Modern Office Furniture

One of the most frequent questions we receive is why chair mats are not shipped flat to the customer. Many customers specifically ask us to ship their chair mat flat.

There is a very good reason that chair mats are shipped rolled up. Nearly any chair mat is too large to ship via UPS or FedEx if it is placed flat in a carton. The UPS and FedEx size limit for a package is 130″ in length plus girth. This means that you first measure the longest dimension of a package (the length), and then measure all the way around in the other direction (the girth). The sum of length plus girth must be 130″ or less. If a chair mat is 48″ x 48″ the length is 48″ (actually more when you include the carton). The girth is 48″ + 48″ + the thickness of the chair mat + the thickness of the chair mat (again, even more when the carton is included). The sum in this example is 144″+. So you can see that even with this relatively small chair mat we are well over the size limit and we aren’t even counting the carton.

A rolled up new chair mat can be awkward to deal with as you try to flatten it and place it under your chair. This is particularly true in winter when the vinyl material of the chair mat has encountered cold temperatures on its way to the customer and is very stiff. The good news is that the vinyl wants to eventually assume its natural flat shape. This can be accelerated by giving the chair mat a hot bath or shower, placing it in the warm sunlight, or using a blow dryer to soften it.

Modern Office offers chair mats in many sizes, thickness, and types, as well as custom sized chair mats cut to your specifications. Please contact us at 1-800-443-5117 with any of your chair mat questions.

chair mat, chair mats

We are often asked to assist customers in selecting an office chair. The customer may be communicating via phone or email and located thousands of miles away, or they could be in our showroom here in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

There are many factors to consider in selecting an office chair, and we have written detailed articles and buyer’s guides concerning them.

One basic but very important factor in selecting an office chair is often overlooked: Be sure to select a chair that is appropriate for the person or task. The trend over the past few years is for customers to look at price first and gravitate to the cheapest chairs, as businesses and institutions are under pressure to save money. We see customers who definitely need “big and tall chairs” for employees who weigh over 300 lbs select $99.00 entry level desk chairs. Customers who need “24 hour multi-shift chairs” have opted for light-use conference chairs or even home office desk chairs. Chairs that are not designed for those conditions won’t hold up, and their warranties won’t cover breakage. In the long run, the customer will end up spending more to replace the chairs again and again.

You can purchase a 24/7 400 lb Capacity Multi-Shift Office Chair from Modern Office for $399.00. It’s extremely comfortable and rugged. For comparison, a light-use Conference Chair may cost around $169.00. But you can use the 24/7 Chair 24 hours a day in multi-shift situations and it will last many times longer than the $169.00 Conference Chair, in addition to being comfortable and highly adjustable for the user. The $399 Chair is your best investment over time.

Try to keep the user and function of the chair in mind the next time you shop for office chairs. Then look at price next. The cheapest office chair is unlikely to be the best chair for your situation.

Office furniture does not usually come to mind as a potential gift during the holiday season. Not many kids dream of a shiny new conference table under the Christmas tree. Few of them beg for a genuine reception desk so they can “play office”. We wish they did, but that’s probably not going to happen any time soon.

However, some office furniture can make a perfect gift for the boss or for someone with a home office.

Reclining office chairs are popular for those who want to combine an office chair with the ability to recline and nap. They start at just $299.00 and are in stock.

Another excellent gift for the person with a home office (or for those who want or need to be nice to their boss at work) is a roll top desk. We have full-size roll top desks in stock for as low as $1299.00. We have made-in-the-USA deluxe solid oak roll top computer desks in stock for $2799.00.

Of course we have many office chairs, chair mats, office desks, and other office furniture for the practical shopper. Call Modern Office at 1-800-443-5117 and we’ll help you select something for your holiday gift giving.

christmas shopping, gift, office furniture, reclining office chair, roll top desk

I was reminded recently of how small details can affect customer satisfaction with an online transaction.

