Tag: office-chair

Categories
gadgets Life Life Tips Software development

I decided to spend some money on office chair

Reading Time: 4 minutes

(11-06-2023) Design with Reach has some deals for the Herman Miller chairs. The website popup says 20% off (not sure if it can be stacked on the existing 25% off offer).

(09-25-2023) And now I realized I had an issue with the jeans. Googled it and it seems people were talking about it on Reddit. For now I am just going to use a seat cushion. Figured a seat cushion is probably cheaper than a pair of jeans (I have story for the jeans price too 🙂

(07-11-2023) Came across this one – again I am for #reuse #recycle and #reduce.

(06-19-2023) I changed 3 wheels out of 5, all out of necessity 🙂 || Separately, just came across this how Herman Miller tests its chair.

(06-11-2023) One of the wheels broke. I bought a replacement wheel set from Amazon and replaced it in one minute (btw, later on, I found the price is cheaper on eBay. Note this is not unusual, I mean the price difference). I saw a few choices for the wheels. and decided to go with the more expensive “Amazon’s Choice”. Here is a very short YouTube video explaining how to take out the old wheel and put in the new one. I also found there is a headrest for the Aeron chair (FB, used, $98 + $9 shipping); and it’s available on Amazon as well ($152). || Some day I will work a separate post on buying/owing the Herman Miller Aeron chair.

(Update 06-05-2023) I bought a used Herman Miller Aeron classic from an office that’s closed down, near where I live. I feel good about it so far. The other day I just realized this thing is heavy, about 48 pounds per Amazon. Btw, I found this PDF adjustment guide from the Herman Miller website too.

(Original 05-2023) The high-end office chair is not cheap, it costs more than $1,000. Let’s say a chair of $1,350 (note Haworth Fern is in that range), typical workers work 2,000 hours a year. Let’s say a typical worker sits 60% of the time, 1,200 hours sitting on a $1,350 chair. A dollar an-hour chair sitting cost. The chair lasts at least 10 years though. So it’s more like 10 cents an hour chair sitting cost.

Why is a chair important for office workers?

Weight problems, back problems, and other ergonomic chairs may help out. As explained by this YouTube video by Ahnestly (Dan Ahn) here. I don’t want to go much into detail here. I think for normal office workers (people who sit before the computer every day for a while), a good chair, a good posture, and even keyboarding, mouse/trackpad clicking/tapping are all important. Remember, your personal health is your responsibility. And I think standing desks could be a fad; see this Harvard Medical School article for reference. Wearing the Apple Watch (or other equivalent watches, that remind people to stand up and stretch a bit after sitting for a while), and standing up once in a while is the way to go.

Where to buy?

I see 2 (or 3) choices:

  1. Buy new (from the manufacturers or from retailers), usually via the website (e-commerce, such as Steelcase Leap at the manufacturer’s website, Steelcase Leap chair at Amazon, note the Amazon link here is my Amazon Associate link) nowadays. With today’s logistics, they could be shipped from the warehouse quickly, via UPS, FedEx or Amazon. The customer just needs to open the box and start to use it.
  2. Buy preowned. There are also “like new” such as this 3-month-old Haworth Fern asking for $900 (picture shown below), “refurbished” sometimes with warranty and buy used still in good condition. This is somewhat like buying a used car, we need to pay a bit more attention here. It seems nowadays CraigsList (sample search Steelcase chair on local CraigsList) and Facebook marketplace (sample search on FB for Herman Miller Aeron) are two popular places to look. || I think on coming Monday 05-22-2023 I am going to proceed with/check out this one on FB marketplace that’s very close to my home. Note like buying used cars, the prices for used office chairs vary, and again Ahnestly (Dan Ahn) explained it very well in one of his YT videos too: this one is specifically for Herman Miller Aeron (and I tried to follow his instructions when I checked out the chair). Btw, I also created a YouTube watchList for office chairs.

If one likes to have neck support (headrest)

From memory, it seems Steelcase Leap V2 (Amazon*; Steelcase) is a popular chair with headrest option.

The business of office furniture makers

It seems the manufacturers (mainly Haworth, Herman Miller, and Steelcase) do not have a business model like the iPhone. Typically people upgrade iPhones every 2, 3, or 4 years. Office chairs last more than 10 years.

Also, some knockoff products (e.g., this one on local Craigslist) may have an impact on the brand names (Haworth, Herman Miller, and Steelcase). What exactly is “equal to or better than Herman Miller Aeron Chair”, anyway? From the picture, the shape looks like Herman Miller Aeron Chair (picture shown below). It seems this person is doing it (selling used chairs) as a business.

It’s more a consumer win/manufacturer “did okay or lose a bit” kind of situation.

Danger zone

I have had some brief interactions with two manufacturers. In Spring Festival 2009, I visited Haworth for a business trip when I was working for Autodesk. Then recently I started looking into Steelcase stock ($SCS). I heard the Steelcase for 1st time probably back in 2009 when I asked Haworth folks who are the competitors. The two companies are close by, Haworth is in Holland MI, and Steelcase is HQ’ed at Grand Rapids, MI. When I visited Holland, the airplane is from STL to Grand Rapids (I recall it was an old MD DC airplane).

