This is part four of our post Office Furniture for a Changing Workplace.  In this part, we'll discuss storage solutions to help you choose the best options for your office.

File Cabinets
There are two main types of file cabinets used in offices today - vertical files and lateral file cabinets. 

Vertical Files
The first is the traditional vertical file cabinet that everyone is familiar with.  It is designed to minimize the amount of floor space required for your filing cabinet when you have a limited amount of filing to do.  They are either letter or legal size depending on the type of documents you wish to file and vary in depths from 25" to 28 1/2" deep.  They are available with 2 to 5 drawers per cabinet.

Lateral Files
The second is the lateral file cabinet that is appearing in more offices every day.  It is designed to maximize the amount of file storage that you have available.  They are designed to hold any combination of either letter or legal size files in each drawer and are generally 19 1/4" deep.  They are available with 2 to 5 drawers per cabinet and in 30", 36" and 42" widths.

Mobile Pedestal Files
A mobile file cabinet generally has two drawers, with some offering three drawers and are designed to fit under most desks and worksurfaces. It allows you to wheel it with ease which is a great feature since you don’t have to worry about carrying a heavy piece of furniture should it need to be moved. Mobile file cabinets also feature a locking mechanism.

Bookcases
A stylish way to display your books is through the use of a bookshelf. Bookshelves are available in different heights, sizes and finishes. Some come with 5 adjustable shelves while others have two, three, or four shelves.

You can find bookshelves that have glass doors that can be opened and closed. This is a great feature since it helps protect the books and minimizes the amount of dust that can accumulate.

Lastly, you can find bookshelves that come in three compartments with the center unit having two doors on the bottom. This is ideal for large walls and in a situation where storage is greatly needed.

This Leading Online Retailer for Office Furniture and Supplies Is Announcing the Launch of a New Website and a Number of Other Company-Wide Changes

BETHLEHEM, PA--(Marketwire - May 5, 2010) -  The news out of eOfficeDirect.com is that the company has been very busy. This online office furniture and equipment retailer is working hard to earn every visitor's business. With a fresh website, improved shopping cart and new deals for customers, it has been an exciting year so far.

"Earlier in the year we re-launched the site utilizing a different engine by BV Commerce," said Charles Wolfinger, eOfficeDirect.com site manager. "This has given us the ability to do a lot of things our prior engine did not have the flexibility to do."

Aside from a new homepage, eOfficeDirect.com has also greatly improved their shopping cart and added a more convenient and secure checkout and payment page. "We used Crazy Egg to see where our people were going," said Brian McGonigle, eOfficeDirect.com Marketing Director. "It was a real eye opener for us. This information really helped us with the design and layout of the page. On top of that, we visited hundreds of other office furniture sites to get ideas and started to see some consistent themes. When you see great online shopping sites consistently doing the same things, you have to take notice. Fortunately, the new site engine has made these enhancements much easier to make."

There are several other things on eOfficeDirect.com that were not there before. "Coupons have become a big deal, and they work," said McGonigle. "Not only are we now offering coupons on a regular basis, we will have a new 'Daily Deals' and a 'Bargain Buys' section."

A more user friendly and convenient site with better deals and lower prices, all delivered in one to two days -- this is what shopping online should be all about. Visit www.eOfficeDirect.com to learn more.

School is almost done for the summer but teachers are already thinking about the fall. At the top of their list is saving money on back-to-school supplies with shrinking budgets and increased expectations. Making every dollar go farther is more important now than ever before. Below are a handful of tips that can help.

1. Think outside the box. There are several websites that educators can post their classroom wish lists of educational games, classroom learning tools, equipment and books to that match donors with teachers. Adopt-a-classroom.com, donorschoose.org, and supplyourschools.org just to name a few. Also consider free gently used products such as audiovisual equipment, posters, rolling carts and more from freecycle.com. These items may need to be picked up so remember to look locally first.
2. Get parents involved! Build relationships with your students parents. Early in the year open up to them and share your teaching philosophy and classroom plans, help them understand what projects you’d like to complete, how the students will benefit, and what materials and supplies are required. You’ll be surprised at how many will volunteer help without you even asking. Another suggestion: post a supplies wish list during parent-teacher meetings that parents can review while waiting.
3. Quality over quantity. With electronics, floor mats, storage cabinets and shelving, quality makes a big difference. Sure the costs are higher up front but you’ll save more over time because the equipment will last longer.
4. Don’t wait. Make your classroom wish lists and your students’ supply list available to parents as early as possible. Most parents are great bargain hunters and getting them informed early lets them spread expenses over time and shop sales.
5. Talk with a office supply store like eofficedirect.com. More often than not there are very creative solutions to help outfit your classroom and get the best bang for your buck. Talk with eofficedirect.com about what you need and they will find a way to help.

