Posted by Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor) on December 7th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
As you might have already heard, global furniture retailer IKEA gave out a free bike as a thank you gift
to all 12,400 of their U.S. employees today (including 350 of them at
the Portland location).
In a statement about the gifts, IKEA US President Mike Ward said:
"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."
Given IKEA's European roots, I was very curious what type of bike they'd hand out. From the photo below (supplied by their PR firm), it
looks like they went with something more typical of the American market.
The bike has a mountain-bike inspired frame, an upright stem and bars,
and a triple-chainring up front. I can't tell the make or model because
the frame has been customized with IKEA colors on the downtube.
It's great to see a large company like IKEA make such big statement about the benefits of bicycling. Hopefully other companies will follow
suit. The savings in employee health claims alone will likely make this
a very smart investment.
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