• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Do you think government workers should have Hermon Miller Aeron chairs? ($1000 ea) ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 4644
  • Start date Start date
I hear ads for the chairs on nearly NPR or PBS broadcast, so they may be getting them for free or very very cheap if they are working as a sponsor. I wouldn't be surprised if the chairs didn't end up being a tax deduct for HM as a donation or the like.

I wouldn't get too bent.
 
Originally posted by: LordSegan
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/160446main_jsc2006e43860_high.jpg

This photo, unless I am wrong, appears to show about $30,000 in chairs. I know a lot of private lawyers, doctors, computer programmers, engineers, etc who have much less expensive chairs and probably spend as much time sitting.

What is your take on this?
Click to expand...

After spending millions of dollars on all the equipment in that room, and probably hundreds of millions on the various programs and equipment that is directed from that room, and hundreds of thousands of dollars on the salaries of the highly skilled people who work there, it seems silly to complain over a few thousand spent on comfortable chairs. It's pretty well known that a comfortable work environment makes workers a lot more productive, and that goes for doctors, lawyers, computer programmers and engineers as well as people who work in a NASA control room. And given the relative costs involved, cheaping out on chairs to save a few thousand dollars is exactly the kind of missing the forest for the trees problems that plague modern corporations. In other words, the differences between the private industry folks you know and NASA is that NASA gets how to get the most out of smart people, while the private employers obviously do not.

Wasting money for no reason is obviously not a good way to run a business or a government agency, but the benefit to cost ratio here is pretty favorable. If you're going to pay a NASA engineer $90,000 per year, how much sense does it make to give him an uncomfortable chair just to save a few hundred bucks?
 
NASA .. = YES

Politicians need chairs produced by the cattle industry with electro shock therapy installed 😉

But.. I wouldn't be suprised if HM chairs actually cost our govt TEN TIMES what they cost in the retail outlets.
 
I dunno... Compared to the billion or so in other stuff in that room, the chairs seem kinda cheap. I know what you're getting at OP. And it's a systematic problem in our government to spend more than is necessary... But really, in a billion dollar room, does $30k make any difference?
 
First, the chairs do not cost anywhere near $1000. I have seen them for as little as $500. While my workplace does not pay for them, the chairs that we do have cost at least $300. I have an Aeron at home.

Second, see all that computer equipment in front of those employees, a $500 chair is a small cost in comparisson (The difference between the Aeron and whatever chair that they might have otherwise bought is even smaller).

Third, anyone who spends a large amount of time in a chair, knows that they get hot. The Aeron chairs are very nice at keeping this from happening.
 
I have no problem with NASA having expensive chairs. Thees are the nation's best and brightest.

Now if this would have been post office, IRS, welfare office, DMV, etc....
 
I think that it's a silly argument to say that "$30,000" doesn't matter in a room of 1 billion. Say that 1000x times and that is why our police, fire, hospitals, etc etc etc are all failing and running out of money.
 
1. It's possible that the government got a better deal than you or I would

2. I'd definitely want the people who control our space flights to be as comfortable as possible. Lawyers? Doctors? Pfff!

3. What do you think is cheaper: $1000 chair or government paying for the health problems resultiing from bad chairs? A worker smelling a doctor's office a few times and there go your $1000.
 
Originally posted by: fornax
1. It's possible that the government got a better deal than you or I would
Click to expand...

Now that's the funny! :laugh:

(Images of $500 hammers and $1,000 toilet seats keep popping up in my head!)
 
Your argument would hold water if you were showing us a picture of your local DMV, but as others have pointed out NASA is quite a bit different. They need a lot of very smart people, and they have to compete with the very best that the private sector has to offer in order to attract those smart people. If anything they don't go far enough - Google offers free gourmet food, gyms, flexible time, rec facilities etc etc. Working on some cool project at NASA adds a bit of prestige, but you can't use that to argue for smaller salaries and crappy working conditions.
 
This is not the $1000 hermon miller chair. It is the less expensive hermon miller with fewer features. It's still pretty expensive though. It could be a knock off also.

For the price, the hermon miller is overrated. There are other chairs that are as good for less money.
 
