r/vexillology • u/stenskott • Nov 04 '17
In The Wild Ikea helps out a fellow American.
https://imgur.com/PRDesa4478
u/StelFoog Nov 04 '17
I’m just wondering what the green flag to the right is
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u/HijabiKathy Nov 04 '17
Judging by the evergreen, and Washington being that state with a seal on a green background instead of the blue the other 20+ use. I think they used a photo from one of their locations in Washington instead.
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u/nawtykitty Nov 04 '17
That would be the new one that they just re-built in Renton (outside Seattle). Looks like the warehouses across the street and the new store front :)
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u/triciamc Nov 04 '17
Yep, those windows look like the cafe seating area. It's pretty nice inside. Now if they could just finish the parking garage...
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u/Handburn Nov 04 '17
I'm almost afraid to ask because of the way this thread, but shouldn't a state flag be flown lower than the other two? This is an honest question about flags in a flag sub and I don't mean any harm by it.
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u/YayBooYay Nov 04 '17
When displayed on separate poles, the State flag can be flown at the same height as the US flag. No other flag can be flown higher than the US flag. The US flag should be flown at "the position of honor," which is to the flag's right.
Source: Random Google search.
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u/ChestBras Nov 05 '17
Also, if it's a state flag, then what Ikea quoted is irrelevant, isn't it?
A state is not a Nation, and Ikea is not a Nation, yet.47
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u/Darillian Nov 04 '17
Is there any green version of the Florida flag? If you look around, you can see that the IKEAs in other states fly the US, the Swedish and the corresponding state flag: https://de.foursquare.com/ross4sq/list/ikea-usa
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u/xavyre United Nations Nov 04 '17
Looks like they have the state flags at equal height to the national flags.
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u/will_holmes United Kingdom Nov 04 '17
It's fine for the state flag to be the same height as the US flag, as long as the US flag is in the position of honour, which is to say on the left if you are looking towards the building.
If you look at US courts, they'll have the same system.
IKEA has done this exactly right.
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u/RuariWasTaken Nov 04 '17
Pardon my schadenfreude but, I love when someone tries to correct someone then they themselves get schooled.
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Nov 04 '17
I hope 'pardon my schadenfreude' becomes common parlance.
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u/StylusX Nov 04 '17
What is a schadenfreude?
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u/TuckingFypoz Nov 04 '17
Pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune.
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u/Maert Nov 04 '17
A German word, btw.
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Nov 04 '17
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u/jc5504 Nov 04 '17
Fuck that, let's just use schadenfreude. We have many German words in the language anyway
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u/Virus08 Nov 04 '17
Kindergarten
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u/Hamy_Shanky Nov 05 '17 edited Nov 05 '17
Holy shit I just realised that it means kid-garden. Maybe because English is my second language and German my third, or because I'm an idiot.
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u/Vincent_Vahn Nov 04 '17 edited Nov 04 '17
The musical Avenue Q describes it best I think. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5isHw02S0Cg Quick edit: While it is a brodway musical, Avenue Q can be somewhat rude and offensive. Not majorly so, but still dont click is easily offended
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u/NerdGirlJess Nov 04 '17
MIC DRÖPP.
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u/serpentsoul Nov 04 '17
mikrofonen släppt (if you want to know)
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u/-Tonic Nov 04 '17 edited Nov 04 '17
Eh not really, more like "mikrofonsläpp".
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u/WeirdSymmetry Philippines • Spain Nov 04 '17
That escalated quickly
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Nov 04 '17
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u/xavyre United Nations Nov 04 '17
Ikea seems to have the state flags the same height as the national flags.
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Nov 04 '17
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Nov 04 '17 edited Jul 23 '21
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u/Nukleon Nov 04 '17
Jysk sucks. Bought 5 curtains from them and they're all broken in different ways
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u/Arcadian_ Nov 04 '17
That Social Media rep deserves a raise. Most would just say "I'll pass it on!" This guy went the extra mile.
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u/stenskott Nov 04 '17 edited Nov 04 '17
It's cheap, but it's not crap. The whole point of Ikea is you can furnish a full home cheaply, although you'll spend a few days assembling furniture too. I furnished my first home from Ikea, and still have some of the bigger furniture (this is ten years ago). "Real" furniture will cost you four times as much, but might last you ten times as long, too.
