Business, Innovation

The Commercial Furniture Market is Shifting

pollywannamath

I grew up loving Herman Miller, Haworth, and Steelcase. These three companies brought us the Eames Lounger, Wanders’ Tulip, and that one steel desk that we all know. I am sitting on a Steelcase Leap v2 chair as I write this post.

I like these firms because I know how it feels to work with bad office furniture. I’ve sat in task chairs that left me with aches after only a few hours of work. I’ve used desks that wobble or don’t comfortably accommodate computer peripherals. Ergonomic design is front and center for all of these firms. When you buy a Herman Miller task chair, you are buying years of research and expertise on the human body and how it must be supported during extended periods of office work. A good office chair and desk should be added between shoes and sheets on the list of things to spend money on.

The importance of ergonomics cannot be overstated. Although sitting might not really be the new smoking, there is no shortage of research the promotes good ergonomic habits in the workplace. Offices responded to this research by improving proactive ergonomic improvements throughout the 2000s. Now, many offices provide sit-to-stand desks, monitor risers, and the ability to move during the day. The workplace is improving and commercial furniture manufacturers drove many of those improvements.

A few months ago, many employees had to leave their ergonomic offices and start to work from home. In many places in the US, there is no end in sight to the new normal of work from home. The improvements in office furniture and employee ergonomics are no longer relevant to much of the US office workforce.

I started this post with a lot of praise for a few companies: Herman Miller, Haworth, and Steelcase. I could have included Knoll, All-Steel and others, but I’m not as familiar with their business model and future vision. Here comes the criticism.

Herman Miller, Haworth, and Steelcase fail to understand the market where they will need to compete in the Post-COVID landscape. Let me summarize their positions:

  • Herman Miller probably does not deserve to be criticized in this post. Herman Miller sells furniture online and does not require a dealer network. Herman Miller has a work from home section of their website. I won’t give Herman Miller undue credit, they are best positioned to succeed in a work from home environment because they have the strongest position in residential furniture.
  • Haworth does not appear to have changed their corporate strategy in the face of COVID. When I asked for information on how to create an ergonomic home office (more on that in pt.2) I was told to visit a dealer (closed due to COVID) for more information on how to create a home office due to COVID.
  • Steelcase, who continues to champion open offices, is publishing material aimed at reassuring the public that work from home will remain a marginal mode of work. Steelcase, a furniture company, points to the lack of ergonomic furniture available to individual contributors as a reason that employees will need to go back to their open office to be productive. Steelcase, like Haworth, uses a dealer network to sell their furniture to the general public.

Although the “reopening” date remains unclear for many US workers, there will be a time after COVID-19. I don’t think there will be a wholesale change from office work to work from home as the default, but I think we will see a shift at more than just the margins (and urban parking will become much more expensive). In a world with more workplace flexibility, commercial furniture giants will need to become more flexible as well. Offices will shrink a little and require less furniture.

All three will need to compete with less expensive residential options for office furniture found on Wayfair, Overstock, IKEA, and Amazon to retain market share and profits. I don’t advocate that any of the three attempt to compete on price with their current offerings. I described their differentiator above (ergonomics and durability).

That said, convincing a person to spend more on office furniture will be tough when there are myriad cheaper options (food is a perfect analogy for something with a similar cost+ health scale in the US). I advocate a few strategies to improve their competitive odds in the residential business market:

  • Remove the reliance on the dealer network for specific work-from-home product lines (Steelcase and Haworth). I know dealers will denounce the move and demand exclusive access to furniture sales, but purchasing must be easy for the consumer.
  • Create frequent partnerships with large employers to encourage employees to use their office furniture at home. This strategy should be natural for all three and retains the returns to scale of the current model. Employees would either need to place an order through their employer or have an employer-specific login to receive a discount. These partnerships should be advertised as a benefit by the furniture manufacturers as well as the companies involved in the program.
  • Spin-off home office design studios that compete on price and meet the consumers where they are. Leverage older technologies and cheaper materials to build smaller pieces designed for home use at a price point that is competitive in the Wayfair marketplace. Limit the number of products and colors available to keep costs down.

Without these strategies, all three companies will remain industry leaders in the commercial market. Retaining the same percentage of a shrinking pie is not good for business, however.

View part two here.