A new customer just placed an online order with Modern Office and was very concerned about what would happen should she need to return her order, particularly because she paid via PayPal. She called us to ask about our refund procedure because she had placed a large order with one of our competitors, was notified that the item was no longer available, but was still waiting for her PayPal refund after two weeks. It turned out that the online retailer immediately transferred her PayPal payment out of their PayPal account when the order was placed, and when the time came to refund the customer’s payment they did not have enough funds in the account. She had to wait for them to process the refund, transfer the funds into their PayPal account, wait for the funds to be verified as available, and then send the money to her. She was still waiting after two weeks.

When a customer places an online order with Modern Office and pays via PayPal we leave the funds in our PayPal account until after the order has shipped. This means that we can immediately refund their PayPal payment with a simple click should an item no longer be available or the customer cancels their order prior to shipment.

This is one of the small but important ways that Modern Office can make your online office furniture order a pleasant transaction.

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Free shipping is a nice benefit when you shop online. Free shipping on small items is common, but free shipping on larger items such as reception desks, conference tables, and other office furniture is less common. Modern Office offers free shipping on these large items to addresses within the 48 contiguous states as long as they are served by UPS, FedEx, or regularly scheduled freight carriers.

A few weeks ago I talked with a logistics company representative who wanted to obtain more of our shipping business. I told him that we offer free shipping to our customers and that we often ship orders at a loss due to the high cost of shipping, particularly to residential addresses, distant or remote locations such as Key West, FL or small towns in the deserts or mountains, and crowded urban areas such as Manhattan. Since he has worked with many online office furniture retailers I asked him how other companies offer free shipping to these locations without suffering substantial losses. His answer was, “They just don’t ship there!” He said that if the retailer knows that shipping to a particular address for a particular product will result in a loss they just say the product is not available and reject the order. This allows them to continue advertising low prices with free shipping but not suffer the risk of shipping orders at a loss.

So beware when your order with free shipping is rejected by an online retailer. Ask them for the reason. Check to see if the item is still available. If it’s still available, they may have rejected your order just because of the expense of shipping to you. Let them know that you expect them to ship your order with free shipping as advertised.

conference tables, free shipping, office furniture, reception desks

What could be more American than a rolltop desk? The rolltop desk was invented in the U.S. in the 1800’s as a better alternative to the difficult-to-make European cylinder desk, which was a writing desk with a rotating decorative cylinder that covered the work area. The tambour door of the rolltop desk was easier and more economical to make. As a result, the rolltop desk became the standard for desks in many U.S. offices from the late 1800’s to early 1900’s.

Modern Office now offers even more rolltop desks that are made in the USA. Now over 90% of the rolltop desks we carry are made right here in Minnesota. The new additions are not only American-made, but they are made of solid oak with modified dimensions to accommodate computers with large monitors and all-in-one printers. Even better, the new solid oak rolltop computer desks are in stock for immediate shipment.

Call us at 1-800-443-5117 with any questions you may have.

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I recently stumbled upon an online review service that gave Modern Office a high score and the honor of being the No. 1 place to buy office supplies in Eden Prairie, MN. We’re happy to hear that, but we don’t sell office supplies — we sell office furniture. The review went on to describe our typical customers as “fashionistas”. I’m not sure what that means, but it made me think more about online reviews.

Different review services have different strengths. It looks like the review service that provided the ranking mentioned above specializes in local stores, but we have a warehouse and showroom instead of a store, so their ranking and scores don’t mean much since they are based on such a small number of transactions.

Since you’re online as you read this blog you’re probably interested in online shopping. One key to successful online shopping is finding a good unbiased review site. The Better Business Bureau is always a good site for a general summary of complaints against a business and how they address them. The BBB also provides an overall A to F grade for each business.

There are also many online review sites such as Angie’s List and Yelp, but they are more appropriate for local service businesses, dentists, restaurants, salons, home repair, etc. You may find some reviews of online retailers, but for the most part online retailers tend to have only a small number of reviews, if any.

