Most of us enjoy dental work or doing our taxes more than assembling Ikea furniture. Admit it: You’ve sworn like a sailor at least once in your lifetime while trying to put together a Klippan or a Fjällbo with a teensy-tiny Allen wrench that keeps slipping out of your sweaty fingers. Well, we’ve got some good news for you. Furnishing your home inexpensively — and zippily — with Scandinavian style just got a whole lot simpler.
Today’s the day you’ve been waiting for your entire adult life. Ikea is rolling out the TaskRabbit at-home assembly service. That means your DIY-challenged self can finally be free from fumbling with weird little nuts and bolts and confusing diagrams with no words. Yes, friends, another, more talented human — a qualified TaskRabbit tasker — will take on the job of building you a new living room TV stand or a kitchen cabinet with an unpronounceable name.
More: Ikea Is Making Food Out of Bugs & Algae
Ikea acquired TaskRabbit last year, and it’s now rolling out assembly service to some of its U.S. stores — beginning with New York City and San Francisco markets. But don’t panic. Ikea plans to expand the service to other stores and other cities in 2018 (Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Houston are up next). It’s also available online (the turf of TaskRabbit).
“We are always looking at ways we can innovate and help make our customers’ lives at home easier,” said Jackie DeChamps, chief operating officer and executive vice president of Ikea U.S. via press statement. “We are excited to participate in the on-demand, sharing economy and give our customers access to a flexible, convenient and affordable service solution with the new TaskRabbit At-Home Assembly service.”
More: Ikea Is Testing Out Furniture Rentals & Buybacks
Stacy Brown-Philpot, CEO of TaskRabbit, had this to say about the collaboration: “With just a few clicks, TaskRabbit offers a truly seamless experience for customers who can now purchase IKEA home furnishing products today and have them assembled in their homes as soon as tomorrow… We love improving people’s homes and their lives, and we know this service will help even more customers get things done.”
Damn straight, it will. How does it work? Well, here’s the drill: Ikea hires taskers from TaskRabbit. When you purchase some terrifyingly complicated bookcase, you simply confess your deep-seated assembly fears to Ikea, and your nice sales associate will book you an appointment with your chosen tasker, possibly as soon as the very next day. Not bad, eh?
TaskRabbit assembly of your Ikea product starts at $36 — there’s a flat rate based on each item. Ikea will still also offer its own independent contractors to do your dirty work, but that route will cost you a bit more. It starts at a base price of $89 and goes up based on the ticket price of your Ikea item.
Either way, you only pay when your Glogverfen or Flöofferlållen (OK, so we made those up) is fully assembled.
All the info you need to decorate sanely can be found at www.TaskRabbit.com/Ikea. Ikea U.S. also updated its website so users can see if the new TaskRabbit service is available to them (depends on location and item) as they shop online.
And to sweeten the whole rabbity deal, Ikea announced a few other new perks, like lower-price shipping and delivery starting at $29 depending on distance and demand from your nearest Ikea store. It doesn’t matter how many Kiviks you buy — the charge stays the same. Sweet! And if you order a small item online, Ikea will ship it to you at a new flat rate of $9. We likey. Ikea is also launching a multi-brand rewards credit card that you can use for your next dining room table as well as for other lifestyle needs, like groceries, utilities and gas for your Volvo. Because, really, if you’re a hardcore Ikea fan, you probably need a Volvo, right? And some Swedish meatballs to enjoy while you watch your hired TaskRabbit tasker work up a sweat.
Leave a Comment