Archive for November, 2010

Buy Used Office Furniture Online: San Diego To Your Doorstep

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010

There are a couple of benefits to buying office furniture online. San Diego business owners who already know what they want can skip the showroom visit and place an order from the comfort of their office. Maybe you’ve used a particular brand of chair in the past and know it’s really great. Or, perhaps you already have a fleet of a specific model of cubicles and just need to add a couple more. A quick review of what’s available in your office furniture supplier’s pre-owned inventory and a mouse click to reserve the items is something you can fit into the busiest day. You can trust that each piece will arrive at your business in the condition described – ready to be put to use in your office environment.

Then, there’s the benefit of having accurate information to help you budget. Have you ever browsed online for new name brand office furniture from an “authorized dealer”? You have probably noticed that it’s really difficult to pin down any kind of pricing. There’s a lot of wheeling and dealing that goes on before you can determine exactly what your actual total might be. When you purchase gently used furniture in “as-is” condition, there’s nothing to specify. This means you know the price up front because it’s clearly posted.

Are Cubicle Manufacturers Listening To Facility Managers?

Monday, November 29th, 2010

If cubicle manufacturers want to succeed in the face of constant downward market pressure, they need to understand what facility managers want in office furniture. In this 2006 article from Today’s Facility Manager, spokespeople from cubicle brands such as HON, Herman Miller, and Allsteel share the steps their companies are taking to please customers. The driving forces in design and innovation haven’t changed in 2010. Facility managers still want practicality, durability, sustainability, and cost efficiency above anything else.

Each manufacturer is taking different steps to achieve these objectives. For example, Kimball Office and Herman Miller are both focusing on making multiple systems cross-compatible. This gives facility managers greater flexibility in creating, rearranging, and expanding office work environments as needed. Designers are also taking a new look at workstation sizes and configurations now that the flat panel is replacing old CRT monitors that took up a lot more space. Adjustable height workstations and other ergonomic factors continue to have a strong influence on design as well.

Executive Office Furniture: San Diego VIPs Might Crave This Desk

Wednesday, November 24th, 2010

Most companies like to brag about their low prices. However, the Parnian Furniture company is proud to tell customers that it builds the world’s most expensive executive office furniture. San Diego CEOs and VPs who have earned a hefty bonus this year might still find Parnian’s signature $200k desk out of their price range. But perhaps they could buy it and claim it as a business expense! If you try this approach at your job, just make sure your golden parachute is working in case you get canned for misusing funds.

Each desk is lovingly hand crafted from multiple varieties of exotic wood and given a brilliant finish. Custom glass and other details can also be added at the client’s request. The manufacturer suggests this type of desk for high octane professionals who regularly close multi-million dollar deals. If the sales people at Parnian can convince people to buy a “power desk” this expensive, perhaps they know what they’re talking about. For most of us, more modestly priced office furniture can send any desired message about authority, creativity, and responsibility without breaking the bank.

Average Desk, Cubicles, Offices Swarming With Germs

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

This original study funded by the Clorox company was done a few years ago. But with flu season in full swing again and employees dropping like flies, it’s a good time to refocus attention on the study’s findings. It appears that the average toilet seat is cleaner than the average desk. Cubicles where workers are allowed to eat snacks or their lunch are some of the dirtiest places in the office. The typical desk surface has bacteria levels 400 times higher than those found on a commode seat. Bacteria colony sizes rise throughout the day and spike after lunch.

Computer keyboards and phones were other office items that played host to millions of germs. Although the study focused on measuring bacteria levels, it’s important to note that cold and flu viruses can live on surfaces for as long as 3 days. That’s plenty of time for them to be passed between cubicles. Desks treated with disinfecting wipes just once per day demonstrated a 99.9% reduction in pathogen presence. So, if you want to reduce absenteeism from illness this winter, invest in some Clorox, Lysol, or Seventh Generation wipes. Then make sure your employees remember to use them. Telling them that their desk might be dirtier than a toilet seat should do the trick

Buying Clearance Office Furniture

Monday, November 22nd, 2010

Clearance office furniture has the obvious benefit of being priced at a significant discount from MSRP. You can find great deals by looking for not just slightly worn showroom pieces but also brand new items that are being discontinued. Shipments that are damaged in transit offer another source for cheap clearance items. You may be able to get other freebies thrown in with your clearance purchase such as free shipping if a dealer is looking to clear out warehouse space fast.

Whether or not purchasing these furnishings is the best idea for you depends on a number of factors:

  • Is any wear and tear structural or just cosmetic?

If you don’t mind scratches and dents, showroom and slightly worn furniture pieces are a great deal. Just be on the lookout for situations where a piece of furniture is really damaged. For example, a chair’s lift cylinder might no longer work; or a desk might have drawers that won’t open all the way.

Buying your employees broken furniture may send a message that you don’t value their productivity. You are only getting a good deal if the item is still functional rather than frustrating to use. These same rules apply if you are looking at used office furniture. Gently used is fine - falling apart isn’t.

  • Is the item being discontinued by the manufacturer or just by the local dealer?

Clearance office furniture that is from a discontinued line isn’t always the best thing to buy if you plan to grow your workforce. You may not be able to find components to repair or expand obsolete styles of cubicles when you need them. Check out the manufacturer’s track record for making their new products compatible with previous designs.