Business, Innovation, Technology

Battery Drama Remains

pollywannamath

In 2004, Demetri Martin observed that batteries are “the most dramatic object.”

They’re either working or they’re dead.

Looking back, I wish this joke did not age as well as it has. Why, when I go to the the store, do I still see disposable batteries as the primary option?

In 2004, we were using a mix of rechargeable AA and regular alkaline AA batteries to power our household accessories. Now, my devices either have an internal lithium-ion battery that I can recharge, or I pick up a disposable AA battery at the store and replace the battery when needed.

In 2004, my family and I were not trying to reduce our use of single-use plastics. My body wash had microbeads that polluted the great lakes. Telling people that you recycle was a liberal status indicator. Our lights were incandescent. But in 2004, we had rechargeable alkaline batteries to power our digital camera and TV remote control. These rechargeable batteries were easy to find, they were sold along with single-use batteries at our local grocery store.

When I go to the stores near my home, I see only single-use alkaline batteries on the shelves. Ideally I would have an analysis of the cost differences per milliampere hour and the environmental impacts of the primary battery technologies available:

Unfortunately, I cant find consistent data that would make that analysis possible for me, and I don’t know enough about battery technology to create a model for the environmental and cost outcomes that would be necessary without the observed data.

Without that model, I’m forced to make an assumption. At least one of the rechargeable battery options above are cheaper to use and better for the environment than disposable alkaline batteries. The New York Times agrees with this assumption as well. So why am I not buying AA lithium-ion batteries?

My inability to escape alkaline batteries isn’t unique to me. An analysis from 2006 (nearest to the 2004 date above) projected that Alkaline batteries would retain market dominance through 2015 at minimum and that the battery market would continue to grow. That analysis proved correct. An analysis that covers 2018-2023 (gated) appears to forecast continued market dominance of disposable alkaline batteries over rechargeables.

I think there are a few likely causes, convenience and market concentration being the two primary.

  • When I need a battery, I need it urgently. I probably am not willing to wait for overnight or two-day shipping from Amazon to find lithium-ion AAs. I may not even be willing to wait through the charging period (I know, I’ll work on it). Disposables are more convenient.
  • I would not be shocked to learn that the best and most innovative brands in lithium-ion batteries are not the household battery companies. It might also be true that none of the best lithium-ion (or similar) companies would be strategic acquisitions for the known battery companies. If either of these things prove true, I should expect that it will be hard to find good rechargeable batteries at the store.

Hopefully, by 2025, batteries will have caught up with other household good, or that all new household accessories will have long-lasting internal batteries that recharge. But in 2004, I would not have assumed that AA batteries would have regressed by 2020.

words words words

2020 Reading Roundup pt.1

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The year is a little more than half over and it’s time to review my reading habits from the first half of the year. As a whole, I did not read as much as I would have liked and the reading I did was too dense. I will try to correct both in the second half of the year.

Here is my, non-exhaustive list, of what I read this year with a one or two sentence review:

This year I experienced a bookstore that might suppliant the Frugal Muse as my new favorite. Powell’s in Portland, OR. Although the staff did not warmly greet readers and the bookstore was too large to foster relationships between patrons, the selection is immense and the recommendations excellent.

Over the next six months, I plan to re-read more books directed toward adolescents, finish a culinary book, read two or three light novels, and work through a French or coding book. At the end of the year, I’ll write part 2.

Observations, words words words

Political Speech is Missing Sax Appeal

pollywannamath

When cataloging moments of great presidential rhetoric, a few speeches immediately come to mind:

I have two books that deal with Presidential rhetoric (Speaking with the People’s Voice [recommended] and America Out Loud), neither reference a single Clinton speech or interview. America Out Loud reduces the Clinton years to a single sentence, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” I think that is a mistake.

In retrospect, it is easy to reduce Clinton’s appearance on Arsenio to a single gif of him playing heartbreak hotel.

Sax man, Bill Clinton

However, his interview as the democratic candidate for president with Arsenio Hall is one of the best uses of political speech I’ve heard and deserves to be on the list above. In 1992, candidate Clinton appeared for a 30 minute interview with late night tv host, Arsenio Hall. Hall’s show was hip and Clinton needed to attract a younger audience to beat Ross Perot (and his pointer) and George H.W. Bush.