I am sure the CEO with the company paid for $125,000 desk and $35,000 chair would agree with you?🙂

This was for LordSegan, forgot to hit quote.
 
Originally posted by: Deleted member 4644
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/160446main_jsc2006e43860_high.jpg

This photo, unless I am wrong, appears to show about $30,000 in chairs. I know a lot of private lawyers, doctors, computer programmers, engineers, etc who have much less expensive chairs and probably spend as much time sitting.

What is your take on this?
Click to expand...


I wonder if the people at NASA can just stand up and walk away whenever they get uncomfortable like a lawyer, programmer or engineer. My doctor wears a watch that costs around 6k probably. Priorities?
 
I'm fine with operators getting good chairs. One those chairs are drop in a bucket compared to all other equipment, and two, any mistake those operators make because they had back pains from cheap uncomfortable chairs will cost millions.

If you have mission critical you don't want to go cheap on small stuff. Getting them cheapo $50 chairs would be like spending $100,000 worth of new server equipment and putting only one small 5000BTU airconditioner in the room to keep it cool.
 
Yes, they should have those chairs, of course. The government has to compete for, recruit, and retain top talent. These engineers and analysts could be looking at boring stock charts instead of boring space charts and making 5 times as much money on Wall Street. So if an $1000 chair helps them feel comfortable and retain them, it's a bargain.
 
I'm fine with them getting nice chairs too. A lot of times when I see government facilities, they are so spartan, cheap, uncomfortable that they're almost insulting to the people, and I feel a bit sorry for them.

If we want 'good government', we should not treat them like crap. Self-fulfilling prophecy. Ask yourself if you would take a government position the way you want it to be done with low salaries, people spitting 'LEECH!' at you, spartan cement environments...

I don't think we need to cross over into pure 'luxury' items usually; but a lot more people could use better chairs in and out of the government. Penny wise, pound foolish.
 
My little 5 person company gives us those Aeron chairs. I would expect NASA engineers to have something decent. 😛
 
Originally posted by: LordSegan
I think that it's a silly argument to say that "$30,000" doesn't matter in a room of 1 billion. Say that 1000x times and that is why our police, fire, hospitals, etc etc etc are all failing and running out of money.
Click to expand...

That's a stupid argument, because that's NOT what we're saying. We're saying that, since all that money for other stuff has already been spent, getting cheap when it comes to comfortable chairs seems silly, especially since they have a proven, positive impact on worker productivity. It's not like they're just setting fire to a pile of $100 bills...they are spending a little extra money to get an extra benefit...and since they've spent so much money on the rest of the place, it seems silly from any perspective to cheap out on the chairs.
 
Originally posted by: Engineer
Originally posted by: fornax
1. It's possible that the government got a better deal than you or I would
Click to expand...
Now that's the funny! :laugh:

(Images of $500 hammers and $1,000 toilet seats keep popping up in my head!)
Click to expand...
The old stories about the $500 hammers and $1000 toilets were just that, stories.
It seems what happened is the government did a lousy job of keeping track of the money they were spending so they just assigned values to items they had.

So while there my have been a $500 hammer floating around there were also a LOT of free screwdrivers, nails etc floating around.

It was lousy accounting, not over spending at work.
 
1. They are extraordinarily high quality and last forever, and in the long run are far less expensive than three or four "cheap" chairs.

2. They are far more ergonomic than cheap chairs, the savings in repetitive stress disorder claims, back problems, etc. is significant.

3. They are made in the good ole USA.

In this case, it makes sense to buy quality.
 
"Penny wise, pound foolish".

I bought a $50 computer chair from Staples and it broke in 6 months.
I bought an iron mesh chair for $100 and it has lasted me almost 2 years now with no problems.

Why should NASA pay for a cheap computer chair that would breakdown in less than 6 months?

If this chair was being spent in the "oval office" you just may have a point OP.
But with NASA? Good grief.
 
When I worked for the DOD in the '80's we had crumbling pos old chairs. When my planner/buyer co-worker went out and bought us four decent ~$200 chairs , the sh** hit the fan and he got in big trouble. My how the world has changed.
You may have noticed how the military doesn't do anything anymore, it is all provided by Halliburton, etc..meals , housing, transportation. You don't think this costs a lot more than having govt employees do it, do you?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top