Why are office chairs so expensive?

[Herr Kutz]

On my way back from my recent vacation I stopped by an IKEA (two, really) and put a desk and a $65 office chair onto my cart and headed towards the checkout. Not entirely sure I had the room to fit the chair in my vehicle, I put it back and left with just the desk. After getting tired of kneeling on the faux wood floors in my apartment I decided I needed to find an office chair so I went to Office Max and holy hell are they expensive. The $65 chair at IKEA was fairly comfortable but I couldn't find anything for less than $150 at Office Max that was remotely comfortable. The Brenton Studio Rixie was very comfortable but cost $170 and the plastics looked super cheap. I also checked Walmart but their pitiful selection was also not worth the money they were asking. I really regret not purchasing the one from IKEA because there is no IKEA in my area and they don't ship the chairs. Long story short I bought a padded folding chair from Wally World for $20 to hold me over for now.

 

[IronWing]

Try a used office furniture store. My butt is currently being held in the air by an extremely nice Steelcase chair that cost me $75.

 

[brianmanahan]

i bought a steelcase chair new for 600$ because i didn't wait to sit in a chair that someone else had farted in.

the thing is amazing. so much more comfortable than herman miller stuff.

 

[IronWing]

i bought a steelcase chair new for 600$ because i didn't wait to sit in a chair that someone else had farted in.

the thing is amazing. so much more comfortable than herman miller stuff.

I have an Aeron chair at work. I hate it. My legs fall asleep.

 

[Eug]

I am currently sitting on a Herman Miller Aeron, and I've had a couple of Steelcase chairs in the past. They're fine, but my favourite chair is a mid-priced no-name chair that my workplace had purchased. Those cost about 1/3rd of the cost of the Herman Miller and Steelcase chairs I bought. I can't source them anymore though.

 

[brianmanahan]

I have an Aeron chair at work. I hate it. My legs fall asleep.

yep, and the freaking hard plastic front edge hurts my legs after an hour or so.

the steelcase amia or steelcase leap chairs are heavenly by comparison. nice soft tapered front edge.

 

[Rumpltzer]

Lane brand, cloth office chair from Costco. I paid ~$90 for it when I was in grad school, and it was the only furniture that I owned when I left school.

I've had it at least 16 years. Still looks new, and I love it. Started making a huge racket when spinning in it. Replaced a $9 bearing (ebay), and it was fine after that. Might need to replace that bearing again pretty soon.

 

[Imp]

That is weird... I looked up Ikea's swivel chairs and they do have a bunch that aren't available online.

Office supply store probably expects you to not look at price and just expense it. I got my Staples chair on sale, still works 5 years later.

 

[gorobei]

I have an Aeron chair at work. I hate it. My legs fall asleep.

yep, and the freaking hard plastic front edge hurts my legs after an hour or so.

the steelcase amia or steelcase leap chairs are heavenly by comparison. nice soft tapered front edge.

sadly it is an issue with an easy fix. all they would have to do is bend the front of the frame down.

 

[Red Squirrel]

A good chair is a decent investment, the more expensive ones will last longer, be comfortable, have proper ergonomics etc.

 

[MongGrel]

I have an old Lane Executive chair I use a lot, but that thing has gotten a bit beat up over time.

It has some nice ergonomics, but probably is worn out.

About anything wears out over time with use.

 

[Linux23]

I hate my new office chair that I got for my computer room. It doesn't lock in different positions which makes it so uncomfortable to flog the bishop on.

 

[Tweak155]

I got a new desk at home and it's a little tall... anyone know where you can get taller seat level office chairs or have a good recommendation? I agree office chairs are expensive, but with how much they get used, they're worth it if you ask me.

 

[pauldun170]

Before we moved to our new building, I had a 10 year old Herman Miller Aeron with the little posture fit attachment.
The one I had was comfortable and like the rest of them in our office in excellent condition despite the age. Some of them stood up to some serious fat slobs.

The chairs in our office now are shit in comparison.
For home I haven't had much luck on chairs from Officedepot\Staples in the 100-200 bracket. They start out really comfortable and then fall apart after a 2-3 years..

 

[slag]

Lane brand, cloth office chair from Costco. I paid ~$90 for it when I was in grad school, and it was the only furniture that I owned when I left school.

I've had it at least 16 years. Still looks new, and I love it. Started making a huge racket when spinning in it. Replaced a $9 bearing (ebay), and it was fine after that. Might need to replace that bearing again pretty soon.

Isn't that weird how a bearing without much force on it and certainly no RPM's or anything can fail so easily in a chair.

 

[JM Aggie08]

For my home office, I went for the Office Depot variety of ergo chair. Cost around ~$350, and works beautifully when I have to WFH.

 

[nerp]

Office stores are incredibly expensive for stuff you can get cheaper. Staples does this too. You go in for the .01 cent copy paper deal and other loss leaders and they rip you off selling office chairs at 200% markup and cheap thin plastic letter trays that cost .02 cents to make for $19.99. The key is to go in there and only get the loss leaders.Their business model is apparently designed to drive themselves out of business.

 

[Muse]

Good office chair, if you use it a lot is really worth it. I got a couple Steelase chairs (different times) at a used office supply outlet. Love them. Even used, not cheap. I could tell by the way the owner suggested them that I was getting real quality. Most of the office chairs I see are relatively junky.

Try a used office furniture store. My butt is currently being held in the air by an extremely nice Steelcase chair that cost me $75.

That's exactly what I did, but I paid more. Still, way less than retail.

If you don't want to sit in a chair that someone else has farted in, well, leave planet earth. Never ride public transit, never ride in a friend's car, never go out to anything. Grow up.

 

[HumblePie]

The reason office chairs, mattresses, furniture of any kind really, and usb cords at best buy are so expensive is because those are the "high margin" items that are basically the bread and butter sales items for those stores. Problem is that most stores that sell those items universally do so at the high margin prices. Still there are deals that can be had if you look around diligently enough.

 

[Yakk]

Yup, name brand office furniture like chairs are very, very high margin stuff because of extremely good marketing making people expect to pay a lot for them, middlemen to pay also who squeeze in thanks to the high margins, no other real reason.

 

[Sonikku]

i bought a steelcase chair new for 600$ because i didn't wait to sit in a chair that someone else had farted in.

the thing is amazing. so much more comfortable than herman miller stuff.

Wish I could afford $600 for a chair.

 

[Linux23]

Wish I could afford $600 for a chair.

Me too

 

[Puffnstuff]

With my current chair I switched from executive to task chairs which make it easier to reach my keyboard and type. It has the adjustable mesh lumbar support and the back reclines with several positions available. The arm rests pivot and adjust for height plus the seat adjusts in relation to the back rest so I can slide it back and forth if I want more distance from the back rest. It's the most expensive chair I've ever purchased and its worth every penny to me to sit comfortably for hours on end. Even if you don't have a lot of money you should do yourself a favor and go to your local store and test a couple of different styles out just to be sure that the one you get will work for you. Try scooting up to a keyboard tray and see if you can type comfortably from it.

 

[Slew Foot]

Office stuff tends to be expensive because its bought as tax write offs or on expense accounts.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I got the Ikea Markus chair.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00103102/

Supposed to be the best budget chair. I like it so far.