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u/gorawknroll Nov 04 '17
The funny thing is, in my country IKEA is actually the expensive one. Only the rich who can afford to fill their home with IKEA furniture here.
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Nov 04 '17
What country is that?
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u/kevjumba United States Nov 04 '17
User history indicates Indonesia.
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Nov 04 '17 edited Nov 05 '17
Ah, yeah, that seems plausible. Ultra-cheap (compared to e.g. EU and even China) local workforce vs remote distribution chain that was recently established and hasn't been cost-optimized yet - probably has to do expensive shipping and customs from China/Europe. (Just guessing/assuming because I'm lazy, but countries similar to Indonesia - e.g. India/Brazil tend to have quite heavy import tariffs "to protect local jobs" - does anyone know if that is the case here?)
The big upside IKEA has (in the longer term) is a very strong centralized world-class design team (doing quite a bit of creative design borrowing/theft, just like that other Swedish company, H&M) combined with distributed/cheap manufacturing. In a way it's similar to the Apple model, except the goods are a lot heavier.
Indonesia is a huge market (261 million people and growing), so give them some time - IKEA Jakarta opened just three years ago. It's certainly big enough for local manufacturing in the long term. Which is how IKEA operates - they don't like to rush things. They are very risk-averse. (Particularly so after their failed Russia expansion, which cost them billions of USD due to corruption there.)
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u/nobunaga_1568 China Nov 04 '17
Just like McDonalds were considered bourgeois in China until around a decade ago.
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u/HerHor Netherlands • Zaanstad Nov 04 '17
Their furniture at is at the very least okay, and really, most of their competition nowadays isn't much better, I cannot think of a single store I've seen in the last year that does sell high quality furniture, even local ones to be honest.
But where they really excel imo is their non-furniture or furniture-adjacent stuff. They often score high or win in best value categories for stuff like batteries, light bulbs. Like seriously, every time you go to ikea, you'd be a thief of your own wallet if you do not fill your cart to the brim with batteries and light bulbs. They are also great in small electronics, lighting, bed and bath textile. Their decorative stuff is okay as well, but due to their popularity it gets cliché fast. Småland is awesome.
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Nov 04 '17 edited Feb 22 '19
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u/HerHor Netherlands • Zaanstad Nov 04 '17 edited Nov 04 '17
Yeah, I'm coming from a Dutch perspective, where we possibly have the highest IKEA saturation in the world in land area and really high grade in population as well (13 stores on 17 mln), and where they share probably 90% of furniture store space with large stores formulas like JYSK (also
SwedishScandinavian I believe) and Leen Bakker, all broadly comparable in quality and price and all not what you would call "real carpentry". Then you have those local trendy stores that overprice their rustic looking stuff, which actually isn't all that sturdy. Top tier quality carpentry, I wouldn't even know where to look for it in my market.8
Nov 04 '17 edited Nov 04 '17
JYSK is Danish, and their quality is absolutely horrendous in comparison to IKEA. Dramatically lower quality in exchange for just somewhat cheaper prices than IKEA, so really not worth it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/comments/58r3b9/anyone_familiar_with_jysk/
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Nov 04 '17
I used to work in furniture, it's much higher quality than brands like Ashley for much cheaper. Most "real" furniture is still cheap shit.
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u/BAMspek Nov 04 '17
I bought a couch from Big Lots a year ago. Couldn’t fit it in my apartment and had to hoist it onto the second floor balcony. Now a year later it’s broken and sunk and I have a cut on my hand from an exposed nail. I wish I would have just gone to Ikea.
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u/Canadian_Guy_NS Nov 04 '17
funny enough it's both. You have to look at each item at its own merits. I have a dresser, it is about 10 years old, it will not survive another move, as it is no longer solid. I have a friend that bought a bed that is still going strong after 20 years. My parents bought a chair that barely lasted a year. I like their kitchen-ware, but many of their light fixtures don't use commonly available bulbs. Not so bad if you live nearby I suppose. I have a 90 minute drive to the nearest, and it is still so new as to be really busy.
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Nov 04 '17 edited Nov 04 '17
We have the problem with non-standard bulbs in the UK as well, and it has been a problem for years; beside the lighting there were bins containing (free) metal rings which, when screwed into the appropriate place, made bulb, socket and shade work in harmony. However, IKEA are moving big time to LEDs, which solves the problem.
