CoV Spends $317k on Office Furniture

[JqC]

Saw CoV and right away thought of Covid.
Come in here to find out we're talking about office chairs.

[bobbinka]

My god, an awful lot of assumptions are being made just so people can hop on the bandwagon and shit on this

It's COVID, ppl work from home - Do people who WFH not require equipment to work properly? Some organizations allow you to take home your chair while the situation plays out.

The rooms aren't being used - Well, it's part of the renovation... is it not possible the rooms are being renovated into something more useful?

The workers have job security - So people who have job security aren't entitled to proper work equipment?

Even if none of that matters, the math speaks for itself. suppose all they bought were chairs. $317k at $1k/chair is 317 chairs. after 10 years, you dispose of them for $400 per chair (third party businesses resell for $500-$800), that means you spent $190k over 10 years to equip the office.

Alternatively, you could go buy $200 chairs from staples for $63k and replace them every three years for a total of $190k over 10 years. Even if you only had to replace them once or twice, the difference would still be well worth it just to have reliable chairs with a solid warranty/support, and avoid multiple procurement processes. This doesn't even factor in the health and comfort of your staff.

[Hakkaboy]

The Mirra 2 office chairs they bought are quite reasonable for an office chair as those have a 12 year 24-7 warranty

The Eames plastic chairs though, that's a waste and definitely overpriced

[Teriyaki]

How many people just jelly about the new chairs the city is getting while they sit in their ripped and body fluid stained chairs that give them arthritis or something and now just overreacting just a smidge

[unit]

i'm not exactly outraged over this, but there's nothing wrong with a $100 chair for most people.. i had a staples mesh back chair and i used it for many hours playing WoW in my 20s for a few years straight... it didn't break and i used it for over 10 years. just to address some of the '$100 chairs break constantly and $1500 chairs never break' type of stuff people are saying in this thread.

[GLOW]

i kind of like the convo happening in this thread, posted this morning and already quite active being on page 2, bringing RS together

[yray]

whens the old furniture sale gonna take place?

serious question

[The Producer]

herman miller - made in USA.

it would be a lot cooler if they were buying canadian manufactured equipment, but I don't know if that even exists.

in the perfect world every government contract would go to canadian manufacturers/suppliers. That's not money spent, that's taxpayer dollars being redistributed to the taxpayer.

[Hakkaboy]

Originally Posted by The Producer

herman miller - made in USA.

it would be a lot cooler if they were buying canadian manufactured equipment, but I don't know if that even exists.

in the perfect world every government contract would go to canadian manufacturers/suppliers. That's not money spent, that's taxpayer dollars being redistributed to the taxpayer.

They do have Canadian made seats that is highly rated for ~$500-$600 range

https://ergocentric.com/product-cate...ffice-seating/

They use these in health care, but they obviously don't look as nice as a Herman Miller chair and probably ruin their "modern" decor

[Jmac]

Originally Posted by unit

i'm not exactly outraged over this, but there's nothing wrong with a $100 chair for most people.. i had a staples mesh back chair and i used it for many hours playing WoW in my 20s for a few years straight... it didn't break and i used it for over 10 years. just to address some of the '$100 chairs break constantly and $1500 chairs never break' type of stuff people are saying in this thread.

I also got some of the mesh chairs also about 10 years ago and they’re just starting to break down. I got them when they went on for 75% off and then another 10% staff discount, so I think I paid less than $70 for the pair.

They’ve held up well.

That said, if you can prevent even a couple of MSI injuries, you’ve more than made up the difference between cheap equipment and the expensive stuff. It would be interesting to see a cost-benefit analysis.

[Hehe]

Originally Posted by winson604

I work for COV and my office was one of the first in the City to buy Herman Millar chairs, I can tell you that we've had them since 2009, they have been sat the shit out of for 11 years and we've only had 1 single chair break and zero others needing any type of maintenance at all. I've bought those "nice looking" staples chairs before and they just go to shits after a couple years and the ergonomics suck, how much is an injury worth?

Yeah, second this.

Office furnitures are supposed to take a beating, just like anything commercial or business stuff go.

I have a pretty expensive office chair at home... but I've had it for 10+ years and moved with me from West coast to East coast and back again... still going strong and honestly I think it would probably last another 10 easily. I work with my computer 6+hrs everyday... so, it's not like it sits empty (no pun intended)
And if one span out the cost of it for its life... I think they aren't expensive at all.

You buy cheap, you buy twice.

[mikemhg]

this is a nothing story.

Of all the issues of corruption in this city, this would be the last problem I'd focus on here.

You literally have docks run by organized crime, money laundering through casinos and shell businesses, paid off judges, rampant real-estate fraud, and this is the item you would focus your outrage on?

Odd.

[StylinRed]

Wow so much to read.....

I'll just throw my 2cents in and shortened, I don't have a problem with the Herman Miller chairs, I expect our city/provincial gov't to be sitting in such chairs, what I don't like about this story is when they spent the money as they were crying about the budget due to covid

[cafe22]

Ironic how there were no media coverage or mass public outcry when CoV Council approved the funding appropriation.

[Sw0op]

The funding amount is fine but its more so how they make use of that money and with that said, thats a lot of money spent on chairs. I get the ergonomics on it and all but myself, my employer, and the companies I visited they dont use Herman Miller chairs. I've seen some companies use it but not as their go to chair for a large list of employees.

