What Should An Office Chair Cost?
When comparing an office chair to other consumer goods, it seems the office chair just does not receive the amount of respect and love that say a sofa or dining room table gets. Yet, these two pieces–sofa and dining room table– get used less frequently than an office chair. In my opinion, an office chair should cost close to what you paid for your XBox or Sony Playstation. It’s a critical piece of furniture that will cradle and support some important assets. For most, the office chair will hold these assets for upward of 9 -10 hours, five days per week. So why do we insist on spending the least amount of money for a piece of furniture so critical to our health and well-being?
Lifehacker.com did a great blog on The Comfort Principle which simply states “spend money where you spend your time proportionately.” For instance, if you spend your time on the sofa playing XBox or Sony Playstation 62% of your time, then by all means, that is where your money should be spent. However, the majority of human beings tend to spend their time at the office in an office chair for 62% of their time. Let’s look at it another way…
How much time do I spend in my office chair? 10 hours/day * 5 days/week * 52 weeks/year = 2600 hours a year that you’re sitting on that chair. (You’ll have some weeks off for vacation, but you’ll also probably be working late, or working weekends, so let’s just say it evens out.)
It is a strong argument that you should seriously weigh The Comfort Principle on your next office chair purchase. But, let’s say you work for a company that won’t allow you to spend for an office chair that will take care of your form throughout your workday. If not, perhaps they will allow for an ergonomic keyboard or monitor arm. Even if the boss won’t agree to buy you that $700 office chair, consider making the purchase yourself. The cost using the formula above would be .25 cents per hour and the savings? The savings would be your health, back, productivity and so much more. Imagine the cost of back surgery or regular chiropractic visits. If you do buy the chair, perhaps you can negotiate a .25 cents per hour raise to cover the cost?
As I sit on my uber ergonomic “used” office chair typing this, I can see my sofa. Using The Comfort Principle, I’d say my decision was sound to splurge on this used ergonomic chair that I am in up to 50 hours per week rather than the empty sofa. When the money is there, the sofa may get upgraded, but for now, I am happy and so are my assets.
ROSI Office Systems, Inc. has been outfitting local Houston, Austin and San Antonio businesses with ergonomic and highly functional office chairs for over twenty years. Contact us or come by the ROSI Houston showroom to see our new and used office chairs.