Right now is the perfect time to start planning for the new school year. Create those wish lists today and start shopping and saving for the fall.

This is part three of our post Office Furniture for a Changing Workplace.  In this part, we'll discuss chairs to help you choose the best options for your office.

Office Chairs

Hundreds of different office chairs are available and may have some or all of the following features:

• Contoured seat cushion
• Dual wheel carpet or hard floor casters
• Ergonomic design
• Full or adjustable lumbar support
• Gas lift seat height adjustment
• Headrest
• Height adjustable and/or width adjustable arms
• Knee tilt mechanism
• Locking tilt control with adjustable tilt tension
• Memory foam seat
• Mesh upholstery
• Padded foot rest

Choosing an Office Chair

When choosing a chair for an office, be sure to take the time to make an informed decision. The individual(s) who will be using the chair(s) should be involved in the decision process and should be offered some choice. In order to find the right office chair, you first need to determine how much time you plan on sitting in the chair. Since office chairs come with a variety of mechanisms that control the tilt angle, tension tightness, these features make a difference as to whether or not you are sitting in comfort.

Once you've got the basics down, there are a wide variety of seating options.  Executive High Back Chairs offer elegant seating for traditional office environments. Mid-Back Chairs are excellent solutions for conference rooms and office desks. Ergonomic chairs are available in both high-back and mid-back versions. Reception area and guest chairs offer seating solutions for your office visitors, while stools are the perfect solution for drafting and other businesses. Folding chairs and stacking chairs ensure that you will always have adequate seating while taking up as little storage area in your office as possible.

This is part two of our post Office Furniture for a Changing Workplace.  In this part, we'll discuss desks and other work surfaces to help you choose the best options for your office.

Desks
There are three main layouts for desks - standard, l-shaped and u-shaped desk collections. Each offers different amounts of available work area and different layouts to match your specific office needs. Many people find l-shaped and u-shaped desk collections confusing because of "handedness". It indicates which side of you the return or bridge is when you're sitting at the desk.  So, if you purchase a right handed collection, the return or bridge will be on your right when you are sitting at the desk.

Standard Desks or "Executive Desks"
Most standard desks are available in 60", 66" and 72" widths. They are generally 30" or 36" deep to offer plenty of work area. They are often placed in front of a 24" deep credenza to create an executive desk collection.

L-Shaped Desk Collections
If you need more work area, a single pedestal desk can be combined with a return to create an L-Shaped desk collection. These desks are perfect for placing in the corner of an office or even in the middle of a larger room to act as a room divider.

U-Shaped Desk Collections
For the largest amount of work area, a u-shaped desk collection connects a single pedestal desk to a single pedestal credenza with a bridge. It is perfect for any executive office or for any worker who requires a large amount of room to spread out.

Other Work Surfaces

Meeting and Conference Tables
In most businesses, keeping the lines of communication open between departments or among staff is critical. One of the best ways to do this is to have regular meetings to discuss company events. Conference tables offer large work surfaces and can often accommodate many employees at the same time. They are availble in a large variety of shapes and sizes to meet your office needs.

Computer Cart
A computer cart is smaller than a desk in terms of width and generally rolls on wheels making it conveniently mobile.  It has a pullout keyboard tray, good sized work surface, hutch, printer shelf, CPU storage, and an additional shelf on the bottom for books.  Other computer carts are not as elaborate and simply have an area for the computer, a pullout keyboard tray, and a shelf on the bottom.

Communication and networking are rapidly becoming the main activity in many offices. Office furniture is evolving as a response to this change. Office furniture should be comfortable and flexible so that office layouts can accommodate your organization's growth and change. User comfort and adjustability are also important factors in all furniture design to help ensure employee health and productivity.

Because people spend more of their time at the office than home, decorating it effectively is paramount. If you want to make your office look beautiful and make effective use of the space, you need to come up with new and creative commercial office decorating ideas. Before you begin, make sure you remember the total area of the office space available.

The available selection of office furniture is huge and selecting the right pieces can be overwhelming, but your effort can be rewarded with increased productivity and comfort in your work.

Office furniture can be found in a wide variety of materials, colors, styles, shapes and sizes. Here are a few tips to help get you started with your selections.

