Quick Office Furniture Factoid

We are 34 days away from move-in day at our new Live Events headquarters in Plano, TX. Just saying that, much less writing it, makes me catch my breath because there is a lot yet to be done. It is in Scott Holloway's capable hands, however, so I have every confidence that it will be (like all his projects) on-time and on-budget.

We meet on this project weekly and I came across some information today that might help answer an age-old question within the company: "Why does office furniture cost so much more than I can buy it at retail?" This is a question that comes up every project: why, for instance, does a good cubicle-grade desk chair cost $500 when you can buy them at Office Depot for $300 or less.

Okay, here's why...

You don't sit in your home office chair 8 hours a day for years at a time.

We have some $300 chairs in our company, and our experience with them is that they must be replaced about every three years. That's $100/year for usage. The $500 chairs average 18 years service, or just under $28/year for usage.

The same goes for any office furniture; desks, bookcases, etc... So next time you look at an office furniture budget and wonder if we have lost our minds remember that we are focused in our procurement on a couple of decades of use, not a couple of hundred dollars "saved" now.

Comments

Eric said…
A to the Men!!!! Should be required reading at Thomas Nelson.
1:50 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Employer Response to Feb 17 General Strike

If you are an employer and have employees participating in today's called General Strike here are a few tips.  The demands of the General Strike are not employment related: they are political and are not about to your workplace's specific terms and conditions of employment.  As such this is not subject to the "no strike" clause of your collective bargaining agreement (if you have one), and is not a non-union "wildcat strike".  As such it is not NLRB protected concerted activity in my opinion. You can take corrective action in accordance with your policies. But be careful: this "is" protected First Amendment speech so terminating for absences related to this event could prove problematic.  Still you probably don't want people walking off the job without consequences and/or disrupting your workplace. Here is what you can do.  Insist that the strikers leave your premises, not block your entrances and exits, and not disrupt your business. You c...
Read more

How to Construct Great Interview Questions

Interviews are possibly the most important thing a manager will do.  Hiring the right people, and keeping the wrong fit out, is one cornerstone of good performance for the whole team.  A poor contributor, or poor attitude, or both will drag down a whole team.  All-stars properly motivated left the whole group. Bad interview technique can also lead to legal exposure if questions drift into non-job-related subjects. I have found that this happens far more out of ignorance and lack of planning than prejudice. With this in mind here is how to construct interview questions that will keep you legal and focused on the search for great people. Plan your interview questions into two groups: 1. Task-based 2. Probing for Past Performance and Attitudes Task-Based Questions You want to know if the candidate can perform the essential functions of the job.  To do that you want to marry the duties of the job with the prepositional phrases from Behavioral Interviewing. ...
Read more

Don't Elect COBRA! Buy Exchange Coverage

One of the little-talked-about benefits of the Affordable Care Act's Insurance Marketplace is that people who lose their health coverage during the year become eligible to sign-up.  The same COBRA qualifying events that make you eligible to elect COBRA also make you eligible for mid-year sign ups on state or federal Exchanges.  Employers can charge you 102% of the full premium for your existing coverage, and generally employees pay about 1/3 to 1/2 of the full premium.  COBRA premiums, then, are sure to be anywhere from double to triple what you normally pay. Exchange coverage will be 100% of the full premium.  The coverage pool is also larger than most employers.  Chances are your premiums will be the same or less than COBRA coverage.  However depending upon your income you could be eligible for a subsidy which could make the coverage less expensive.  Another advantage is that if you did not elect a certain coverage as an employee you cannot elect ...
Read more