If all else fails, you may be able to turn to “cubicle clone” companies to provide OEM compatible parts. However, these aren’t always of the same quality as the originals. You may simply want to buy extra pieces of clearance furniture and store them for future use if having a matched set is important

Office Cubicle Systems That Promote Organization Could Save Big $$

Thursday, November 18th, 2010

Did you know that businesses lose a shocking amount of money in wasted labor hours due to disorganization? Brother International (the label maker company) has published a whitepaper demonstrating the link between misplaced items and low productivity. Labeling is one way to reduce the time people spend looking for lost stuff. But they also have to be trained to start putting things away where they belong throughout the day. Office cubicle systems that make it easy for employees to keep supplies and files in their proper place could help minimize financial losses associated with disorganization. With so much money at stake, taking a closer look at whether your workplace furnishings promote order or chaos is certainly worthwhile.

The researchers at Brother International reviewed survey results from over 775 office workers in the United States. They found the following:

  • The average employee spends about 38 hours total per year (almost a full week of work time) looking for lost or misplaced materials. These range from file folders to memory drives and office supplies. Calculators are among these commonly mislaid items.
  • Workers apparently tend to have an unrealistic idea of how organized they actually are. 85% of survey respondents claimed that their cubicles are more organized than their coworkers. This is unlikely unless the vast majority of individuals who participated in the survey are among the “organized elite” in the workplace. The respondents did confess that when their workstation is cluttered they feel that their productivity drops.
  • The results of the survey indicate that the dollars wasted by the search for misplaced items in the office total $89,840,657,069 per year. This doesn’t include the time spent looking for files on the computer (another huge time suck).

Helping Employees Get Organized

Office cubicle systems that provide adequate personal and business storage space help workers organize their office supplies and belongings. There should be ample room for hanging file folders, drawer space for notepads, calculators, and other incidentals, and an area that employees can designate in their desk for keeping purses, cell phones, etc. Shared file cabinets and shelving units should be accurately labeled so everyone knows what goes where. Finally, it’s a good idea to have a dedicated, lockable storage space for briefcases, laptops, and other items on the “frequently lost” list.

New Potential For Used Office Furniture In San Diego

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

Have you heard of Furniture Freestyle? This is a brand new phenomenon from the “Land Down Under”. X-treme sports enthusiasts Maverick Gunner and Rory Williams are taking the danger of action sports to a whole new level by cannibalizing used office furniture such as chairs and desks to create a whole new spin on shredding. You can see a short documentary on the evolution of Furniture Freestyle on YouTube. Be warned – the footage shows many gruesome scenes of our young heroes wiping out time and time again in their quest to master the most complex moves. This includes an unfortunate incident involving flip flops (or “thongs” in Aussie speak).

Are you looking for innovative ways to breathe new life into your used office furniture? In San Diego there’s already a thriving skateboard community. Some citizens are actually lobbying to have a park built just for skateboarders. This would be the perfect location to go chair surfing or desk boarding. Just make sure you have your chiropractor on retainer and an ambulance waiting at the bottom of the hill!

Modern Cubicles – What The Future May Hold

Monday, November 15th, 2010

Modern cubicles look quite different than the original models from the 1960s. But what will new cubicles look like a few years from now? The folks at Wired Magazine have collaborated to come up with a concept that might not be far off the mark. Their futuristic workstation features holographic technology to project the computer monitor, keyboard, and even virtual coworkers into the desk space. The design is from an amusing collection of “Artifacts from the Future”.

Here are some convenient perks that might make individual workspaces more high tech in the foreseeable future:

  • Liquid crystal “smart glass” cubicle panels that can be turned clear or opaque at the push of a button
  • Calorie counters that fit on a task chair and measure the energy burned by fidgeting
  • A monitor arm and keyboard tray that automatically adjust to the correct height, distance, and angle for each user

What changes would you make in cubicle design if you were in charge?

Cricket Wireless In San Diego: Used Office Furniture Donor

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

There are lots of ways local businesses can give to worthy causes in San Diego. Used office furniture is always a welcome gift for non-profits that want to cut their administrative overhead. Cricket Wireless took a proactive approach to seeking out recipients this year and selected a number of charitable organizations to receive their old office furniture. The company recently relocated to a new, energy efficient building and decided to outfit the space with eco-friendly furniture to boost their sustainability initiative. Of course, to be really “green” they also had to do something with their unwanted items that didn’t involve a trip to the landfill.

The San Diego Food Bank received furniture donations of items such as shelving valued at over $100,000. They will be using these pieces at the food bank itself. Habitat for Humanity is taking a different approach to getting the most out of the used furniture they received from Cricket. Those office pieces ended up in the ReStore shop for sale to the public. Proceeds from ReStore sales are used to purchase building materials and fund the construction of more homes for low-income families. You can hear more from both of these recipient organizations on the June 14th clip from KUSI Channel 51 at the Habitat for Humanity website.

Are Office Furniture Prices Going Down?

Tuesday, November 9th, 2010

In the office furniture industry, even the biggest players can’t ignore the economy if they want to show shareholders solid performance. Knoll is currently #1 on the federal government’s list of office furniture suppliers with 2009 sales in the 121 million dollar range. However, even with this market advantage their second quarter revenue for 2010 saw a 4.9% dip. This decline impacted almost every part of their product line. According to industry blogger John Schwartz, Knoll has attempted to counter this trend by offering significant discounts on their usual office furniture prices.

Dealers benefit from these lower prices by being able to afford more inventory. Ideally, a portion of the cost savings are passed on to customers in the form of lower retail prices. Still, the cost of new office furniture is a lot for some business consumers to stomach when their own earnings are down. So, the used and refurbished office furniture markets are still a prime alternative for businesses that want truly steep discounts of 50-75% less than the cost of new items.

Website Design and Marketing by eBoost Consulting, a Digital Marketing Consultancy in San Diego, CA.