Types of Office Furniture
There are three main categories of office furniture:

• Work Surfaces
• Office Seating
• Office Storage

Here is a basic explanation of the different areas.  Over the next few days, we'll detail each area. More...

Office furniture is one of the biggest investments that every business makes.  Because of that, it's important to take care of the furniture that you buy.  Of course, accidents always happen.  Thankfully, there are solutions designed to fix many of the damages that can happen to your office furniture.

Wood and Laminate Desking
If you nick or gouge your desk, furniture repair kits let you fill in the damage and then re-color it to match perfectly.  If it's just a scratch, touch up markers will do the trick perfectly!  It is also important to ensure that your wood furniture is properly maintained so that you maximize its life.  Clean your desk with a high quality wood cleaner, and to protect the finish make sure you polish it regularly.

Fabric and Leather Seating
Your office chair takes more wear and tear than almost every other piece of furniture in your office. Is your leather chair dirty or stained, leather cleaning kits work wonders. Do you have a cut in your chair? Fabric repair kits and vinyl and leather repair kits can save you from buying a new chair.

When you're looking to organize your office space, one of the biggest decisions to make is what type of filing cabinets you want to use.  There are three types of cabinets available to choose from: Lateral files, Vertical files and Pedestal Files.  Each of these has its advantages.

Lateral Files
Lateral file cabinets are the most efficient use of your filing space.  Because they are available from 30" wide to 42" wide, they can fit into a variety of available office spaces, while offering from 2 to 5 drawers worth of storage.  They are able to store either letter size or legal size files or both in a drawer depending on the way you wish to set them up.  Doing letter size filing in a 30" or 42" wide using cross rails lets you file from front to back and increases the amount of files that you can get in each drawer dramatically.

Vertical Files
Vertical file cabinets are a great filing solution when your available floor space is limited.  Because they are all designed to file from front to back, there are separate file cabinets for letter and for legal size files. It's critical that you order the right cabinet.  They're available in different depths and from 2 to 5 drawers high to meet your filing needs.

Pedestal Files
Pedestal files are designed to fit under your desk surface for additional storage space without taking up more floor space in your office. They are available in a variety of drawer configurations to serve you best. Most models are available with two file drawers, or with two "box" storage drawers and a file drawer.  In some cases they are available with pencil drawers as well.  They are available in several depths to ensure that they can fit under nearly any desk.

Sharpie Stainless Steel Permanent Marker

Get Noticed! The new Stainless Steel Sharpie is one marker that doesn't have to shout from the rooftops. Celebs are all about the stylish, laser etched Sharpie but its not just for the red carpet crowd! With the following highlights, its clearly made for everyone.

• MSRP $6.99, refillable cartridge $1.99
• Stainless steel barrel design with Sharpie logo laser etched on barrel
• Unscrew ink cartridge to replace with Sharpie ink refill cartridge (ink refill cartridge reorder #1751000)
• Fine point tip size for marking and writing
• Marks on most surfaces
• Fade- and water-resistant ink encourages multiple project uses
• Quick drying, AP Certified Nontoxic formula
• Black only (for now)

Wow! With specs like that and looks that'll turn heads, why would you want to settle for the anything less! Available soon from eofficedirect.com!

Here’s how you may lower your true cost of business equipment: 

Business owners who acquire equipment including machinery, computers, furniture and other tangible goods, usually prefer a substantial deduction in a single tax year, rather than a little at a time over a number of years. This accelerated deduction is known by its section in the tax code: a Section 179 deduction. The 2009 law extends the amount of qualified property that a business can expense under Section 179 to $250,000.This incentive is for equipment placed in service by December 31, 2009 and is designed for small companies, so the deduction phases out when a business purchases more than $800,000 in one year. (Companies cannot write off more than their taxable income).
 
The law also maintains the bonus depreciation of 50% for qualifying assets. This bonus is in addition to regular first-year depreciation.
 
The benefit of a Non-Tax/Capital Lease is that it can take advantage of Section 179: expense up to $250,000 if the equipment is put in use in 2009. In addition, you may depreciate any excess on the depreciation schedule for that asset. Examples of Non-Tax/Capital Leases include a $1.00 Buyout, an Equipment Finance Agreement (EFA), and a 10% Purchase Upon Termination (PUT) Lease. The sample calculation shows how taking advantage of Section 179 can significantly lower the true cost of furniture ownership from $300,000 to $202,000. More...