Individual product reviews are sometimes helpful, but because many product review systems allow anyone to review a product, whether they purchased it or not, and regardless of whether of not they purchased from a particular online retailer, they can be influenced by intentional promotion or mischief. Another complication is that many online retailers have a huge number of products shown in their online stores, but since their sales are spread out over such a vast inventory the number of reviews per product may be zero or nearly zero for most items unless the retailer is a very large company.

The best review system I’ve found for online shopping is Yahoo! Shopping’s Merchant Reviews. The reason is that Yahoo! is an unbiased third party and nearly all of their reviews are the result of actual orders placed with online retailers. The reviews marked “via post-transaction survey” are responses to a survey emailed by Yahoo! Shopping to actual customers for a specific order. Online retailers commonly have dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of ratings and written reviews on Yahoo! Shopping. The larger the sample size the more accurate the information. At last count Modern Office had over 1,700 ratings and over 900 reviews shown in Yahoo! Shopping’s Merchant Reviews.

Online reviews and rating services can be very helpful. Choose the ones best suited for your type of shopping and you’ll be able to evaluate potential retailers for the best shopping experience.

online shopping reviews

Modern Office has introduced yet another office chair based on the design and color trends observed at the recent 2012 NeoCon convention.

The WaveFlex Executive Ergonomic Chair has the look and feel of a high-end office chair, but at a fraction of the price. The bright hues mentioned in our previous blogs are featured in backrest colors such as Red Sorbet, Orange Sherbet, Sky Blue, and Spring Leaf Green.

The WaveFlex office chair features the flexible Elastomere molded backrest material used on our previously introduced GeoFlex Office Chair. Other high-end features include a completely sealed underside with button tab controls instead of long paddles, synchro-tilt back and seat to relieve thigh pressure, angled adjustable arms with extra-soft pads, and heavy high-quality construction. Take a look at our product video to see this office chair in action.

The WaveFlex Executive Ergonomic Office Chairs are in stock. Please do not hesitate to call us at 1-800-443-5117 with any of your questions.

office chairs, office furniture

Bold contrasting colors for office chairs were evident at the 2012 NeoCon commercial interior convention. These colors sizzled and popped against more subdued backgrounds.

In keeping with that color trend Modern Office is introducing our new GeoFlex Ergonomic Chairs in bold colors such as Orange Sherbet, Red Sorbet, Spring Leaf Green, and Sky Blue in addition to the subtle tones of White Fog, Khaki Gray, and Carbon Black.

The GeoFlex is a unique chair with a frameless flexible elastomer back that conforms to your body. Vertical patterns of perforations in the backrest allow for air circulation and are stylish too. The GeoFlex shows that good design and aesthetics are possible even in an attractively priced office chair.

The GeoFlex Ergonomic Chairs are in stock for immediate shipment. Please feel free to call us at 1-800-443-5117 with any questions you may have.

office chairs, office furniture

Modern Office has returned from the NeoCon 2012 convention in Chicago. We’re re-energized with new ideas and perspectives after viewing and experiencing the latest developments in the ever-changing world of office furniture.

We examined many new products including office chairs, desks, and reception furniture that we will add to our online store in the near future. We’re very excited about the function, design, and pricing of these items.

The theme of the convention this year was “Think Big”, and NeoCon was big a usual with 40,000 attendees, over 700 showrooms and exhibitors, and 120 seminars.

Some of the key concepts and trends that were woven throughout many of the exhibits included interactive space, sustainability, personalization of work space, collaboration areas, encouragement of movement, eco-friendliness, and reconfiguration. The color trend was saturated hues in bold contrast with a broad range of grays, exotic woods in organic natural finishes, and gray walnuts.

We will report on how some of these trends relate to the office furniture we offer in future posts.

Neocon 2012, office furniture