It's one thing for a public corporation using funds from their own profits for this its another thing for a private corporation using taxpayers funds for $1k/chair/person. I have a $250 Ikea Markus chair at home for 3+ years and its more than enough...wife even got one too...if I dont have one for myself at home/work I sure as heck dont want to be funding my "taxpayers money" so that someone at corporate office can use one

and then there's the timing of this....the optics of when this was done is horrible...people are losing their jobs, businesses are struggling, people are homeless but thats okay let the COV employees sit on their comfy asses while they ponder what to do (and likely not do much in the end except whine some more)

[twitchyzero]

trust me when i say i value ergonomics almost more than anything given my line of work and i'm no stranger to investing in well-built goods if they can last (kind of moot because my own purchases don't need taxypayer accountability)

but where do you draw the line? Should they upgrade their entire fleets to 80k Toyota Landcruisers like it's the fucking United Nations because they'll outlive the existing ones 5 to 1 for longevity? Can double or triple the upfront cost be justified because it offsets repair costs/downtime of less reliable vehicles? didn't 68style say he helped the police dept with managing the fleet so maybe he can chime in

and somehow i doubt the CoV purchasing team will bother with warranties so that's moot

and still i cant believe the purchase contract/restocking fee as a repeated counter-argument: sorry the jaw breaking debt from covid didn't happen suddenly; they had 6 months to cancel the order before taking delivery. You think all the airlines that put in Airbus/Boeing orders have to go *shrug* guess we'll take the three dozen new planes even if most are gonna be wfh/staycationing? then have the nads to ask for a bailout i know my work sent a bunch of shit back for March orders that are no longer needed

i agree it's sensationalist article but i'd rather know than turn a blind eye- there needs to be some public accountability. I'm ear to hear more similar concerns and we can start a mismanagement thread

if you believe 300k is a drop in the bucket, and if this is only the tip of the iceberg in inefficiencies then a drop here, a spill there, it adds up fast

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by mikemhg

this is a nothing story.

Of all the issues of corruption in this city, this would be the last problem I'd focus on here.

You literally have docks run by organized crime, money laundering through casinos and shell businesses, paid off judges, rampant real-estate fraud, and this is the item you would focus your outrage on?

Odd.

The difference is, those bodies you are talking about are provincially and federally regulated.

[meme405]

I will say at 1am after not being able to work due to the whole Covid thing since April, I was probably a little more triggered than I should have been.

But I'm sorry I've been to offices downtown for places like the Wall center board rooms, top engineering and law firms in the city, bental center, etc. And rarely do I see those private companies sitting in steelcase or herman millers. In fact we rented one of the biggest board rooms in the city when we were conducting mediation, and even in that high end space which costed over $4k for 3 days, there wasn't herman miller chairs. So for someone to say a $1500 chair is the only way to prevent ergonomic injury is ludicrous. Our civilization has gotten so soft, when sitting in a chair results in a compo claim, my buddies who have lost fingers and limbs weep for you all.

I'm sorry, but something needs to happen with the mismanagement of finances at government levels. For every situation like this, there seems to be someone who can justify it, which is why it continues to happen. All it takes is for a few people to justify these types of spending, and it will continue to happen. Meanwhile our debt just continues to grow and our taxes are sky high. Something has to give, unfortunately for us, the collapse of the US will probably come long before our own demise, and it will just decimate our economy. then we will get some sort of reset and it will just happen again.

[bobbinka]

Originally Posted by meme405

So for someone to say a $1500 chair is the only way to prevent ergonomic injury is ludicrous.

Nobody said that.

[shawnly1000]

Vancouver mayor ‘disappointed’ at purchase of high-end furniture for city hall, asks for review

[bcrdukes]

I guess if these Herman Miller chairs were a bad idea, I guess the second floor of city call should just look this this:

Even with the cost of these chairs, people will complain.

[Hondaracer]

I think it speaks to your culture and hiring processes if you are getting injury claims from the $300-$500 chairs you have so you feel the need to buy $1500-$2000 chairs.

Also as posted above that they will eventually sell the used chairs. I highly doubt it. The city cannot track cash sales and there is no budget to receive that money into. Those chairs will go into storage until the building housing them is torn down as opposed to trying how to figure out how to sell them and intake the funds.

[twitchyzero]

this reminds me when i used to do fundraising and they had a handwriting machine for thank you cards

wait what

[bobbinka]

People needs to stop assuming things to justify arguments. We don't know the details of it.

I too can say I highly doubt they are going to keep all the hundreds of chairs they ever need to get rid of (past, present, and future) in storage until a building is torn down The carrying costs of doing that would be dumb.

There are companies that buy used office equipment in bulk from closing businesses (or for whatever reason) and then clean them up to sell. Is this what they're doing? I don't know, but it's not that far-fetched.

Is it also possible the contract they have in place also includes the seller (or a third party through the seller) taking the used equipment? Who knows.

[Ch28]

Originally Posted by mikemhg

this is a nothing story.

Of all the issues of corruption in this city, this would be the last problem I'd focus on here.

You literally have docks run by organized crime, money laundering through casinos and shell businesses, paid off judges, rampant real-estate fraud, and this is the item you would focus your outrage on?

Odd.

Media always goes after the low hanging fruit.

Apprently Vancouver's "mayor" threw his own staff under the bus and said that they need to have an audit of the expenses.