be realistic about your expectations of the IKEA employees and the assistance that they offer.
Only ask for their help if you actually need it. You cannot expect them to carry all of your small boxes for you to the car just because technically they can according to their job description. In cases like this, where you have one or two small items, grab a shopping cart and take them to your car yourself.
It makes more sense to ask for help with the bigger and heavier items that you truly cannot load yourself. Asking them for assistance with something you can actually handle is really just wasting their time.
You should also be realistic about what is physically possible when it comes to what can fit in your car. You cannot expect a massive bookcase to fit into your tiny Smart Car. The IKEA employees cannot magically make this happen for you.
Lastly, if you are taking home the items you ordered, you should consider whether paying for delivery might be worth it. If you are kitting out a new office or several rooms in your home, then it is probably best to splurge on the delivery instead of making multiple trips to IKEA, and forcing the poor employees to help load the car.
IKEA Employees Cannot Help Strap Items to Car
Although IKEA employees offer you the option of loading your purchased goods into your car, their assistance does not extend to strapping larger items to the roof of your car.
Not only would this require substantial amounts of the employee’s time, which would be taken away from their actual work, but helping you strap the items to your car is a liability nightmare for IKEA.
They cannot afford to be held accountable for every scratch or dent that occurs as a result of an employee helping you in this regard. Rather pay for delivery or get a friend to help you with this matter instead.
Should You Tip the IKEA Employees for Helping?
Once someone helps you, you might feel obliged to thank them for their assistance by giving them a tip. However, you cannot just go around handing money to the employees as they may not be allowed to accept tips, so ask them first, or ask the manager.
If they are allowed to accept tips, you cannot be exorbitant. Keep it to a decent amount like $5-$10, especially if they helped with multiple items or an extremely heavy one. Consider how much a nice cup of coffee costs in your area, and base it around that.
Does Click and Collect Include Loading Help?
Even though IKEA’s policy states that they are glad to assist in loading your car, this assistance is only limited to when you physically buy the goods in-store and take them home on the same day.
Their policy states that with Click and Collect (where you buy online, but instead of paying a delivery cost, you collect the item from a store near you for a small fee), you will need to bring a friend to help you load your car with the items being collected.
Employees are not expected to load the cars of Click and Collect customers.
You should, therefore, make sure that whatever you are ordering online will be small enough for you to carry or push in a cart to your car, where you will need to load it yourself.