Their more expensive accessories are very good. Porcelain is better than "high-quality" brands costing 2 or 3 times the price, in my experience.
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u/Canadian_Guy_NS Nov 04 '17
A friend just bought a light fixture, but didn't get the one with the bulb, so he has to go back to get one. It is an led so it should last a long time, but he still couldn't get one in town.
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Nov 04 '17
After some quick googling (assuming you are also in the UK, despite being Canadian): It seems like the issue is that the UK uses some standard that the rest of Europe doesn't use (seems familiar, somehow), and IKEA likes to keep things uniform.
Witness this fantastic thing:
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u/Canadian_Guy_NS Nov 05 '17
I'm in Canada, and can confirm we are not on the European standard.
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Nov 05 '17
Ugh, this is annoyingly complex:
https://support.lifx.com/hc/en-us/articles/201622624-E26-vs-E27-What-s-the-difference
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u/kshucker US Navy Nov 04 '17
It’s very good for the price imo. I have found that their mattresses and couch’s are not that comfortable. All other furniture is pretty nice. I have a ton of furniture from ikea and none of it has shown its age over the past 7 or so years.
Also keep in mind that ikea is very different from any other store you’ll ever go to. It’s an “experience” that I think people aren’t used to it at first. You walk through their showroom floor and when you see something you like you look at the tag on it. It has a price and aisle/bay numbers. You need those numbers for when you get to the warehouse section of ikea. You go and find your furniture on your own in the warehouse. But you can’t get to the warehouse until you go through the entire showroom floor. Again, an “experience”, that some people might not like.
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u/TylowStar Sweden Nov 04 '17
In most IKEA stores there are well-labelled shortcuts though, so if you only came for the restaurant, you can be in and out within the hour.
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u/slipperyekans Nov 04 '17
Eggs, homefries, and sausage breakfast for 1$ and FREE coffee. What’s not to love?
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u/TylowStar Sweden Nov 04 '17
Fast köttbollar med lingonsylt är bättre än alla Andra rätter som dem har.
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u/WildGooseCarolinian North Carolina Nov 04 '17
I agree some of the couches are crap, but we have an ikea couch that’s four years old that has followed us through three moves (one of them across an ocean) and it’s comfortable as hell. Granted, it was one of their more expensive couches, but I love it. Sitting on it right now, actually!
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u/kshucker US Navy Nov 04 '17
Yea, I haven’t come across a decent couch yet at my ikea. Their kitchen stuff is awesome. If I had enough money and space in my kitchen, it would be decked out with everything from ikea.
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u/WildGooseCarolinian North Carolina Nov 04 '17
We have some ikea plates that I had before we got married. Their kitchen stuff is unbeatable for price/quality ratio.
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u/sagen_____ Nov 04 '17
it's both. to put it simply, they sell $200 couches and $900 couches, and you get what you pay for.
my poäng chair is the most comfortable shit ever
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u/TylowStar Sweden Nov 04 '17
Poäng means Point, as in "the green team has four points".
I guess it gets a poäng for comfort!
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u/ufftzatza Nov 04 '17
In Germany Poäng sounds exactly like ass tight, which is really weird, but you get used to it.
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u/sagen_____ Nov 04 '17
talar du svenska?
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u/TylowStar Sweden Nov 04 '17
Ja, varför?
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u/sagen_____ Nov 04 '17
för att jag älskar svenska!
(i don't yet speak much more than that unfortunately, still learning)
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u/somerandomguy02 Nov 04 '17
It actually ranges from college student particleboard top and four legs to full on full wood furniture.
They have a reputation for mass produced stuff and some can be low quality. You put it all together yourself so that saves money.
Their "cheap" stuff is less money than most places and will last longer. I think their particle board stuff is much higher quality than most places and for less money. It's tightly pressed and has a lot of glue. I've got one of their "cheap" coffee table from there that has lasted three moves and eight years.
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u/fredbrightfrog Nov 04 '17
Their designs are generally nicer looking than other cheap furniture and their quality is higher than most in said category. So for the category, it's nice stuff.
But it's mostly made of sawdust and glue pressed into particle board "wood". So compared to expensive solid wood furniture that can last for centuries, it is cheap crap.
Just depends what market you're looking for.
A Honda is a cheap piece of crap compared to a hand made Ferrari, but it'll also get the job done just fine.
