Aeron Chairs As Stupidity Barometers

McSpew writes: "This article at Salon describes how much startup venture money went to buying $700 Aeron chairs. Personally, I think Aerons suck. I'm sitting in one now and my back is killing me--I can never get this damn chair adjusted right, or to get it to stay in a configuration close to comfortable for very long. The wonderful high-tech mesh fabric acts like sandpaper and wears holes in my pants. I honestly miss the boring chair I had at my last job. Am I the only person who hates Aerons?" Aerons are stylish, but not everyone finds them the comfortable work chairs they're supposed to be. Here's one that looks truly comfortable.

Comments

People who disapprove the the chairs

[kleenx]

Well, there seems to be a decent amount of people who disapprove of the Aeron chairs.

I would like to offer a solution. To help us po' college boys who cant afford a $700 chair, but have to sit in a chair for 12 hours a day trying to code to finish while skipping all meals (well, mac and cheese is TECHNICALLY a meal). *takes another deep breath* I would be willing to offer to take the chairs off people hands ;) Of course i'll pay shipping! And us poor fools who can barely afford the $35,000 a year tuition (yes, we got a $360 million dollar grant, and they hike tuition anyway), can have one of these chairs. (Lets not go into how much books costs!)

For the bunch of us who dont like to go into the fancy management rooms and steal them (I know ppl who have done that), we are sitting on what might as well be concrete.

For all those who sponser a po' boy, you will recieve a photo with your new donation, as well as a life story ;) So act now and help save a poor suffing boy's behind.

Re:Uh yeah...

[msheppard]

The chair's are a BAROMETER.
That's like blaming the weather on the BAROMETER.
The article is pointing to these chairs as a useful guide to how much a company is wasting the venture capital they get.

i.e. a BAROMETER
Boy it's hot in here, stupid thermometer.

Re:salon.bomb...oh the irony

[dhamsaic]

Oh yeah, and anyone who spends 700 fucking dollars on a chair deserves to go broke. IMHFO. For that price it had better massage my back, do my taxes, and wipe my ass automatically. :-) - it does do all that - and it sucks on your toes too! if you're into that kinda thing, anyway...

The Aeron is great, when I'm not paying the bill

[micromoog]

I sit in an Aeron at work, and it's great! Truly comfortable for sitting on one's ass for many hours straight.

Of course, there's no way in hell I'd pay the $700 for one of these at home . . . but the laid-off VP whose office I lifted this one from doesn't seem to mind.

Re:aerons are great...

[dhamsaic]

it really doesn't take that long. you need to know what you want going into it. i'd say maybe 25 minutes tops. the problem is, however, most people a) aren't sure of what they need and b) don't want to spend the time to do it. some tips:

• chair height - your feet should rest flat on the ground. if your desk is too high to permit this, get a footrest of some type. your legs should not be hanging off the chair. the weight of your legs pulls your knees down against the chair, restricting blood flow.
• arm height - your arms should be beside you, hanging naturally, but resting on the arm rests. there also should not be any stress on your shoulders, but they shouldn't be pushed up either. a relaxed position is best. this goes hand in hand with chair height - your arms should be parallel to the desk surface.
• lumbar support - this is a bit trickier, but really, you need to find something that makes you feel relaxed in an upright position.
• tilt - i prefer none for most tasks, because it means i'm sitting properly and not ruining my back (something i do here at work with the shitty chairs). tilt is *very* easily adjustable on the aeron though, so don't worry about this too much. you can change it in seconds.

anyway, it really isn't as bothersome as i originally made it out to be. it takes a little time, but it's well worth it.

hope this helps, should you ever have the chance to sit in one.

Venture capital and the value of money

[hillct]

Everyone here agrees that the chairs are less a cause and more a symbol of the .com fall from grace, but it's more important to evaluate why the money was spent in the first place.

It seems to me that the relitively young executives who recieved hundreds of millions in Venture Capital - since they didn't have to really earn it - failed to value it properly, perhaps due to youtht and inexperience (certainly not the fase for all) and perhaps simply due to market conditions which presented the delusion that money grew on trees, since there was no incentive at the time to make a proffit. Let's look at that for a minute. It's the CEO's responsibility to manage a company for success, usualy determined by it's stock price. The market seemed unconcerned with profit, or even revenue so why should the CEOs. Why not buy $750 chairs for every employee? It's not like we need to spend the money on technical infastructure, or support or production, after all the market thinks we're doing just fine. Look at our stock price! (circa July 1999).

My point is, while the blame for the fallout can be placed on CEOs who allowed their companies to make frivolous use of VC, they were only responding to the market, which told them they were doing fine. I blame stock analysts who started gaining celebrity status by whowing up on CNBC with wild preditions which were of course self-fulfilling prophecies, particularly in light of the tremendous number of uninformed indevidual investors - willing to follow anyone who stood up to lead - that flooded the markets durring those years.

Come on, we can't blame the chairs.

--CTH

You get what you pay for

[detritus.]

As a former Herman Miller employee up until recently, I have worked on the Aeron and Equa II (most customizable and my personal fav.) line. You would be surprised to know how much workmanship and hard work is put into these chairs. Every single chair is assembled, customized, and inspected by a person. No robots, no automation.

You would be surprised how much attention is given to a perfect chair. Not one chair leaves the plant unless it's absolutely perfect. Not even the tiniest scratch or ripple in fabric is acceptable. They don't "touch up" their chairs if something is found, it's totally disassembled and the effected part is disposed of. No touch-up paint, no stain removers.

My point is, you pay for the quality, workmanship, and sweat put into making the chairs absolutely perfect. Herman Miller isn't a company that screws around when it comes to doing it right. And believe me, it drove me nuts the first few weeks working there at their high standards of workmanship; but now I truly understand why.

- Dan

aerons are great...

[dhamsaic]

once you get them adjusted properly.

i use and aeron at home. when i first got it, i spend a considerable amount of time getting it adjusted to suit me perfectly. that means setting the height so your feet rest on the ground, setting up the lumbar support properly, getting the correct tilt both forward and backward, getting the armrest height set properly, etc. it can be a chore, but if you take the time to do it, it truly is one of the most comfortable chairs.

one thing i've always hated about being a computer geek was what we here at work refer to as sweaty-ass . you know - you've been sitting in the same chair for 6 hours coding or browsing or quaking or whatever and the heat and humidity make for a relatively uncomfortable rear. the aerson's mesh works wonders for this - i can sit in that chair for an hour or two or ten and not have any trouble whatsoever. and i've never had any problem with it wearing out my clothes or anything. i'd guess that the poster doesn't have the chair set up correctly and therefore fidgets quite a bit, meaning extra wear on the clothes.

anyway, if you can invest the time and money, you can have a comfortable and healthy chair with the aeron.