Investor Day presentation (webcast; PDF) for Steelcase 05-04-2023

Quick thoughts after doing office chair research

For Steelcase, a unique problem is its vast used inventory in the market, this is evident on the FB Marketplace and on CraigsList. It will take some time to digest those inventories that were a result of the pandemic (and work from home).

*Note the Amazon link is my Amazon Associates link. Your price will be the same, but I may earn a small commission if you click through the link and buy.

Categories
Saint Louis

The Bayer formerly Monsanto Creve Coeur campus redevelopment

Reading Time: 3 minutes

(Update 10-25-2023) STLToday – Residents vow to fight Creve Coeur ‘village’ on former Bayer campus

(Update 10-24-2023) STLToday – Creve Coeur approves turning Bayer campus into mixed-use ‘village’. It seems to me the City of Creve Coeur is keen to move this forward amid the recent setbacks on the Olive and Mosley (HBE building, a proposal to convert it into a Hilton branded hotel), also Olive and Greaser (the proposed QT gas station) development, last but not least the apartment building at Olive Pavilion (Olive and Old Olive, current CPK and former Stir Crazy location). This is obviously a much bigger development. Also KMOV (Channel 4, video): Despite neighborhood pushback, massive Creve Coeur redevelopment approved for old Bayer campus

(Update 10-23-2023) STLToday – Creve Coeur residents want restrictions on turning Bayer campus into ‘downtown’ || It sounds like the city is for the development. At the same time, I think it’s probably fair and reasonable for the developer to give up a bit more, the buffer zone used to be much bigger: probably 200 feet, now they are proposing 50 feet (up from the original 35 feet). I hope the two sides can find a compromise.

(Update 09-30-2023) I received a call from a friend living in the neighborhood of former Bayer campus. They have a petition going on. Please read and consider signing, especially if you live in the impacted neighborhood (Monsanto/Bayer Lindbergh west campus redevelopment). If you have friends live in the neighborhood, please consider signing as well to help your friends. Thank you.

Personally I feel this is a complex topic. In America the private property is respected. But at the same time, private ownership of the land doesn’t mean the developer can do whatever he/she wants: neighbors’ rights should be considered and respected as well. It’s a balance act.

(Update 09-06-2023) KMOV: ‘Impressive development’ at former Bayer site plans on bringing in residential units, more . If this is approved it will be the 1st after the developers failed attempts to build a Hilton brand hotel (next to Mosley and Olive, the HBE building), the apartment at the CPK restaurant (or you can do a google search), and a QT gas station (Greaser and Olive). Note the developer and City of Creve Coeur didn’t always got it right: they approved the Fresh Market at City Place, and it opened probably for a year before shutdown.

Some differences I can see for now: 1) the former Bayer campus is much bigger and developer may have more financial resources. 2) : the neighbors at Mosley and Greaser were pretty fired up and united in terms of opposing the project – I don’t see such as grassroot movement against the former Bayer campus redevelopment so far. I recall seeing people protesting the hotel project by sitting on the sidewalk of Olive Street (and Mosley).

(Update 09-01-2023) Some more movement on the development, as you can read from this STLToday piece – Creve Coeur to review redevelopment of former Bayer campus. Quote “Fireside Financial and its development partner, Jack Matthews Development, are proposing a mixed-use redevelopment with apartments, townhomes, retail, hotels, office buildings and other commercial space at the property, at 10300 Olive Boulevard…… Edwardsville based Fireside bought the 95-acre site from Bayer last year for $55 million, according to St. Louis County records.” From my gut feeling it seems $55 m is a deal.

And at Creve Coeur city gov website – REZONING APPLICATION FOR FORMER BAYER WEST CAMPUS PROPERTY.

Earlier I had some confusion on the developer, and it seems L3 Corp is the realtor (broker), not the investor, per this STLToday article Hotels, housing and retail planned for Bayer’s former Creve Coeur campus – “Northmarq Capital provided the financing for the deal. Hearth Construction, a company Bailey co-founded, is overseeing construction. Rick Spector of L3 Corp. is the real estate broker for the project.”

The division of the labors or the specialization of commercial real estate fascinated me. We have developers Fireside and Jack Matthews, financier Northmarq Capital, construction co (associated with Fireside) Hearth Construction and realtor L3 Corp.

(Update 05-22-2023) Today when I was buying a used Herman Miller Aeron Classic chair from them (first noticed it from Facebook), I noticed the developer hired a company called Refurbiture to dispose the furnitures. Here is my post regarding my research on chair etc.

(Original) I noticed it from news first, then heard from a friend who lives next to them. Here is the twitter thread I wrote.

There seems will be a lot more apartments in the area, as I know Olivette also built/is building quite some new apartments recently. It seems the affordability of single family houses, rising rents and millennials preference for “worry free” or “no maintenance work” prompted the build up of more apartments. In theory a condo or a townhouse is probably a good compromise, but it’s probably out of reach for many millennials and first time home buyers (the 20% downpayment requirement after 2008 financial crisis is one factor).