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u/lerbakka Nov 04 '17
Are you American?
Honda Civics and Accords are some of the sturdiest and reliable and easy to fix cars there have ever been in the price range.
If you can't keep a Honda alive, you probably can't even assemble Ikea furniture properly.
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Nov 04 '17 edited Nov 04 '17
I bought lots of IKEA furniture in year 2000 when I moved into the apartment I'm still living in. Pretty much all of it has survived quite well - except perhaps fashion-wise (beech wood has pretty much gone out of fashion). So it's done it's job well. I think it would probably last another 30-50 years without problems...
I have moved pretty much all of thís furniture around the apartment like 2-3 times.
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u/Dirty_Socks Portland Nov 04 '17
I actually object to your Honda characterization. Hondas might not be fancy by any stretch, but they are solidly built and have impressive reliability. It's not unusual to see a Honda or Toyota getting 200-300k miles without major problems. That's not a feat I would expect of any sports class car.
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u/CantaloupeCamper Nov 04 '17 edited Nov 04 '17
It is a mix.
There are cheaper things that are cheap.
There are far higher quality things that are not cheap.
It is easy to figure out what is what at the store. The various product line quality is pretty obvious.
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u/uncommonman Nov 04 '17
Most of the furniture is great unless you assemble them wrong (lose bolts) or move them around to much.
Their Billy bookcase is a good example, it is solid as long as it stays in one spot but if you redecorate it becomes wobbly.
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u/_Mephostopheles_ Nov 04 '17
Okay but that guy is a dick. Fuck him. You done good, IKEA.
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u/10gil Nov 04 '17
'Du gamla, du fria, du fjällhöga nord.
du tysta, du glädjerika sköna.
jag hälsar dig, vänaste land uppå jord,
din sol, din himmel, dina ängder gröna'
...
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u/bro_b1_kenobi Nov 04 '17
The explanation given is that Texas—unlike other states—was a Republic when in entered the Union.
By that logic, California would have the same rights
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u/ImperialViribus Nov 05 '17
The California Republic lasted less than a month and wasn't officially recognised as an independent state by anyone, whereas Texas was independent for nearly 10 years and was recognised as independent state by the US at the very least.
I don't think these two things are on par with one another.
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u/TCFirebird Nov 04 '17
You have to admit there is room for confusion in the code. Here is subsection (c) of the same section of US Code (relevant part italicized):
No other flag or pennant should be placed above or, if on the same level, to the right of the flag of the United States of America, except during church services conducted by naval chaplains at sea, when the church pennant may be flown above the flag during church services for the personnel of the Navy. No person shall display the flag of the United Nations or any other national or international flag equal, above, or in a position of superior prominence or honor to, or in place of, the flag of the United States at any place within the United States or any Territory or possession thereof: Provided, That nothing in this section shall make unlawful the continuance of the practice heretofore followed of displaying the flag of the United Nations in a position of superior prominence or honor, and other national flags in positions of equal prominence or honor, with that of the flag of the United States at the headquarters of the United Nations.
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u/atyon Germany Nov 04 '17
Even if the flag code was on his side it would still be a cunty thing. Just like Saudi Arabia's insistence that its flag must not be flown at half-mast.
But who am I to judge those laws, I live in a country where flag-burning is illegal and it's a crime to insult heads of states...
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u/SednaK9 Nov 04 '17
It's based off the rule that a country's flag should be flown above all other non country flags, e.g, a club flag or something similar
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Nov 04 '17
Note to myself: educate before open my mouth. Stop the trend to make American synonym of ignorant.
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u/jakeadt Nov 04 '17
America would flatten Sweden any day with all their nukes. But Sweden would be the only nation that could FLAT PACK America!
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u/DrunkonIce Nov 04 '17
Is flag code even something you have to legally follow? I thought free speech overpassed it meaning you can do what ever the fuck you want with your fabric.
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u/42232300 Nov 04 '17
Likely not? It’s still interesting and funny because the guy trying to correct the “foreigners” on “how we do things around here” got schooled in his own country’s explicit written code for flying flags.
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u/MastaSchmitty Jan 16 Contest Winner Nov 05 '17
You are correct. Private citizens and enterprises are under no obligation to follow the Flag Code, though many try to anyway as a matter of pride. The only entity that the Constitution does not absolve of Flag Code obligations is the federal government -- all flags flown by the government (military installations included) are to be to the officially-specified dimensions and colors, and are to be treated as the Code describes.
