Posts Tagged ‘used furniture’

Nowadays it is getting more and more difficult to get rid of your old or unwanted office furniture.  Transport, storage and labour costs means that second hand office furniture dealers are less likely to want your old furniture.

Charities have the same problem as well as being restricted by the ever tightening Health and Safety regulations.

Even taking the furniture to the local dump is more difficult nowadays. The charge for commercial waste  seems to escalate geometrically and the limitations on what can be accepted as non hazardous waste makes this method of disposal a very expensive option.

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a 1950s Steelcase Desk

According to an article in The National Post a vintage Formica-topped Steelcase desk with its original key, built in the 1950s can be worth a fortune. In retro boutiques in Los Angeles, New York or Toronto, a vintage steel desk, cleaned, stripped and polished, can fetch $2,000 or more. Its hard to believe, but people are now scouring second hand furniture warehouses looking for such retro  furniture to do up and re-sell in trendy design shops.

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The simple answer is yes you can, as you are doing yourself what someone else would be paid to do, so you can save their cost. But as with everything else, you need to ask if you want to save money this way. Maybe you are the type of person who services their own car, or performs minor surgery at home, in which case putting together some furniture will be a doddle.

But if you are like the rest of us, who tremble when the phrase flat-pack is mentioned, and your toolkit consists of the spanners you got with the lawnmower and some screwdrivers you bought from a stand at an agricultural show because they were cheap, then you need to consider very carefully what you are taking on. Office furniture is heavy, awkward, and easy to damage. It is designed to be assembled by professionals who know the products, which means no instruction manuals or diagrams. And you will only get enough fixings to do the job, and these will be unique to that range. You won’t find a replacement at B&Q.

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One way to keep your furniture costs down is to look at buying second hand. There are a few websites which specialise in this market, and Ebay often turns up a few Gems. You can definitely save money but there are some pitfalls which come with 2nd hand office furniture
One is that there will never be enough of what you want and too much of what you don’t want. You therefore need to be fairly relaxed about what you get. If you want all the desks and chair to match then you probably shouldn’t be looking at 2nd hand. Your will also need to accept a few scrapes scratches and dings. Office furniture has a hard life and 2nd hand furniture will have its battle-scars. It won’t be shiny and new smelling and you might find a few unexpected items in the drawer units.
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