3 ms·

I feel like any (edit: small) company not outfitting their offices largely from cast-offs like this is failing their fiduciary duty.

teaearlgraycold 2y ago
Every startup I’ve worked at has bought furniture through one of these businesses.
ghaff 2y ago
For a small startup, possibly. As you grow, like many things, it doesn't really scale well once you have to start paying people full-time to manage the whole process.
- dghlsakjg 2y ago
  Totally, After a certain point it gets silly to have a bunch of mismatched office furniture that is inevitably in various states of disrepair. You can save yourself heaps of money by buying used Macbooks off of e-bay for a startup, but it becomes a nightmare at scale when you get an IT department that needs to manage it all with uniform security updates, and lifecycles.
  - mdaniel 2y ago
    Buying them off eBay is one thing, but for my own money I've had just stellar success with Apple's Refurbished selection, which comes with a warranty and one can purchase Apple Care for them <https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished> Regrettably I don't know if they're compatible with Apple's MDM but I couldn't imagine why not
    - ghaff 2y ago
      For yourself, it's totally an individual decision based on your personal priorities and risk calculus. I'm a bit skeptical about purchasing refurb computer equipment in general because the support window is ticking down but certainly I have nothing against used and refurb goods for the home in general. For companies, there's a lot to be said for standardization though, for my last job, I just used my own phones and computer gear anyway so it was what I wanted and I controlled it (other than MDM latterly on the phone).
    - duskwuff 2y ago
      > Regrettably I don't know if they're compatible with Apple's MDM but I couldn't imagine why not I doubt they'll ship you pre-MDMed devices from the refurb store, but you should still be able to add them to your account manually: https://it-training.apple.com/tutorials/deployment/dm060/ https://it-training.apple.com/tutorials/deployment/dm060/
- hengheng 2y ago
  But by then you also aren't buying one chair at a time. Or you might just have a standard rate agreed with your favorite supplier, and you'll just give them a call every other month. Buying isn't that hard.
SoftTalker 2y ago
And you know the retail price is probably double or more what the original owner was paid when they liquidated them. I wonder if these places are willing to haggle on price.
- WalterBright 2y ago
  The original owner is going to get paid a lot less than half. Liquidating things may get you 10 cents on the dollar. A typical estate valuation of the contents of a home is around $900. All the stuff you paid $$$ for in your home is worth next to nothing.
  - SoftTalker 2y ago
    Yeah I just meant the markup is on the resale of the used items. If the bankrupt startup had an office chair that they bought new for $1,000, they got paid maybe $100 for it in the liquidation, now the liquidator asks what? At least $200. That's 100% gross profit. Maybe $500? More? Seems there would be room to negotate deals especially if you're buying a whole office-load of furniture.
    - HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
      That sounds high. The chair that I use in my WFH setup was around $800 new when I bought it at an office furniture liquidator for $75.
    - WalterBright 2y ago
      > That's 100% gross profit. That's a typical margin for a reseller (and it's gross margin, not gross profit). Back in the 80s, I was horrified that the mail order houses demanded a wholesale price that was half of retail. But I learned that's how things work. Businesses have a lot of expenses. People who start one often think if they buy X for $10, and sell it for $20, they're counting the money they'll make. The reality is you gotta pay for everything else before you can count the profit.
    - gosub100 2y ago

teaearlgraycold 2y ago

Every startup I’ve worked at has bought furniture through one of these businesses.

ghaff 2y ago

For a small startup, possibly. As you grow, like many things, it doesn't really scale well once you have to start paying people full-time to manage the whole process.

dghlsakjg 2y ago
Totally, After a certain point it gets silly to have a bunch of mismatched office furniture that is inevitably in various states of disrepair. You can save yourself heaps of money by buying used Macbooks off of e-bay for a startup, but it becomes a nightmare at scale when you get an IT department that needs to manage it all with uniform security updates, and lifecycles.
- mdaniel 2y ago
  Buying them off eBay is one thing, but for my own money I've had just stellar success with Apple's Refurbished selection, which comes with a warranty and one can purchase Apple Care for them <https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished> Regrettably I don't know if they're compatible with Apple's MDM but I couldn't imagine why not
  - ghaff 2y ago
    For yourself, it's totally an individual decision based on your personal priorities and risk calculus. I'm a bit skeptical about purchasing refurb computer equipment in general because the support window is ticking down but certainly I have nothing against used and refurb goods for the home in general. For companies, there's a lot to be said for standardization though, for my last job, I just used my own phones and computer gear anyway so it was what I wanted and I controlled it (other than MDM latterly on the phone).
  - duskwuff 2y ago
    > Regrettably I don't know if they're compatible with Apple's MDM but I couldn't imagine why not I doubt they'll ship you pre-MDMed devices from the refurb store, but you should still be able to add them to your account manually: https://it-training.apple.com/tutorials/deployment/dm060/ https://it-training.apple.com/tutorials/deployment/dm060/
hengheng 2y ago
But by then you also aren't buying one chair at a time. Or you might just have a standard rate agreed with your favorite supplier, and you'll just give them a call every other month. Buying isn't that hard.

SoftTalker 2y ago

And you know the retail price is probably double or more what the original owner was paid when they liquidated them. I wonder if these places are willing to haggle on price.

WalterBright 2y ago
The original owner is going to get paid a lot less than half. Liquidating things may get you 10 cents on the dollar. A typical estate valuation of the contents of a home is around $900. All the stuff you paid $$$ for in your home is worth next to nothing.
- SoftTalker 2y ago
  Yeah I just meant the markup is on the resale of the used items. If the bankrupt startup had an office chair that they bought new for $1,000, they got paid maybe $100 for it in the liquidation, now the liquidator asks what? At least $200. That's 100% gross profit. Maybe $500? More? Seems there would be room to negotate deals especially if you're buying a whole office-load of furniture.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
    That sounds high. The chair that I use in my WFH setup was around $800 new when I bought it at an office furniture liquidator for $75.
  - WalterBright 2y ago
    > That's 100% gross profit. That's a typical margin for a reseller (and it's gross margin, not gross profit). Back in the 80s, I was horrified that the mail order houses demanded a wholesale price that was half of retail. But I learned that's how things work. Businesses have a lot of expenses. People who start one often think if they buy X for $10, and sell it for $20, they're counting the money they'll make. The reality is you gotta pay for everything else before you can count the profit.
  - gosub100 2y ago