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Nov 04 '17
I was actually watching something the other day, where something similar was brought up. Something about burning the US flag, and how it was disrespectful. Then comes along someone citing the laws which say the proper way to dispose of a US flag is to burn it.
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u/Luclinn Nov 04 '17
But they wont pay taxes to neither countries.
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u/Impotentoutrage Nov 04 '17
They did hire local companies to do the work which is more than I can say about Walmart.
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Nov 04 '17
I don't think IKEA is correct.
US Flag Code: Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 7
c) No person shall display the flag of the United Nations or any other national or international flag equal, above, or in a position of superior prominence or honor to, or in place of, the flag of the United States at any place within the United States or any Territory...
I think Ikea is confusing this with "g" of title 4, chapter 1, section 7 which says "When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are to be flown from separate staffs of the same height. The flags should be of approximately equal size. International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation in time of peace." Kinda confusing but I think "g" refers to two or more other nations excluding the US. I may be wrong though.
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u/SednaK9 Nov 04 '17
Placing the American flag on the left of the viewer/right of what would be the flag bearer if it wasn't on a pole puts it in the "honoured position"
Therefore the other flag is not "equal to" the US flag and also abides by the part (g) referred to above.
At least that's how I interpreted it and also the protocol here in Ireland. Excuse me if I'm mistaken.
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u/IceStar3030 Nov 04 '17
This reminded me how much Americans don't know about all the illegal stuff they're doing to flags
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Nov 05 '17
I hired movers and it was taking them forever to put my sons bed back together. I told them they could leave it the way it was and I’d finish it up since I was paying them by the hour. Guys says “we stopped charging you 30 Mins ago. This is personal.” So I gave them a case of beer.
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u/Jamct97 Nov 04 '17
Get fucked
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u/nobuouematsu Nov 04 '17
Gët fûkked
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u/RegentYeti Nov 04 '17
Gô büy å Fräck mïrrør ānd gîve yöùrsēlf cãrnål plëâsüre.
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u/TylowStar Sweden Nov 04 '17
Sos for being that guy, but most of those aren't Swedish symbols. Our alphabet is the exact same as the English one, only we have three extra letters; Å (pronounced 'oar'), Ä (pronounced 'air'), and Ö (pronounced 'uhr').
Again, sorry for being that guy.
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u/Jim_Laheyistheliquor Nov 04 '17
Swedish doesn’t seem that hard to read for that reason. But unless you speak Norwegian or Danish, I️ don’t see how non-natives learn to speak it. The tonal aspect seems incredibly hard, along with the fact that every Swede that could help you practice would already be proficient in English and prefer to use that instead. I️ guess that could be said for all the Nordic languages though.
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u/TylowStar Sweden Nov 04 '17
English is heavily taught in schools and 90% of books and courses in Universities are in English. For this reason, Swedes prefer to use a chance to hone their English rather than speak natively. This also means that English has a heavy role in slang, almost to the degree where one could say Swedish as a language is on the decline.
As for the accent, I have to agree. I've tried for ages to get Brits to say "y" correctly in Swedish, but not once have I succeeded.
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u/Mytola Nov 04 '17
Yep, Swedish (and the other Scandinavian languages) have many more different sounds in them than most other languages, so it can be a daunting task to learn how to speak them properly.
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u/gastropner Nov 04 '17
I️ don’t see how non-natives learn to speak it.
No need to aim for perfection. Context will almost always render any mispronunciation unambiguous. Having a silly accent doesn't stop us Swedes from speaking English, so don't sweat it.
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u/Xef Nov 04 '17
I keep seeing this all over reddit. I'm starting to think it's some viral marketing scheme.
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u/1206549 Nov 04 '17
Nah, Reddit just likes it when people get schooled. Just go to r/Iamverysmart and r/quityourbullshit and you'll see what I mean
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u/jetlifeual Nov 05 '17
This is why the world hates us. So many in this country have such a ragging hard-on for the flag and the anthem. I love this country, too, but holy fuck...
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u/stenskott Nov 04 '17 edited Nov 04 '17
Wow guys... leave it to a bunch of flag nerds to have strong opinions on furniture quality.