Is IKEA’s Generosity Being Abused?
A Der Spiegel article from a couple of weeks ago points out a phenomenon occuring in Germany, whereby some of the services being offered by furniture retailer IKEA are being used and abused. Are these folks being frugal or cheap?
First you have the IKEA restaurants, which serve subsidized menus to encourage customer loyality, and are now being used as a resource akin to a soup kitchen. The article talks of how the stores are increasingly turning into welfare centers for pensioners, young moms, low-earners and the unemployed who prefer eating in the cheery atmosphere of them to standing in line at the local charity kitchen.
Then you have the free baby-sitting services that these stores offer. The problem is parents are dropping off their kids at the in-store supervised day-care while they go off and run errands about town. Here’s a snip from the article…
More than food-scroungers, though, IKEA workers fear lazy parents. Around 150 three- to 10-year-olds are deposited daily at the Hamburg-Schnelsen store’s play area — a complimentary offer to allow mom and dad to wander in peace through the showrooms. But many people misuse the service as a free babysitting service. Sometimes moms just set their loved ones down among the colorful balls, with the nursery girl watching — and hurries to the hairstylist or the tennis court. The desperate store announcements asking the mother to please pick up her screeching child then go unheeded.
It goes on! IKEA offers free diapers at the diaper stations in the store’s bathroom facilities, but they had so many people taking stacks of them home for their own use that the company now has to limit how many diapers that they place in the stations.
Now, the food deals I can understand. If I were financially impaired and had an IKEA nearby, I’d definitely prefer that to the other options, but these folks who leave their kids in the day care or help themselves to the free offerings, are they being frugal or cheap? In that, I imply that frugal is being sensible and cheap is taking advantage. I think they’re being cheap and taking advantage. What do you think?
Here’s the article on the IKEA phenomenon from der Spiegel.
[via BoingBoing]
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POSTED IN: Frugal Gourmet, General
8 opinions for Is IKEA’s Generosity Being Abused?
Maricar
Jan 11, 2006 at 11:14 pm
I agree with you, Kevin. There should be a sense of dignity in being frugal. Taking stacks of diapers when it’s being offered as a courtesy to customers is just plain stealing. And leaving kids without a way to contact the parents is unsafe, to say the least. Isn’t that called neglect?
Blaine Moore (Run to Win)
Jan 12, 2006 at 7:42 am
I do not see it as frugal or cheap. I see it as theft.
beev
Jan 13, 2006 at 12:09 am
Maybe IKEA should see this as an opportunity. They could open soup kitchens and get into the creche business.
Cathy
Jan 14, 2006 at 10:59 am
My mother works at a library. People used to drop their small children (ie: 3-4 year olds) at story time and leave. Or drop their 9 year olds off for many hours. Sometimes they were not back by the time the library closed. They used to have to wait with the child for the parent to return, but it got so frequent that they started calling the police to pick the kids up. Perhaps IKEA could do the same?
Kevin Humphrey
Jan 14, 2006 at 8:13 pm
Thanks, everyone, for taking the time to leave your thoughts.
Cathy - I like your idea of calling the police when folks leave their kids. As Maricar says, it’s neglect.
Blaine - Can we really call it theft when the business has offered it for free in the first place? Is it a crime to be greedy?
thompson
Jan 23, 2006 at 9:22 am
Perhaps Ikea could just keep the children, and use them as slave labor or resell them to caring parents. They could just post a sign, “All unclaimed babies will become the property of Ikea after five hours”
Kevin Humphrey
Jan 23, 2006 at 7:28 pm
thompson - Despite the possible legal and moral issues associated with your idea, I must admit that I like it! :D
Daniel"TexasBluBoy"Kimball
Oct 16, 2006 at 2:41 pm
It’s always a bad situation when something like this happens. The company does not offer this as a free day of running around town and having nice without kids. It seems to me parents like this ought to not have children in the first place. And as far as taking stuff in abundance, maybe they ought to charge a minimal fee for diapers. And as far as a meal goes, if they would ask to see a reciept of something purchase at the store within a reasonable amount of time. If they bought something there in the past month say, it would seem they may be back to buy something more.
Cheers,
Daniel”TexasBluBoy”Kimball
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