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Comment by 0cf8612b2e1e | Hacker News Reader

When these offices close, I assume they liquidate all of the office furniture, computers, etc.

How do I find and purchase some of this stuff? I would happily pick up a discounted Herman Miller, tables, whatever other nonsense that might be up for grabs.

Or is it all sold to bulk retailers who subdivide it out? Recycle to the next startup?

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There are companies that specialize in buying up office furniture being liquidated. They buy it at a discount and sell it to the next company.

The thing is that sometimes they have leftovers that they can't really sell to another company and these will often be very cheap. I bought a used Steelcase Leap from one of these places that operated out of a nearby warehouse. A new Leap sells for $1000+. It was in near perfect condition, but it was a different color then the rest of the Leaps that they had, so no one buying in bulk was likely to purchase it. I bought it for about $200. They even steam cleaned it for free before I picked it up.

For all us peasants who don't know what that is, a Steelcase Leap is an expensive office chair.

Ostensibly, one of the best “task chairs”, assuming its a v2

> Steelcase Leap is an expensive work throne that commands respect from your allies and instills fear in your enemies.

That’s why all startups use them and why the rest of us mere mortals lust after them.

FTFY :)

Search for office supply places in your area. Look for something that’s “second tier”. Lacking a fancy store front, maybe in a warehouse, or an office that hasn’t been updated in decades. Even when I lived in rural parts of the country, I could find several with 2 hours drive.

Alternatively, searching Craigslist for Herman Miller or Aeron will likely turn up results from these resellers.

I never understood the obsession with the chair type, model, or manufacturer. I have a normal office chair whose brand I don’t know, and I never had issues despite sitting for long periods of time. The trick first me is to never stay still in one position for more than 30 minutes and to rotate between different positions, leaning forward or backward, and other positions as if I’m sitting on the floor. For example, like the ‘Burmese’ or ‘on a stool’ positions in this picture (1). I also do the usual stretches from time to time.

(1) https://64.media.tumblr.com/fd311523b5965df9b1ff0682c0041c96...

Most fancy office chairs give me a back ache. I preferred an inexpensive straight back with padded seat...

The factory-pre-assgrooved seat cushions on the market are quite nice

One time I had to travel and stay in the field for a month, my “desk” was literally a cardboard box and a futon, which is to be honest felt even better because you can quickly lay down for few minutes to “reset” your spine.

Have you tried a Herman Miller? I once thought like you, but the magic of Herman Miller for me is that I can sit in the same position for hours and I never think about it, consciously or subconsciously. When I get up I don't really feel anything. Which is how it should be. Having to move every thirty minutes to feel OK is a sign of a bad chair.

> Having to move every thirty minutes to feel OK is a sign of a bad chair.

It's a sign of being a human being in a body which evolved to move. Even if you're not in physical pain, moving regularly is by far better than not for your health.

> Have you tried a Herman Miller?

I didn’t, but now that you mentioned it, I would definitely try it out of curiosity, what model do you use?

> Having to move every thirty minutes to feel OK is a sign of a bad chair.

I don’t think it’s a bad habit to move periodically, which is something you do even while sleeping anyway.

I like the Aeron. A corollary of what I wrote is that if you just sit in it for a few seconds or minutes at a store, it doesn't feel special. If you work at a decently sized company or have access to a coworking space, you can likely find an Aeron somewhere.

It's one of those things... what works for you may not work for other people. For someone who's made-up differently, the right chair can make all the difference in the world.

I do what you do (and more) _and_ I have the best chair _and_ I am still in constant pain.

Fair point, and I hope your pain eases soon too!

I am sitting in a Herman Miller Aeron chair acquired during the ~2000 dot com bust at auction for next to nothing. Highly recommend.

I got my Aeron from a local company that must have been downsizing. I went and picked it up from their office, and it was depressing looking at all of the empty desks (this was pre-COVID) and only a skeleton staff.

IIRC I found mine on Craigslist.

Reminds me of my office after private equity outsourced most of the US workforce. It wasn't just that there was no one at the desks, it was that they removed all the personalization and even the department names and decorations which turned our once-vibrant, if irreverent old office into a generic, anonymous place.

Got my Herman Miller in dot com shutdown too, except it was facilities guy wheeling everything out into the parking lot saying "Take it all.."

The SV ecosystem has long had firms that handle that stuff and make it available to new startups.

For chairs, look up office furniture rental companies. They often sell 5+ year old office chairs for steep discounts and they are usually in pretty good condition.

Just check your craigslist equivalent (marktplaats in my country). I got a really nice desk+lamp for $100 when they had to liquidate their furniture

I bought a standing desk here in the Bay area - saw an ad on FB marketplace and went to this warehouse - they had tons of office stuff, got a really nice standing desk for a fraction of the price, this was during covid when lots of offices were going remote.

https://svdisposition.com/auctions

https://www.yelp.com/biz/berkeley-office-interiors-berkeley Gets a lot of furniture from big offices in San Francisco every time there's a downturn.

just look for auction houses in your area. You don't have to buy these from tech companies. I'm signed up with a few local ones and I get notifications whenever there's a business going-out-of-business auction. I've gotten weights, computer parts, chairs, etc.

My prior assumption is that tech companies with stupid funding levels are the most likely to splurge on glitzy equipment. Regular businesses not looking for an exit likely have fewer great finds.

Everytime my companies have done a fancy building remodel, they fall apart after this. It's like corporate version of jumping the shark

Gotta get a bit suspicious when any org pivots from their product being the product to their appearance being the product.

I guess sometimes it works.

You'd be surprised, the local auction companies can be worth keeping an eye on.

Smaller companies never get there, and just kind of disappear; if you have ears to the ground you can learn about them (helps to know commercial real-estate managers).

Some office furniture retailers have outlets where they sell second hand stuff at slight discount. This often comes with some level of warranty and might have even gone through proper refurb process.

State side anyway, all the good stuff almost always goes through HGP: https://www.hgpauction.com/

When YC had their headquarters in Mountain View there used to be a warehouse about a block away from there called Desk Depot - https://maps.app.goo.gl/GL9YpxsBt79M1Rxi7 - Google thinks it may be permanently closed now.

It specialized in second hand furniture from tech companies. It was AMAZING. The owner could tell the story of the past few decades of Silicon Valley illustrated by second hand desk furniture - like that corner over there is Sun Microsystems, this corner is Yahoo! etc. He had the full chronology of Herman Miller chairs as well.

Practically a museum. I'll be said if it's really closed for good.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/desk-depot-mountain-view says it's closed but has a comment from someone in 2021 saying "This place is NOT closed. WTH is Yelp reporting it as closed?"

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