The interview started with Clinton’s infamous sax performance, but quickly ran into substantive issues. Clinton was grilled on his views about race in the aftermath of the Rodney King riots. Hall continues to be a staunch activist for civil rights and social equality and it was clear in the interview that he was not looking for political answers from the candidate, he wanted to know how Clinton was different.

Whether or not Clinton was different is irrelevant. The interview is like nothing I’ve ever seen from a candidate. Clinton appears vulnerable. He doesn’t try to play the role of invulnerable politician, he doesn’t promise he will fix every problem in the US. He tells an embarrassing story about his first experience with marijuana, he jokes that Hall will need to pay more taxes, he openly lets viewers know that he needs to narrow his scope if he hopes to get anything done.

The interview was in 1992. There are moments that come across as insensitive, and he discusses race and gang affiliation in ways that should make Americans a little uncomfortable. But, language gaffs and poor examples aside, his views and policy decisions on minority groups remain salient today. If you told me that his interview took place in 2020, I’d tell you that I was excited we had a young moderate in the race.

Why is this interview not considered a moment of great political rhetoric? Maybe because it was an interview, not a speech. Maybe we remember only the saxophone. Maybe Arsenio wasn’t considered “serious” enough. I never experienced this interview in its time.

I wish I had. I hope in the next decade we will have a number of politicians that revere this interview. I’d love to see a series of presidential hopefuls baring their soul to Ira Glass, Malcolm Gladwell, Joe Rogan, Conan, or the next generation of great interviewers. Interviews that leave the audience with the impression that they understand the person, not just the platform, that is trying to win their vote.

Watch the full interview here:

Clinton on Hall
Education, Observations

Things education in the US can’t stand: People who are intolerant of other people’s cultures, and the Dutch.

pollywannamath

Forgive the Austin Powers reference, I haven’t blogged in a while and I’ve regressed as a result. Throw me a frickin’ bone here. On the topic of Austin Powers, there is a scene where Mr. Powers is attempting to get up to speed on decades of American history in a single night. He sums it up in a single sentence, “Jimi Hendrix Deceased, Drugs. Janis Joplin Deceased, Alcohol. Mama Cass Deceased, Ham Sandwich.”

While I was in middle and high school, there was a shift away from teaching students an Anglocentric history. Our books primarily taught US history still, but there was an increased focus on the social history and experience of American Indians, women, and, later, immigrant populations. When studying world history, China loomed as large as Rome. Generally, I think the shift away from Anglocentric, whig history is a positive step. Students should be exposed to history that connects with them, history should be taught in an inclusive way that contextualizes history with the cultures, influences, and aftershocks that make up the events taught in class.

With an increased focus on the individual cultures and peoples that built the United States, one might assume that US students learn more about the Dutch element of US history. The Dutch gave us Santa Claus, New York, doughnuts, and brought African slavery to the Colonies. Despite the influence that the Dutch had on the form of the US government, stance on religious tolerance, and economic growth through the Dutch East India Company, the AP US history curriculum devotes more attention to Spanish colonialization than the influence of the Dutch on the US.

I think the lack of focus on the Dutch has a couple of causes:

  • Dutch influence is hard to separate from English influence and it is much easier to teach the English narrative.
  • The golden age of the Netherlands occupies a period of time not focused on in US history.
    • Students generally learn about the founding of the colonies, and then jump to the war for independence. Any time devoted to the 1600’s tends to focus on American Indian relations and religious tolerance. The Dutch aren’t necessary to teach either.
  • There is no cultural/political benefit to separating the Dutch from other subsets of white, western history.
    • The Dutch are definitionally WASPs and benefited from whig history, spending time focusing on their contributions might diminish the benefits of the more contextualized history taught today.
    • Dutch culture is German culture, and western education tends to value Latin cultures more than German cultures.
    • The Netherlands are not a global superpower today; there is no reason to specifically identify Dutch influence on American history to help students contextualize current events.

Does it matter that Dutch contributions to American society, good or bad, are not highlighted as Dutch? I’m not sure. However, I am sure that the Dutch are not the only culture to have their influence on American minimized in childhood education. I would be interested to find other examples and identify a way to give students an opportunity to learn about cultures or peoples that interest them and close these education gaps.

Interested in what students learn across the country? Find more here.

*The author of this post does not identify as Dutch, nor does he have any particular affiliation to the Netherlands.